Van der Valk

This ITV series is centred on Commissaris Piet Van der Valk, a cynical detective in the Amsterdam police. Each two hour episode features a separate murder inquiry in the sort of setting that is typical of the genre; those with an interest in mediaeval erotica and the art world... in other words people not like most viewers.

I vaguely recall seeing episodes of the original version of Van der Valk but not well enough to let memories of that spoil my enjoyment of this new series. I was concerned that having an English speaking cast playing Dutch characters may seem strange in an era when subtitled continental programmes are so common... thankfully I soon forgot all about that. The cases are interesting enough with plenty of suspects and motives and the central characters are pretty good. Marc Warren is solid as our eponymous protagonist and is ably supported by a good supporting cast. For the most part the stories are self-contained but there is character development through the series and one or two questions that remain unanswered at the end of the third episode... presumably the makers are hoping further series will be commissioned. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of the murder mystery genre; it might not be the best example but it is far from the worst.

I don't know anything about the original, so I'm going only on what I've seen. Good acting, writing, and interesting characters. I look forward to seeing episode 2 and hope it's even better.

I watched all three episodes of this 2020 Van Der Valk and I enjoyed them. I like good police procedurals and it's a treat when I can watch one filmed in one of Europe's beautiful cities or the countryside.

Of the actors on Commissioner Van Der Valk's team, Elliot Barners-Worrell as Lt Cloovers and Luke Allen-Gale as Sgt de Vries were especially good. Warren and McCoy were good but not as strong as the above two actors.

It's a challenge to maintain viewers attention span over 90 minutes, especially so with a who-done-it and a number of characters with foreign names. Please be kinder to viewers - poor sound levels, strong regional British accents and other actors whose first language is not English, makes listening difficult. And lighting could have been better on interiors in dark old buildings and in long boats.

I'm not a big fan of flashbacks, but in this series it would have helped explain Van Der Valk's mercurial personality if we knew about his wife in Episode 1 not in Episode 3. Same with the Chief Commissioner.

I'd watch a series 2, it's good.

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I'm watching series 2 and enjoying it. The writing, the key to any successful series is very good. I also went back and re-watched series 1 and I scored it higher, the plots are very good.

Van Der Valk the commissioner, Hassell the inspector, de Vries the sergeant, Cloovers the lieutenant, Dahlman the chief commissioner and Davie the pathologist are very different personalities. There is some minor personal things but basically the characters are focused on solving the complicated crimes.

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Sadly Season 3 isn't that good, Brad de Vries (Luke Allen-Gale) and Job Cloovers (Elliot Bares-Worrell) have been replaced by two less experienced actors. Episode 2 is the best of the 3 episodes. And there is more of Emma Fielding (Julia Dahlman) and Darrell D'Silva (Henrik Davie). Luke Allen-Gale and Elliot Barnes-Worrell brought humor and acting skills their replacements ae stiff. In police dramas the top officers and pathologists come and go, New writers, this was probably farmed out by ITV, cliched episodes.. Chris Murray the creator is off writing his new series "Cannes Confidential". I dropped the rating, Season 1 & 2 were very good, Season 3 is poor.

For those here who are wondering why there are so many British actors in a show about Dutch police, could I point out: a) I'd be quite happy to watch a subtitled Van der Valk series made by Dutch TV, but there's no such thing; and b) Nicolas Freeling, who wrote the original books, was a Londoner. By the way, if you're in the UK and want to see the original series, at time of writing they're showing it on the mighty Talking Pictures TV channel.

I'm shocked how many people dislike this show. I found it entertaining and well acted with interesting storylines - not to mention beautiful Amsterdam as a backdrop. For me Marc Waerren was perfectly casted as the tough and complex Van der Volk. I'd like to see much more of him in in the future.