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Last week, I reviewed the series Sherlock & Daughter. Tina learned about the Bethnal Green Underground Library in London from the book Hidden Libraries.

I knew that I wanted to watch Dept. Q when I saw the first ten seconds of the trailer with two of my favorite actors, Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Dancing on the Edge, The Crown, The Duke) and Kelly Macdonald (Operation Mincemeat). Also, the trailer has some funny moments.

As it turns out, Kelly Macdonald’s role is small, but vital, and the humor is needed to balance the darkness in this series. I started to watch Dept. Q previously and didn’t make it past the first scene, so I recommend sticking it out a little longer.

Although DCI Carl Morck (played by Matthew Goode) is a detective, this series feels more like a thriller than a detective show. We see quite a bit of the story through the victim’s eyes so we often know more than the police and we’re rooting for Morck and his ad hoc team of oddballs to hurry up and figure it out.

We enjoyed that many of the characters are deeply flawed, but also end up being likeable, in spite of themselves. The characters are complex and so is our experience as viewers.

This video is fun and gives a good overview of the starting situation, as summarized by the actors.

Have you seen Dept. Q? What did you think?