This is the time of year when broadcasters fill the schedules with dramas that they’ve bought in from elsewhere. The shows that they’ve spent considerable time and money on are saved for the months when it’s colder and darker, and we’re more likely to be spending our evenings in front of the TV. So here is The Turkish Detective on BBC Two, a crime drama acquired from Paramount and launched with little fanfare.
Based on the Inspector Ikmen novel series by Barbara Nadel, it’s actually pretty decent. The best thing about it is the lead performance from Haluk Bilginer. It’s one you’ve seen before – hoary old detective with decades of experience and a twinkle in his eye runs rings around the criminals while teaching his young sidekick a thing or two about getting results – but Bilginer is a joy to watch. Those of you with long memories, specifically for characters in 1980s EastEnders, may remember him as a dodgy bloke called Mehmet Osman.
We see Ikmen through the eyes of newcomer Mehmet Suleyman (British actor Ethan Kai), who was born in Turkey and has just returned after an unhappy spell in the Metropolitan Police. Despite that experience, Suleyman is green when it comes to dealing with Turkish gangsters.
Ikmen has his quirks, which include a crumpled appearance. “You see, in these kinds of situations I think my wife is right – I should learn to use an iron,” he says, turning up at a glitzy party. He takes a slice of birthday cake into the interrogation room and offers it to a suspect. He despairs that Suleyman isn’t more au fait with the works of Dickens. But what we have here is a good character in search of slightly better plots.
Each mystery spans two episodes (there are eight episodes of this series in total) and the first involves a 19-year-old bride-to-be found murdered. Is the killer her controlling father, her dodgy fiancé or her secret boyfriend? There are forays into the world of drug trafficking but this isn’t dark enough to be truly gripping, nor funny enough to be a light-hearted treat. It is somewhere in the middle, a comfortably enjoyable watch.
It is mostly conducted in English, with some conversations subtitled. The Istanbul setting is attractive and the production values are high. A high-speed chase is more impressive than it needs to be for a TV series at this level. The director, Niels Arden Oplev, made The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, so this is no two-bit enterprise. It’s a satisfactory crime series to keep you going until the autumn goodies come along.
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