Flikken

I think that the "Flikkken" series is something really excellent. The show has been running for 6 years, and with ever increasing audiences and appreciation.

Andrea has grown over the years in her role as police officer, and she is probably one of the best actresses around in Belgium.

Flikken is also popular in other countries. The series has more diverse plots then for instance "Baantjer". In "Baantjer", it is always the same: someone gets killed and they find the murderer in 40 minutes. This is boring!!!!

Andrea and colleagues: keep up the good work!

This is a great cop-show: The story lines are good. It's not just about murder or rape. And it doesn't have an spectacular car-chase every episode, like some shows. It's more realistic. They also have to solve burglaries, shoplifting, assault, stalking, vandalism etc, etc., like real cops have to do. You also get to know more and more about the background of the characters. Almost all the actors are fabulous (some of them look good as well!-But they aren't models) and last but not least it has humour. In short: It's just fun!!

It takes a while to settle down in the first couple of series, which are a bit like a Flemish 'Hill Street Blues', but it picks up later and by series 5 has some very good script writing and acting. Series 5 has a long plot over several episodes, so a good watch if you are housebound! It is all in Dutch (Flemish dialect) with no English subtitles available as far as I know (at least not on the YouTube versions).

"Flikken" is a Flemish cop television show. You can compare it with NYPD blue, except from the fact that Andy Scipowitz is far more better in playing his role than Andrea Croonenberghs does. She doesn't have the famous 'x-factor for actresses' although she tries very hard to cover it. She's nothing compared to great Belgian actresses as Jenny Thanghe, Dora Vandergroen and Chris Lomme. She's even nothing compared to younger actresses as Ann Ceurvels, Francesca Vanthielen, Joke Devinck etc...

She is however not the only one who, in my opinion can't act. Truth spoken, Rebecca Huls is even worse than Andrea is.

What I do like about the show, is that the civil life of a Flemish person is pretty good described. There are no superheroes among the 'flikken'-team, the show also shows kind of a psychological profile of its members (what was kind of new in such a Belgian production) and the chemistry between Pasmans and Raymond is very good, often hilarious in the beginning of the show.

When the show started to get boring, the characters predictable, they gave the role of chief (every season they changed the person) to Jo De Meyere, who already showed he was outstanding in such a role (Heterdaad). The introduction of Nauwelaerts (De Meyere) and the replacement of Daeseleire by Desmedt gave the show a new elan. De Meyere is like I stated in the title the finest actor Flemish television has ever known.

This series is the best Belgian production ever. I live in Ghent and we are all very proud on our city. The way this series (Flikken is about a police-department located in Ghent) shows our city to the world makes us all very happy. The series was supported by our own police-department to make it look realistic, and I think those officers did a great job. A few years ago, the name "Flikken" was a negative nickname for "cops" in dutch. Now, thanks to the series, it's considered as a compliment...