Matthew Goode is better than good in this cold case series.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 14, 2025

I would love for Dept. Q to become a big hit and garner a much-deserved sophomore season sooner rather than later.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 26, 2025

In the hands of The Queen’s Gambit, Godless and Monsieur Spade showrunner Scott Frank, the story zings, delivering compelling drama with a nice side order of dark humour.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2025

Yes, the crime bits are bit warped, morbid and voyeuristic (for my tastes anyway), but the cast are great, and it’s adapted and directed with such verve, style, wit and pace by Scott Frank, you can hardly not enjoy it.

Full Review | Jun 20, 2025

Netflix’s Dept. Q indulges in plenty of detective-story tropes, but manages to build an elegant, well-performed, twisty mystery out of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 20, 2025

The vibes are creepy and gritty, the characters are gruff and direct, the puzzle is properly intriguing, and the English are frequently mocked.

Full Review | Jun 20, 2025

Very British-TV in spirit, though set in Edinburgh, Netflix’s Department Q is more than a serviceable crime thriller. Instead, it’s an engaging watch, with the right amount of camaraderie, suspense, and mystery to keep you glued to the screen.

Full Review | Jun 17, 2025

As grim as it can get, “Dept. Q” offers a world of viewing pleasure.

Full Review | Jun 12, 2025

Goode has a gift for portraying charismatic unlikability... Here, he captures Carl's reflexive haughtiness yet also lets us glimpse the revealing moments when he registers the existence of people other than himself.

Full Review | Jun 12, 2025

Dept. Q feels like a work in progress - not unlike its protagonist, it's a mess with real promise beneath it all, a diamond waiting to be cut and polished.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 11, 2025

No, this isn't Apple's hit Slow Horses, but Dept. Q takes many of its cues from the Gary Oldman series, with diminishing returns.

Full Review | Jun 10, 2025

There's a superb balance between all its elements, including a tone that isn't afraid to veer sharply between funny and cheesy. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 10, 2025

Yet where [Slow Horses] gives James Bond a caustic, kitchen-sink makeover, Dept. Q is in the more formulaic tradition of a downbeat cop caper, the characters are both uniformly world-weary and fuelled by mordant wit.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2025

A cornerstone of crime dramas and thrillers is that the characters aren’t perfect, squeaky-clean archetypes of justice. In Dept Q, they’re never completely washed away, and that makes for a compelling series.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 5, 2025

Dept. Q, a serviceable new Netflix crime thriller with a title that’s evocative of James Bond, and a premise more than a little reminiscent of Slow Horses.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 4, 2025

Though there are parts of the yarn that seem underdeveloped or even superfluous, the central crime and its slow unravelling makes for compulsory viewing.

Full Review | Jun 3, 2025

Dept. Q leans heavily into Nordic noir influences (bleak landscapes and secrets buried under polite silences) but adds a distinctly Scottish flavour.

Full Review | Jun 3, 2025

Is this the first attempt at nationalist noir we see before us? Dept Q is too savvy for that, but it has its moments when anything seems possible, and that’s entertaining enough for now.

Full Review | Jun 2, 2025

Dept. Q Season 1 is a worthy entry into the gritty crime-thriller genre, with a charismatic cast and an enticing, if occasionally predictable mystery.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 2, 2025

There’s no shortcutting with expositional magic or handwaving: just file-reading, interviews, and follow-ups until the pieces start to fall into place. That makes the resolution deeply satisfying because it’s earned.

Full Review | Jun 2, 2025