Van der Valk

I quite enjoyed this first episode. It's entertaining, well made and quite funny at times. As an Amsterdam citizen, I was a bit suprised by the english speaking police at first. But in the end it didn't put me off at all. Political plot was interesting as well. Good acting and definitely a step up compared to recent dutch drama series on television. Looking forward to coming episodes.

I don't think there would be any complaints if this series had any other title but van der valk. Never saw the original, but this detective series is just as good as anything out there now. Amsterdam makes for a great backdrop, plus the series has your typical grumpy, main protagonist, good chemistry with the beautiful sidekick, and the secondary characters include the genius, the ladies man, and the oddball coroner. Plus any show that has a dog in it has my vote. So how is this detective show any different from Midsomer Murders? So stop complaining. Plus, my god, the previous version was a billion years ago.

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 loved this show, was never into the original it couldn't hold my attention. this on the other hand did. great cast, well acted. To address criticism in other reviews, if you listen carefully you will hear parts of the original theme tune in the opening music, as for the accents is that really an issue. i thinks its good that they actors are a mix of British and European. i look forward to a second series

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.

________________________________

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.

________________________________

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.