Dept Q: Matthew Goode told 'don't read' novels before filming Netflix's answer to Slow Horses - cast, plot & release date
Matthew Goode has revealed that he was instructed not to read the novels his new Netflix crime thriller series is based on before filming.
Dept Q is a new series from the streaming site, following Goode as Detective Carl Morck. The show is based on the Danish crime-noir novels written by Jussi Adler-Olsen, with Dept Q’s Netflix adaptation instead swapping Copenhagen for the streets of Edinburgh.
The 47-year-old actor has now revealed that show creator and director Scott Frank, who was also behind huge hit The Queen’s Gambit, advised him not to read the crime novel series before filming the new series.
Goode said: “He (Scott) said to me, ‘don’t read the novels’, because he also made me English, which made him [Carl] an outsider, and so I was able to develop with Scott a really brilliant sort of socio-political, economic, sort of history of what we thought this English version of Morck would be.”
What is Dept Q about?
Dept Q follows the story of Detective Morck who is entrusted with leading a new team of detectives tasked with solving some seemingly impossible cold cases from a basement in Edinburgh. At the same time, Detective Morck is grappling with his guilt after witnessing his partner get shot and paralysed and another young cop killed.
The show will appeal to fans of the Apple TV+ spy-thriller series Slow Horses, with Detective Morck teaming up with other cast-out misfits within the force to crack the case.
Netflix’s official synopsis reads: “DCI Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in Edinburgh police. After a shooting that leaves a young pc dead, and his partner paralysed, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Department Q; a newly formed cold case unit.
“The department is a PR stunt, there to distract the public from the failures of an under-resourced, failing police force that is glad to see the back of him. But more by accident than design, Carl starts to build a gang of waifs and strays who have everything to prove. So, when the stone-cold trail of a prominent civil servant who disappeared several years ago starts to heat up, Carl is back doing what he does best - rattling cages and refusing to take no for an answer.”
Who is in Dept Q?
Alongside Goode, who stars as main protagonist Morck, other actors starring in Dept Q include:
- Kate Dickie as Moira Jackson
- Alexej Manvelov as Akram Salim
- Leah Byrne as Rose
- Kelly Macdonald as Dr Rachel Irving
- Catriona Stirling as DC Wilson
- Chloe Pirrie as Merrit Lingard
- Mark Bonnar as Stephen
- Shirley Henderson as Claire Marsh
When is Dept Q out on Netflix?
Dept Q will be released on netflix UK at 8am on Thursday, May 29. The entire season will drop at the same time, meaning that it will be ready to binge at your leisure.
Netflix subscriptions start at £5.99/month for the cheapest plan, with more expensive, premium plans available. For more information, visit the Netflix site.