- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Alison Graham
A boat bearing the bodies of two heavily tattooed men, their tongues and mouths destroyed by chemical torture, is washed up on the Swedish shore at the start of this adaptation of Henning Mankell’s The Dogs of Riga. The dead men are identified as Latvian thugs, and a detective from the country’s capital, Riga, flies to Ystad to help Kurt Wallander with his inquiry. Fans of The Killing and Borgen will recognise the cop as Soren Malling; he drinks Kurt’s booze and smokes endless fags as he mooches around Ystad police headquarters and crashes on Kurt’s sofa being enigmatic and not saying much.
But Kurt (Kenneth Branagh), who is once more pale, red-eyed and alone, has to spring into action when the investigation takes a bad turn, and flies to Riga where he is monitored and threatened.
There are moments for relaxation, though, when his hangdog charms overwhelm a comely widow. He’s a fast worker, that one.
About this programme
2/3. Two bodies are discovered on a life raft in Ystad harbour, the victims having been shot through the head and had their tongues burnt off with acid. The heavily tattooed corpses reveal links to the Russian mob and are instrumental in proving the men originated from Latvia, so Major Karlis Liepa, an officer with the country's police department, is sent to work with Wallander. But an anonymous phone call, a shooting and a break-in at the police HQ soon convince Wallander of a leak in the investigation - and he immediately suspects Liepa. Guest starring Soren Malling (The Killing), with Kenneth Branagh as the world-weary detective.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Kurt Wallander
- Kenneth Branagh
- Baiba Liepa
- Ingeborga Dapkunaite
- Maj Karlis Liepa
- Soren Malling
- Inese Berzins
- Anamaria Marinca
- Ann-Britt Hoglund
- Sarah Smart
- Nyberg
- Richard McCabe
- Lennart Mattson
- Barnaby Kay
- Stefan Lindeman
- Mark Hadfield
- Kristina Albinsson
- Rebekah Staton
- Col Aleksandr Murnieks
- Zoltan Butuc
- Col Jazeps Putnis
- Arturs Skrastins
- Sgt Niklavs Zids
- Rad Kaim
- Leo Berkalov
- Arvydas Dapsys
- Sergei Upitis
- Dragos Bucur
- Erik Jacobsen
- Ciaran Owens
- Jan Holmgren
- Jim Bywater
Crew
- Director
- Esther May Campbell
- Producer
- Sanne Wohlenberg
- Writer
- Peter Harness
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