1950s crime drama: Crimes of Passion

I am very excited that BBC4 has finally announced Crimes of Passion will be broadcast soon! I thought you might appreciate an advance warning, as it can be easy to miss good programmes coming up away from BBC1 and BBC2, and Doctor Who seems to be capturing the world's attention right now. I love Swedish crime dramas, I love old crime fiction, so what could possibly be more exciting than a Swedish crime drama set in the 1950s? That's all sorts of good things in one! And the first programme is being broadcast at the end of August.



The programme has been described as 'Mad Men meets The Killing', and the storylines as 'whodunnits'. The novels the episodes were based on were written between 1949 and 1958, so a little earlier than Mad Men – and as each episode is a complete case, I'm wondering how the comparison to The Killing arises, as that's one case to a series. The overall feeling I got from the trailer was one of cool remoteness, of trees and lakes and that amazing northern daylight that lasts for 24 hours in summer. If anything, it felt more reminiscent of Wallander, not that it's always easy to gauge a show from its trailer. Still, we don't have long to wait before Crimes of Passion is broadcast and we can all find out for ourselves, and you can bet I'll Tivo it.

According to The Guardian today, BBC4 is also going to be running a gothic season, including a programme on gothic rock. As seeing The Sisters of Mercy on Top of the Pops was mindblowing to teenaged me, I'm very much looking forward to that, and taking a little trip back to the 1980s, though I do hope there's something on old horror movies too... could it be too much to hope that they broadcast a few Universal classics for Halloween?