Dept. Q is Netflix’s latest bingeworthy thriller with a stellar cast across the board. The series is led by Matthew Goode as Carl Morck, an Edinburgh detective back to work after a near-death experience. Morck is irritable and hardly a team player, but he agrees to head his station’s new cold case unit, Department Q. His team is rounded out by former Syrian officer Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov) and cadet Rose (Leah Byrne), with help from Morck’s former partner James Hardy (Jamie Sives) as they try to solve the missing persons case of Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie), an ambitious prosecutor who disappeared four years ago.
Release Date
May 29, 2025
Network
Netflix
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Chloe Pirrie
Merritt Lingard
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Alexej Manvelov
Akram Salim
All the while, Morck is attending work-mandated therapy sessions with Dr. Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald) to cope with the trauma of having been shot on the job. Goode plays Morck perfectly and is no stranger to the crime drama format.
So, if you love the cast in Dept. Q, here are 8 of their other similar shows that you might enjoy.
10
‘Boardwalk Empire’ (2010 – 2014)
Features: Kelly Macdonald
Release Date
2010 – 2014-00-00
Directors
Timothy Van Patten, Allen Coulter
Boardwalk Empire is a captivating prohibition-era crime drama created for HBO by The Sopranos writer/producer Terence Winter. Loosely based on the non-fiction book by Nelson Johnson, the series stars Steve Buscemi (Psycho Therapy) as corrupt Atlantic City treasurer-turned-mobster, Enoch “Nucky” Thompson. The show ran for five seasons, winning 20 Primetime Emmy Awards along the way.
Kelly Macdonald plays Boardwalk Empire’s leading lady, Margaret Schroeder. Margaret is a widowed mother of two who enters into a complicated relationship with Nucky. At times, it seems like Nucky really cares about Margaret and her children, but Margaret knows better than to trust anyone or anything entirely. She is a clever woman who does what she thinks is best to survive.
9
‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ (2013)
Features: Matthew Goode
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Matthew Rhys
Fitzwilliam Darcy
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Anna Maxwell Martin
Elizabeth Darcy
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Trevor Eve
Sir Selwyn Hardcastle
Based on the 2011 novel by P. D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley takes Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and transforms it into a murder mystery. Married now for six years, Fitzwilliam (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Anna Maxwell Martin) Darcy are preparing for an annual ball when tragedy strikes their estate. Two men go into the woods, but only one comes back alive.
In this adaptation, Matthew Goode plays George Wickham, the cunning and manipulative husband of Elizabeth’s sister, Lydia (Jenna Coleman). He is the one discovered with the dead man in the woods and is promptly arrested for murder. But did he really do it? This three-part miniseries has an 82% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
8
‘Stockholm Requiem’ (2018)
Features: Alexej Manvelov
Walter Presents
Stockholm Requiem is a Swedish crime drama based on the novels by Kristina Ohlsson. Liv Mjönes (Midsommar) stars as a criminologist named Fredrika Bergman who, as a civilian, joins a special investigations unit with the Stockholm Police. The show ran for one season with ten episodes. It was renewed for a second season in 2023, but with a new story and only two members of the original cast returning.
Alexej Manvelov plays Peder Rydh, one of the detectives that Kristina works with on cases. That’s right, Manvelov plays a detective in this one, too. It was actually his first time playing a police officer. Detective Rydh has a very strong moral compass, and the cases they investigate affect him deeply.
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From Peaky Blinders to Top Boy, here are the best British crime dramas you can watch on Netflix.
7
‘Ordeal by Innocence’ (2018)
Features: Matthew Goode
Release Date
2018 – 2017
Network
BBC One
Directors
Sandra Goldbacher
Writers
Sarah Phelps
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Anthony Boyle
Jack Argyll
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James E. Thompson
Blake (uncredited)
Ordeal by Innocence is a three-part BBC One miniseries based on the classic mystery novel by Agatha Christie. Set in the 1950s, the series centers on the Argyll family as they deal with tragedy when their matriarch, Rachel (Anna Chancellor), is murdered and one of her adopted children, Jack (Anthony Boyle), is executed for the crime. Eighteen months later, the Argyll family finds out that Jack was innocent, and the murderer might still be among them. Bill Nighy (Living) stars as Leo Argyll with a cast that includes Crystal Clarke (Sanditon), Christian Cooke (Rematch), Eleanor Tomlinson (The Couple Next Door), Alice Eve (The Power), Ella Purnell (Fallout), and Luke Treadaway (Unbroken).
In this whodunnit, Matthew Goode takes on the role of Philip Durrant, husband to the eldest adopted Argyle daughter, Mary (Tomlinson). Philip is a decorated former World War II pilot who lost his legs in a car accident. He uses drugs and alcohol to cope with the pain. His relationship with Mary is pretty rocky, plus he has secrets of his own that he is trying to keep hidden.
6
‘Giri/Haji’ (2019)
Features: Kelly Macdonald
Release Date
2019 – 2018
Network
BBC Two
Directors
Julian Farino, Ben Chessell
Writers
Joe Barton
Giri/Haji (Duty/Shame) is a crime drama created by Joe Barton (Black Doves). Takehiro Hira (The Amateur) stars Kenzo Mori, as a Tokyo detective who comes to London in search of his brother, whom he thought was dead. Yōsuke Kubozuka (Tokyo Vice) plays the missing brother, Yuto. While Kelly Macdonald doesn’t play a detective in Dept. Q or Boardwalk Empire, she portrays one in this show. Macdonald’s character is Detective Constable Sarah Weitzmann, an outsider in the Metropolitan Police who meets Mori as he looks for Yuto.
Giri/Haji ran for one season on BBC Two and Netflix before it was canceled, though reviews were favorable. The series received three BAFTA nominations in 2020, with Will Sharpe winning in the supporting actor category for his role as Rodney Yamaguchi, a sex worker living on the streets of London.
Related
The Ending of Netflix’s ‘Dept. Q’ Answers Just the Right Amount of Questions
‘Dept. Q’ has a lot of moving parts as DCI Carl Morck grapples with his personal and professional life. Here’s what happened at the end.
5
‘Guilt’ (2019-2023)
Features: Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives
Release Date
2019 – 2022
Network
BBC Scotland
Directors
Robbie McKillop
Writers
Neil Forsyth
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Henry Pettigrew
Steve Malone
Created by Neil Forsyth (The Gold), Guilt is a Scottish crime drama about two brothers involved in a hit-and-run accident. The show was quite popular and ran for three seasons on BBC Scotland and BBC Two. It won five BAFTA Scotland awards. Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives star as the brothers, Max and Jake McCall.
Bonnar plays Merritt Lingard’s former supervisor, Lord Advocate Stephen Burns on Dept. Q. Sives plays Morck’s paraplegic former partner, James Hardy, who was injured in the same shooting that nearly killed Morck. The two don’t really have scenes together in Dept Q, but they play family in Guilt. Both Bonnar and Sivens earned Best Actor BAFTA Scotland nominations in 2020 for their performances as the McCall brothers.
4
‘The Victim’ (2019)
Features: Chloe Pirrie, Jamie Sives, and Kelly Macdonald
Release Date
2019 – 2018
Network
BBC One
Directors
Niall MacCormick
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John Scougall
Tom Carpenter
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Joanne Thompson
DS Lisa Harvey
This four-part Scottish miniseries stars Kelly Macdonald as Anna Dean, a mother who lost her son 14 years earlier. Anna goes on trial after inciting violence against the person she believes murdered her son, a man named Craig Myers (James Harkness). John Hannah (The Mummy) rounds out the primary cast playing DI Stephen Grover, a detective involved in the case.
The Victim brought together three of Dept. Q’s stars six years ahead of their reunion on the new Netflix series. While Macdonald stars as Anna, Chloe Pirrie (Merritt Lingard in Dept. Q) plays lawyer Ella Mackie and Jamie Sives (James Hardy in Dept. Q) plays Lenny Dean, Anna’s new husband. The Victim was nominated for Best Mini-Series at the BAFTA Awards, and Macdonald won Best Actress – Television at the BAFTA Scotland Awards.
3
‘Deadwater Fell’ (2020)
Features: Leah Byrne
Deadwater Fell is a dark four-part miniseries about a remote Scottish village struck by tragedy when a mother and her three young children are killed in a fire. Broadchurch’s David Tennant stars as local doctor Tom Kendrick, the only survivor of that fire who is under suspicion after the death of his wife and children. Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight) plays Jess Milner, a neighbor who’s been having an affair with Tom Kendrick.
DC Rose Dickson in Dept. Q is a breakout role for Leah Byrne, who shines in the part. With a background in theater, Byrne only had five television credits to her name before playing Rose in Dept. Q and they were all characters who appeared in one or two episodes. In Deadwater Fell, she plays a VF Nurse. It’s not a big part, but it is an opportunity to see Byrne early in her television career as part of an award-nominated miniseries.
2
‘Annika’ (2021 – Present)
Features: Kate Dickie and Jamie Sives
Release Date
August 17, 2021
Network
Alibi
Directors
Philip John
Writers
Nick Walker
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Anita Vettesse
Carmela MacGowan
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Hilary Maclean
Gaynor Gilbride
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Jamie Sives
DS Michael McAndrews
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Kirsty Strain
Trish Hendry
Annika is a BBC One black comedy crime series based on the radio drama Annika Stranded. There have been two seasons so far, with Nicola Walker (Mary & George) starring as DI Annika Strandhed, who leads the new Marine Homicide Unit in Glasgow, where she solves murders near the water. A third season is expected, but there’s no release date just yet.
Jamie Sives costars in the show as DS Michael McAndrews, a search diver and Annika’s second in command. The characters went to police college together. Kate Dickie, who plays Morck’s tough boss Moira Jacobson in Dept. Q, plays the head of Annika’s Marine Homicide Unit, DCI Diane Oban. Dickie excels at commanding authority, as is evident in both shows.
1
‘The Offer’ (2022)
Features: Matthew Goode
Release Date
2022 – 2021
Network
CBS
Showrunner
Michael Tolkin
Directors
Adam Arkin
Writers
Michael Tolkin
The Offer is a 10-part Paramount+ miniseries created by Michael Tolkin (Nine) and based on the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s classic 1972 gangster film, The Godfather. Miles Teller (The Gorge) plays film producer Albert S. Ruddy, with Dan Folger (Eric) as Francis Ford Coppola. The show did well and received three Critics Choice Award nominations, including one for Matthew Goode in the Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television category.
In The Offer, Goode plays Robert Evans, the head of Paramount Pictures. Evans is an impeccably dressed Hollywood legend who becomes crucial in getting The Godfather made. Unlike Morck, who doesn’t really care what he looks like and is too busy solving crimes, everything about Evans’s image is carefully curated.
You can view the original article HERE.
