Dept. Q is a Netflix cop drama based on the Department Q crime novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.
The crime series follows top homicide detective Carl Morck, played by The Imitation Game’s Matthew Goode, who is burdened by guilt after a violent attack left an officer dead and his partner paralyzed. His confidence shattered, Carl is happy when he’s tasked with setting up a new cold case department called Department Q, as he realizes it’s little more than a PR exercise and he’s happy to be sidelined. But after a while his instincts kick back in and Department Q, which is filled with misfits and mavericks, becomes an unlikely force to be reckoned with. Sounds like the Netflix version of Slow Horses doesn't it?
Other cast of Dept. Q, formerly called Department Q, include, Kelly Macdonald, James Sives, Shirley Henderson, Leah Byrne, Chloe Pirrie and Mark Bonnar. Here’s everything we know about the Netflix series Dept. Q so far…
Dept. Q release date
Dept. Q is a nine-part series that launched worldwide on Netflix on Thursday, May 29, 2025.
Is there a trailer for Dept. Q?
Yes a trailer for Dept. Q has just been released by Netflix which show's Matthew Goode's detective Carl Morck squeezing a tennis ball as he talks to his therapist Dr Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald) while trying to comprehend the death of his best friend. Take a look below...
Dept. Q plot
Dept. Q follows DCI Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) who's a brilliant homicide detective for Edinburgh police but a terrible work colleague, mainly due to his razor-sharp sarcasm. After a terrible incident he blames himself for a shooting that leaves a young PC dead and his police partner paralysed. That’s why, on his return to work, he’s surprised to receive a promotion, setting up Department Q to look into cold cases. Carl soon realises that the department is nothing more than a box-ticking operation but he is happy to while away the hours doing very little police work. The department is a PR stunt, there to distract the public from the failures of an under-resourced, failing police force that is glad to see the back of him. But more by accident than design, Carl starts to build a gang of waifs and strays who have everything to prove. Carl isn’t alone in the basement for long and is soon joined by fellow misfits DC Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne) and Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), who also have something to prove to their boss DCS Moira Jacobsen (Kate Dickie).
Initially Carl isn’t interested in investigating the cases assigned to his new department and spends much of his time tormenting his therapist, Dr Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald). But when the stone-cold trail surrounding the disappearance of ambitious prosecutor, Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie) some years ago starts to heat up, Carl is back doing what he does best and that's rattling cages and refusing to take no for an answer. Carl’s former partner, DI James Hardy (Jamie Sives) is also on-hand with his expertise, yet as the team begin to sift through the city’s secrets they soon find themselves in more danger than they could have imagined.
Dept. Q cast — Matthew Goode on playing DCI Carl Morck
Matthew Goode, who plays the troubled detective Carl Morck in Dept. Q. In our exclusive interview Matthew says: "Carl is aggressive and rude, but I loved his sense of humour. He’s a complicated character and you see him warts and all across the series. He's a horrible colleague but a terribly brilliant detective. I think he’s going to be a bit divisive to viewers at the start, but hopefully they learn to love him!
"The real genius of the show is the way all the characters are drip fed to the audience. Akram for instance was actually a detective in Syria who decided to flee the country when the Civil War broke out. He started working his way up from the bottom in Edinburgh. Carl underestimates him quite a bit at the beginning, but their relationship really develops and by the end they’re close friends.
"It’s a very dark case the team investigates and they have no idea just how dark it is at the star. It takes Akram and Rose to convince Carl that Merritt’s disappearance is a mystery worth solving, but once the darkness of the case gets its hooks into him, he wants to find the answer.
"The story takes us to some scary and horrifying places, but it also has this layer of comedy woven through it, which I loved. Often you don’t expect to be laughing, but you are! I suppose it’s a love letter to how bloody difficult and psychologically affecting it is to work in this field."
* Matthew Goode previously starred in the series The Good Wife, playing Finn Polmar, and in the final series of Downton Abbey. He’s also been in The Imitation Game, The King’s Man, The Discovery of Witches, The Duke, The Crown and The Hatton Garden Job.
Who else is starring in Dept. Q?
The Queen’s Gambit’s Chloe Pirrie is prosecutor Merritt Lingard while Alexej Manvelov is Akram, Carl’s assistant. Line of Duty’s Kelly Macdonald is Carl’s therapist Dr Rachel Irving and Leah Byrne is cop DC Rose Dickson and (Alexej Manvelov) plays detective Akram Salim. Kate Dickie plays their boss DCS Moira Jacobsen. James Sives plays Carl'\s former colleague DI James Hardy. Mark Bonnar, Shirley Henderson and James Sives also star.
Chloe Pirrie says: "What attracted me was the chance to work with Scott Frank (the series director and head writer) again after The Queens Gambit. He’s so wonderful and so supportive of his actors and just a proper class act who helps you work at the highest possible level you can. So he contacted me about the show and sent me the script. I wasn't familiar with the books, so I quickly read them and could see what a great drama they would make. Scott’s idea also intrigued me of blending a Scandinavian crime noir with a Scottish setting – it felt like it could be a really interesting tonal combination. I was also really intrigued by Merritt — she's an enigmatic, strange and flawed person who goes through hell."
Behind the scenes, locations and more on Dept. Q
Dept. Q was filmed in Edinburgh in 2024. Written by Scott Frank, Chandni Lakhani, Stephen Greenhorn and Colette Kane, the series has been produced by Left Bank Pictures for Netflix.
Scott Frank says: "I really loved the books and author Jussi (Alder-Olsen) gave me the rights to them back in 2013. Initially, I wasn't thinking of adapting it myself. I had done a lot of crime projects, and I really wanted to do something different. When I was prepping The Queens Gambit in Berlin, Rob Bullock (Executive Producer) got in touch about the project, and flew over to ask me if I wanted to do something with them. I said I'd love to, but I didn’t have the time as I was about to shoot this other show. So he suggested that Left Bank took it on and did it as a British production. I loved that idea because I love British crime series. Happy Valley is my happy place! Broadchurch, Prime Suspect - my wife and I tear through them all. So it wouldn't have happened if Rob hadn’t made the trek out to Berlin."
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