Marcella, a case of Nordic noir and psychological trauma

Marcella, a new series from the British ITV channel, seems to have passed through the European market without making that much of a fuss, despite having been bought up by Netflix. With an eight-episode first season, the TV series comes from the pen of Swedish scriptwriter Hans Rosenfeldt, the creator of the magnificent Danish/Swedish co-production, Broen (The Bridge), which spawned an American version that did not do so well.

Rosenfeldt tends to combine Nordic noir with portraying heroines with apparent psychological problems. If in Broen the main character, Sara Noren, suffered from a tremendous case of autism, in Marcella we find ourselves before a female detective suffering from the trauma of terrible blackouts, brought to life by the impeccable acting of Anna Friel. Just as accomplished is the work of Laura Carmichael –Lady Edith in Downton Abbey– and Jamie Bamber –Lee Adama in Battlestar Galactica– as well as that of the veteran Sinéad Cusak, better known for her appearance in Much Ado About Nothing (1985), being the wife of Jeremy Irons and a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Filmed entirely in London, with a small but significant appearance of the white cliffs of Dover, the series follows the tradition of other fictional female detectives, such as Olivia Colman in Broadchurch, Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley or Lindsay Denton in Line of Duty.

As often happens in these cases, not all aspects of the drama work equally well, with some plot dead-ends and an ending that led its followers to kick up a stink on Twitter. However, this falling short in its resolution far from cancels out its many good points. Marcella is fully recommended as a welcome addition to the growing ranks of modern-day series worthy of your time.