Van der Valk

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 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'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.

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.

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.