Professor T.

Rarely today you find a show that is original and fresh ,well written with great casting. What a great commentary of life and relationship that is humorous and bluntly exposing of the frailty and hurts we live with and communicate through to others all of this in the guise of a detective drama. Well done excellent production ,I'm only hopeing there are more to come.

This series could be compared to Monk or House, but, it does not remain in the simple genius with null social skills that solves police cases. The Professor T. is also a deconstruction of the human mind, traumas, emotions and their consequences in people's lives and is analyzed as the psyche and emotions have led to commit ordinary crimes. Although the cases are autoconclusive, the central characters are evolving and growing and all seasons have a common link that is the mysterious and traumatic suicide of the Professor's father. Apart is the music that accompanies the series, quite unusual, but, that fits like a glove.

Professor Jasper Teerlinck lectures in criminology at Antwerp University and sometimes helps the police with active cases. He is no ordinary crime fighter; not only is he very direct he is also rather troubled... some might say he is actually insane. He frequently sees things that aren't there; imagining people breaking into song and in one case seeing a man literally as a puppet complete with strings! The other characters are interesting too; most notably Inspector Annelies Donckers, a police officer who was once a student of the Professor; Paul Rabet, a senior police officer with issues of his own and Christina Flamant, another senior officer who was once involved with the professor.

When one first starts watching this series one may wonder just what is going on; is it a drama or is it a comedy... the truth is it is a bit of both with a touch of tragedy too. Koen De Bouw is great as Professor T; the character could so easily have been annoying or silly but he makes the professor likeable and believable. The supporting cast are solid too; most notably Ella Leyers as Annelies and Goele Derick as Mrs Sneyer's, the professor's secretary who steals every scene she is in despite being a relatively minor character. The cases are typically contained within a single episode, although the final case of each of the two seasons is spread over two episodes. These are fairly standard murder mysteries which are well handled with each having plenty of suspects to keep viewers guessing. The series does throw up some surprises as characters have to deal with personal issues one wouldn't expect in such a series; these are dealt with well; giving depth to the characters rather than detracting from the story. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of murder mysteries who are looking for something a little different.

These comments are based on watching in Dutch with English subtitles.

In spite of potential unreality and exaggeration (I am not sure that a person like that could be in contact with young people and assist authorities nowadays), but the concept and its realisation are really distinct. True, the cases are not equally interesting, but when the wrongdoer could be guessed in advance, there is always a twist in his-her motive and some aspect the viewer (as well as the police) was unable to ascertain...

The gem of this Series is undoubtedly Koen de Bouw - he is really something, so different from his other performances; I have also briefly looked at remake trailers and must state that no other actor in the role of Professor T. Is up to this task. Plus, here my another favourite was Goele Derick as Ingrid Sneyers. Well, the remaining cast was good as well, though I was not fond of certain replacements in Seasons 2 and 3... As for the latter, I disagree with those claiming that Season 3 is worse or unnecessary, I find it pleasant change of venues and skilful roundup of the story, no hasty finish due to less viewers, lack of funds, etc.

Thus - 10 points for performances and depiction of "crazy moments", 8 for the smoothness - 9 in total. Good work!

...more in particular in my hometown Antwerp, and spoken in my native language Flemish (which some, mostly Dutch, minimisingly coin it a Dutch dialect). Excellent screen job in production, directing, acting, story line, score. It all shows in a most-enjoyable creation. No unnecessary depressing gore and attention-grabbing drama. It rather leaves you with a smile and spirits lifted.