Beck returns to our screens (the original Scandinavian detective, not the alternative rock singer-songwriter etc). Series 7 starts with a typically disturbing storyline, addressing serious social issues as usual – about 20 minutes after having retired, Martin Beck gets bored and goes back into the office. Whatever happened to work-life balance and Scandinavia setting a good example?
Based on the original novels Beck would be about 95 years old so retiring seems well overdue, but Swedish detectives are clearly made of sterner stuff (and age very well).
Series 5 and 6 might turn up again on the iPlayer and all previous series are available on DVD (with English subtitles). However, episodes 1-15 were only released as Region 1 sets and might need a bit more effort to track down (10 minutes on eBay?).
Otherwise, the original series of 10 novels is well worth reading (if you haven’t already), to find out where a lot of crime fiction since the 60s got its ideas from.