MIDNIGHT SUN, SKY ATLANTIC, 10pm
THIS new Scandi-noir comes from some of the writers of The Bridge, which in my opinion is the best of all crime dramas from the frozen north. However, they use the same conceit as The Bridge – two detectives from different countries having to co-operate on a case – and that raised my hackles.
Kahina Zadi is a French investigator sent to the chilly north of Sweden, where a French citizen has been horribly murdered – by helicopter. Under the endless midnight sun of the far north, the elegant Parisian is thrown in among the gruff male detectives and an “odd couple” relationship will surely be formed.
In the first episode she mainly deals with the chief, but for the rest of the series she’ll be working with Anders Harnesk, the deputy. We’ll need to wait and see if this pair have the same chemistry as The Bridge’s Saga and Martin, but with intriguing glimpses offered into their private lives, the stage is set.
MYSTERY OF THE MAN ON THE MOOR, C4, 10pm
WE might think mysteries are a thing of the past, in the age of DNA, CCTV, tracking devices, satellites and smartphones.
Stories of UFO sightings no longer abound as the witness will now be asked why they didn’t get their phone out and take a picture of the craft or, if a photo does appear, technical geeks will show it to be Photoshopped or just a shaky picture of an aeroplane.
However, some unexplained events persist, such as the vanished Malaysia Airlines plane. All the expertise in the world hasn’t found it, or been able to explain its disappearance.
Likewise with “the man on the moor”. His body was found on Saddleworth Moor in north-west England in 2015. He’d died by poisoning and no-one knew who he was, or why he died there.
But this mystery was eventually solved: not by technology, but with old-fashioned police work.
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