The Mallorca Files

This light hearted crime drama is set on the Spanish island of Mallorca and centred on detectives Miranda Blake and Max Winter. She is British and he is German; together they mostly investigate cases involving foreigners on the island under the direction of their Spanish boss Inés Villegas. The cases, which last one forty-five minute episode, are varied; unlike most such series they don't all involve murder.

I enjoyed this series far more than I expected. The fact that it was first broadcast in the afternoon led me to write it off as light, low-budget, low-quality froth... this was unfair; yes it is light and frothy but it is also a lot of fun and totally inoffensive. Blake and Winter are great lead characters; their relationship develops nicely as the series progresses without any obvious suggestions of romance. The two leads, Elen Rhys and Julian Looman as Blake and Winter respectively, do impressive jobs. Also notable is María Fernández Ache, who plays Inés. The Balearic location is lovely to see on a gloomy winter day in England; and a revelation to those who associated the place with drunken tourists rather than its obvious natural beauty and history! There is a good amount of unforced humour. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to somebody wanting a light, humorous drama set in an attractive location.

Anyone who takes this series seriously, needs to get a life or a humor or both! Yes, it's full of cop show cliches including a crabby Mallorcan Chief of Police (why are they always crabby) and the crimes are more humorous than shocking, which all adds up to quirky, sometimes silly but always entertaining lighthearted fun. Enough serious, "noir" psychological thrillers that are usually so dark they are depressing or have so much gore, they're disgusting. Just sit back, relax and enjoy this one.

The premise is a British and a German detectives are assigned to work under the National Police in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The locations are all over the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean, where everywhere you look it's a picture postcard. It's a light police procedural and the two leads Elyn Rhys and Julian Loomans have good chemistry. It's setting in Spain adds to the variety and quirkiness of some of the episodes. It originally aired in 2019 with 10 episodes and a second season appeared in 2021. Hope it stays around for more seasons.

As others have noticed, this series makes no sense. Why would a british cop be assigned to work with a german cop solving crimes in spain, when it is quite obvious that neither actually speaks more than tourist spanish? And in addition the political backdrop of brexit makes it even more incredible.

The first few episodes are also quite painful. The female lead is certainly suffering from sunburn and all the acting is a bit wooden. But it gets better. And once it gets into its stride it is good fun. No violence. Light comedy. Light romance. Reasonably well handled intrigues. it is easy viewing without being too cliched. Admittedly this is because the entire scenario is so far-fetched, but hey - I enjoyed it.

If you have an aged relative who doesn't like evening TV dramas which are full of sex and violence and swearing and car chases and fight scenes then they will like this. It's got a vibe of other daytime shows such as "Shakespeare and Hathaway" and "Father Brown" with a nod to the 60s Avengers series. 7/10 for being fun but I've only seen episode one. If this descends into the usual BBC PC drivel then I may revise my opinion.