Latest news with #coldcases
Arab News
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
REVIEW: ‘Dept. Q' — Netflix's cold-case thriller is fun but flawed
DUBAI: Netflix's latest police-procedural is set in Scotland, but based on the novels of Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ At its heart is detective Carl Morck (Matthew Goode). Morck is one of those cops; you know, great at his job but terrible with people, emotionally stunted, arrogant, divorced, et cetera. Morck and his partner — and best (only?) friend — James Hardy (Jamie Sives) are shot and wounded in a seemingly routine visit to a crime scene, leaving Hardy paralyzed and the junior officer who arrived first at the scene dead. Morck returns to work to discover that his boss has assigned him to head up a new department (established at the behest of her superiors) looking into cold cases — a good excuse to get the troublesome Morck out of the main office and into a dingy basement room where he can't easily bother anyone. He's assigned some assistance: Akram (Alexej Manvelov) — a Syrian refugee who's ostensibly an IT boffin, but, it quickly becomes clear, is also a very handy detective with some serious combat skills; Rose (Leah Byrne), an eager and capable cadet struggling with her mental health after a fatal accident at work; and, eventually, Hardy. Their first case is the disappearance and presumed death of prosecutor Merritt Lingard four years previously. The last person to see her alive was her brother William, but he's unable to communicate having suffered brain damage as a teen. The case's many tangents lead off into conspiracies, organized crime and more. The truth of it, though, is considerably more prosaic. The good news: 'Dept. Q' — as you'd expect with Netflix money behind it — looks great, with a gritty, noir-ish feel. There's a genuine chemistry between the members of the titular department, and it has an absorbing mix of dark humor and sometimes-horrifying violence. Sives, Manvelov, and Byrne, in particular, are compelling draws. Goode offers a largely convincing portrayal of a not-very-nice man attempting to become slightly nicer. It's enjoyable and easy to binge. But one suspects that 'enjoyable and easy to binge' wasn't the limit of the showrunners' ambitions, and 'Dept. Q' certainly shows the potential to be more than that. It's let down, however, by some horribly clunky storylines, not least the relationship between Morck and his assigned therapist Rachel (a wasted Kelly Macdonald), which appears to have been lifted from a discarded rom-com pitch. And many will likely find that the ultimate solution to the case stretches credulity well beyond their limits. Still, it's clearly set up for a second season (and possibly many more), and there's enough promise here to believe that 'Dept. Q' will find its feet and become a must-see — rather than a maybe-see — show.
Forbes
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Netflix's Best New Show Is One Of The Most Gripping Mysteries In Years
Dept. Q It opens with a bang. Three police officers shot in what appears to be a surprise ambush at the scene of a grisly murder. One is killed, another left paralyzed. The third makes it out easy – shot in the face with no major bones or arteries hit. DCI Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) survives the attack, but he's left even more curmudgeonly than before. The trauma sticks with him, no matter how badly he wants to pretend nothing's wrong. His partner, James Hardy (Jaime Sives) is recovering in the hospital, and Morck returns to the Edinburgh police force with nothing to do other than stew over the lack of progress in his case and deride the work of his colleagues. His boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Moira Jacobsen (Kate Dickie) is told by her superiors that they would like her to open a new cold cases department in order to tackle high-profile, feel-good cases that create good publicity for the department, and she sees this as an opportunity to confine Morck to the basement and offers him the job. And so Department Q is formed, in a shabby basement that was once, long ago, a shower and bathroom floor. Some spoilers follow, though obviously I won't reveal major details of the mystery. Dept Q Dept. Q takes place in Edinburgh and the surrounding area, as well as the fictional Scottish island of Mhòr (reached via ferry by way of the very real town of Oban). I just spent two weeks in Scotland and while much of the show was not actually filmed in Edinburgh, I did notice some scenes that were very obviously shot there, including one outside Greyfriars Bobby's Bar, with its famous Skye terrier statue out front. I ate lunch there one day on my travels, and my hotel was just a couple blocks away. I also spent a couple nights in Oban. Suffice to say, I was immediately intrigued by Dept Q when I first learned it was coming out during my Scottish adventure. The show is based on the Scandinavian noir books by author Jussi Adler-Olsen, though the story has been moved from Denmark to Scotland and thus qualifies as 'tartan noir'. It was adapted for the screen by The Queen's Gambit creator Scott Frank, who not only wrote but also directed most of the episodes. When Morck takes over the new department, he's given almost none of the resources promised to the department and has to beg and scrape for any kind of assistance. This comes in the form of Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov) a Syrian expatriate with a mysterious past that involved finding people who didn't want to be found. Akram is the polar opposite of Morck. Where Morck runs hot and is quick to anger, Akram is soft-spoken and courteous. He's also quite clearly the most dangerous man in the entire series. Dept Q They're eventually joined by DC Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne) who is tired of being confined to a desk after a personal meltdown two years prior and begs Morck for a spot on the cold cases team. Morck is given dozens of files to choose from, but it's Akram who chooses the case: A young prosecutor went missing four years earlier and was never found. No body was ever discovered and the case went cold. As a prosecutor, the woman – Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie) – had plenty of enemies, and the suspect list leads Morck and his colleagues down a twisty, turny investigation that leads to evidence of corruption, conspiracy and organized crime. Interspersed throughout the nine-episode series (which is three episodes longer than I expected from a mystery coming out of the UK) are various flashbacks to Lingard's past, though these are far less frequent than in other cold cases series like Unforgotten or Black Snow, which is a good thing. Both those shows get too bogged down in past storylines. Most of the show takes place in the modern timeline as the detectives track down leads, interview possible witnesses and suspects, and deal with personal challenges. Dept Q Where the show struggles most is juggling some of these storylines. There's a 'mandated police therapy' subplot that feels weirdly out of place. Kelly Macdonald plays Dr. Rachel Irving and as much as I like Macdonald, Irving and Morck's chemistry feels off. I'm also a bit tired of the 'reluctant cop goes to therapy' trope. There is also Morck's relationship with his stepson which takes up a bit too much screentime, though at least also leads to Morck's most humanizing moments and some genuine character growth. The nine episode run is probably too long, and Dept. Q could have benefited from tightening up the pacing and bringing us some closure a little earlier on. I genuinely enjoyed the entire thing – I watched it all in one sitting! – but I'd largely figured out the mystery much earlier (it's not a huge secret since we see Lingard in captivity and there are plenty of clues as to who her captors are) and one of the big twists at the end would have worked better if it had all come a little sooner. Nevertheless, despite feeling a little bloated compared to tighter UK series like Slow Horses or Happy Valley, this was still an incredibly entertaining mystery with a wonderful cast. Matthew Goode is phenomenal as the acerbic DCI Morck, but so is every other actor on the series. The dour, grey mood of the show is lightened by plenty of moments of humor. And while there's not a ton of action, this only makes the bursts of violence that much more shocking and intense. Dept Q If you're a fan of cold cases mysteries like Unforgotten, Scottish mysteries like Shetland or crime shows in general, please do yourself a favor and check out Dept Q on Netflix as soon as possible. I rarely watch an entire show in one sitting (and granted, I only set out to watch six episodes and was surprised by the extra three) but the mere fact that I did should tell you how much I enjoyed this one – either that, or how tired and lazy I felt as I recovered from jetlag from my own journey through Scotland. Hopefully this is a smash hit and more of Adler-Olsen's books are adapted for Netflix. Certainly the season ends with an eye to the future, and I for one would love to join Morck and Akram and Rose and Hardy and all the rest on another case. Only maybe next time we could get some of the Scottish highlands as well. Have you watched Dept Q yet? What did you think? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dept. Q to Adults: the seven best shows to stream this week
'Do you ever wonder why people hate you?' Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) never seems unduly concerned about this question. Carl is a rogue cop: brilliant on his day but relentlessly abrasive and traumatised by a shooting. His bosses don't know what to do with him, so they bury him in a back office with a couple of other misfits and dump a huge file of cold cases on his desk. It's difficult not to think of Slow Horses, but Dept Q struggles to hit similar heights. The characters lack comparable depth and the dialogue never quite stings or soars. However, as Morck reopens the case of a missing prosecutor, his relationship with lackey turned saving grace Akram (Alexej Manvelov) adds levity. Phil Harrison Netflix, from Thursday 29 May Getting houseshare comedies right is tricky; living circumstances can't be too bleak but err in the opposite direction and you're left, Friends-style, with waiting staff occupying prime New York real estate. This latest attempt (by Tonight Show writers Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw) is at least scrappier and more plausible than that – the slightly boilerplate gen Z characters work dead-end jobs and ponder OnlyFans stardom to boost their meagre incomes. There's hedonism, romantic misadventure and existential doubt. It all feels a little broad but, as is the case with adulthood generally, it's fine once it gets going. PH Disney+, from Thursday 29 May This documentary series explores an extraordinary (and still unsolved) true crime story from the US. In late 1982, people started dying after using over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol. It soon became obvious why when tests found pills tainted with cyanide. But how did it happen? Theories abound, all of which are explored here. But an extra layer of complexity arrived in the shape of James William Lewis, who attempted to extort $1m from the manufacturers of the drug by offering to stop the murders – but whose timeline seemed to clear him of the poisoning itself. PH Netflix, from Monday 26 May The F1 Academy is an unforgiving school: young drivers have just two years to prove themselves. This latest behind-the-scenes sport series follows the 15 young women of the academy through the 2024 season and delves into their backstories. As the tension mounts, individual rivalries develop and cracks begin to show. The racing itself feels less predictable than the often process-driven world of F1, so it's an exciting prospect for petrol-heads, but also a trailblazer for increased female participation in a traditionally male-led sport. PH Netflix, from Wednesday 28 May Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion Jessica Biel (with her impressive swishy bob) and Elizabeth Banks star in this soapy thriller about estranged sisters, based on Alafair Burke's bestselling novel. Biel plays Chloe, a high-flying media type who lives an idyllic life with her lawyer husband Adam (Corey Stoll) and their teenage son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). When she returns to a blood-splattered home and finds Adam's body, her sister Nicky (Banks) – who isn't doing quite as well in life – reunites with her to untangle some buried family history that might explain the murder. Hollie Richardson Prime Video, from Thursday 29 May No angry single-horned creatures here, sadly: 'unicorn' is a term for a privately owned startup worth more than £1bn. This intense Thai drama is a loose telling of a true story and involves a bitter rivalry in the world of express delivery couriers. Eager young driver Santi decides to launch his own company, but when he approaches tycoon Kanin to suggest a partnership, the ruthless entrepreneur simply steals his idea. Cue a tale of underdog business ambition that doubles as a revenge thriller – before long, the rivalry between the two companies escalates to a dangerous degree. PH Netflix, from Thursday 29 May Jason and Allison Flom's children's book – about a bulldog who looks in the mirror and sees themself as a rhinoceros – was an LGBTQ-coded parable about diversity, self-identification and acceptance. This animated TV version is set in an ultra-cute world in which no setback is a match for Lulu's relentless positivity and kindness. It's a message that (sadly) feels timely and even gently subversive in the current climate. Lulu is voiced by Auli'i Cravalho (of Moana fame) while Leland (the resident songwriter on RuPaul's Drag Race) provides the soundtrack. PH Apple TV+, from Friday 30 May
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cornyn, Welch introduce the Carla Walker Act to help solve cold cases
May 22—WASHINGTON U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) on Thursday introduced the Carla Walker Act, which would dedicate existing federal grant funds to support forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) DNA analysis and help solve previously unsolvable cold cases. The bill is named for Carla Walker, a Fort Worth native whose murderer was finally identified 46 years after her death with the help of this advanced technology. "Fort Worth native Carla Walker was abducted in a bowling alley and tragically murdered in 1974, but it took more than four decades and the advent of forensic genetic genealogy DNA analysis for her killer to be identified and brought to justice," said Sen. Cornyn. "I am proud to have authored this legislation, which would make this cutting-edge DNA testing technology more widely available to law enforcement so they can better identify and prosecute offenders, solve cold cases, and bring closure to victims' families." "Advancements in forensic DNA technology have revolutionized our ability to combat crime. In Vermont, detectives were able to use forensic genetic genealogy analysis to help provide answers to a family who thought they might never come. We've also seen how this technology can be a powerful tool in giving those wrongly accused a chance to clear their names," said Sen. Welch. "Our bipartisan bill will help investigators across the country harness the incredible power of FGG technology to crack cold cases and deliver justice to countless victims and families, and I'm thankful for Senator Cornyn's leadership on it." U.S. Congressman Wesley Hunt (TX-38) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives. Background: Typically, when a suspect's identity is unknown, a crime laboratory uploads the genetic material recovered from a crime scene into the FBI's national database to search for DNA matches between the forensic sample and any known offenders. While this traditional form of forensic DNA profiling only examines 13-20 Short tandem repeat (STR) DNA markers, forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) technology examines over half a million Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) that span the entirety of the human genome. It does so by cross-referencing shared blocks of SNP markers to identify relatives of the genetic profile by uncovering shared blocks of DNA. This enables criminal investigators to build family trees that ultimately help determine the sample's identity and solve cases. Carla Walker was abducted from a bowling alley parking lot in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 17, 1974. Her body was found three days later in a drainage ditch 30 minutes south of Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Police Department was able to collect a few forensic samples and clothing items from the crime scene, but law enforcement could not solve the murder due to limited forensic technology at the time. Carla's brother, Jim Walker, never stopped searching for answers and nearly 50 years later, FGG DNA analysis was conducted on the last remaining DNA on a piece of Walker's clothing, which led to a successful DNA match with the McCurley family and ultimately identified Glen McCurley, Jr. as the killer, who confessed in 2021 and died in prison on July 14, 2023. Sen. Cornyn's Carla Walker Act would create a pilot program to make this cutting-edge FGG DNA analysis more widely available to investigative agencies to: — Aid in resolving previously unsolvable cold cases; — Assist in the identification of criminals; — Seek justice for previously unidentified victims; — Help exonerate wrongly accused suspects; — And bring closure for the victims' loved ones.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
Detectives' true crime podcast helps dig up breakthrough in case that haunted family: ‘drew audible gasp'
What started as a way for a pair of two Illinois detectives to crowdsource tips to solve decades-old cold cases ended in a shocking discovery. Detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian were looking to breathe new life into unsolved cases by launching the true-crime podcast, "Somebody Knows Something," in October 2024 at the request of Elgin Police Department Chief Ana Lalley. Their goal centered around using modern investigative technology to potentially bring closure to local families. "We both kind of looked at each other and said, 'No, I'm not really sure that's for us'," Vartanian told Fox News Digital. "Then we took a step back, were open-minded in our thinking and objective, and thought that this could be a really good vehicle to utilize investigative processes within law enforcement." Missing Woman Found After More Than 60 Years, Sheriff Reveals What Really Happened The pair combed through open cold cases within their area, zeroing in on the disappearance of 23-year-old Karen Schepers in 1983. "Our thought was, depending on whatever case we started with or if we did multiple cases, there may be people that are outside of Illinois and outside of our region that might have known about some of these cases," Vartanian said. "So it was the right thing to be able to get that information out there to be able to get answers for the victims and families." Read On The Fox News App Schepers was enjoying a night of celebratory drinks with coworkers at P.M. Bentley's in Carpentersville, Illinois – located 45 miles outside Chicago. Schepers was the last of the group to leave the bar at approximately 1 a.m. on April 16, 1983, and neither she nor her 1980 Toyota Celica were ever seen again, according to the Elgin Police Department. Body Of Missing Washington State Grandmother Found Buried Under Shed Partially Encased In Concrete Even though the community had countless theories of what may have happened to Schepers, including the possibility something happened to her on the way home or when she arrived at her destination, the case ran cold. Schepers' disappearance remained an open investigation for 41 years, and was briefly revisited by the Illinois State Police in the late 1980s and again by investigators in 2010. "In 2008 [and] 2009, we did a bunch of billboards for that case and tried to generate media interest," Houghton told Fox News Digital. "A lot of DNA was put into the national databases that were kind of new on the scene at that time, so that was the new technology then." Fox Hollow Serial Killer's Secret Tapes Could Reveal Murder Horrors If Ever Found: Documentary Despite the multiple attempts to solve what happened to Schepers, detectives were unable to follow any major leads, until the department launched "Somebody Knows Something." "When we started to look at the Karen Schepers case, we realized that we could put everything out there because we had no idea what happened to her," Vartanian said. "Whether it was an accident or if it was something intentional, and then anything in between. There was so much time that had gone by, we knew that there was a lot of content that could be there." With permission from her family, Houghton and Vartanian began digging for new information regarding Schepers, using a mix of old-fashioned police work while leaning on updated technology. Missing Wisconsin Teen Found More Than Two Months After Disappearance "This was very much an old-fashioned 'talk to people, get in a car, go knock on doors, go drive around' type of investigation," Houghton said. "Investigations for any of our cases are still like that, but this was much more like that in the fact that we had to go look and see what roads existed in 1983? What bodies of water existed in 1983? Because it's very different now than it was then." The pair hit the pavement, talking to locals in the area who knew Schepers to paint a picture of her final moments on the morning she went missing. Houghton and Vartanian worked to determine what route Schepers took home, along with researching the weather conditions and other details that may have contributed to her disappearance. As the detectives were pouring over print media, they discovered the nearby Fox River was flooded at the time of Schepers' disappearance – a key break in the case that prompted them to call in expert divers to search the body of water. Luxury Florida Mall's String Of Murders And Kidnapping Have One Thing In Common: Retired Fbi Agent "Interestingly enough, we would get a lot of tips from people that were saying, 'There's no way she's in the river'," Houghton said. "'It's too shallow, I fish there, I boat there.' However, there are different parts where the river might be two feet deep or one foot deep, and there are other spots where it's [up to] 15 feet deep, so it really depended on where you were looking." On March 24, 2025, the Elgin Police Department called in Chaos Divers, a non-profit team of independent divers specializing in underwater recovery, to search the river. In a dramatic end to a four-decades-long mystery, Schepers and her vehicle were found. "As we each heard the news that her car was found, time stopped while we drew an audible gasp," Schepers' family said in a statement. "When it started back up again, our lives took a new path that finally included the answer to 'Where is Karen?' This question has been haunting all who knew Karen for many years." 'Dating Game' Serial Killer's Rise To Fame Was Key To His Downfall, Arresting Officer Reveals For First Time The divers were able to recover Schepers' vehicle while keeping the structure intact, allowing investigators to use dental records to identify her skeletal remains. "With this case, it was a bit of a unicorn in the fact that we had no idea what happened to her," Houghton said. "Don't be afraid to fail, don't be afraid of looking foolish. Because at the end of the day, the goal is to find this person and we did that in this case. If we do this five more times and this is the only time it works out, so be it. But if you do this five or 10 times, and you find one case or solve one case, it's totally worth doing that for that family." Houghton and Vartanian are already planning on the next case to revive in the second season of their podcast, telling Fox News Digital it will likely be a homicide investigation. Houghton and Vartanian were able to provide her 90-year-old mother with two items recovered from her vehicle – her sapphire birthstone ring and class of 1977 high school graduation tassel – providing a sense of closure for Schepers' loved ones as the mystery surrounding her disappearance finally comes to a close. "We hope for continued success on each and every cold case," Schepers' family said. "Miracles do happen."Original article source: Detectives' true crime podcast helps dig up breakthrough in case that haunted family: 'drew audible gasp'
