Monstret

I watched several episodes of Beck on German TV recently. So far, "Beck: Das Monster" (German title) is my favourite episode of the series - and, maybe I should add, the others are similarly interesting.

Together with Cracker(UK) and quite a few of the German Tatort crime series, this is as good as crime stories get.

What makes 'Beck - Monstret' so interesting is the storyline: The police gets a warning call indicating that there is a time-bomb in a red suitcase in front of a police precinct. The suitcase is quickly found and the bomb squad comes to investigate. They find that there is something that might be a trigger mechanism, but they can't find out much more and so have a robot drive the suitcase to a nearby place and detonate it.

Afterwards the police finds out in shock, that instead of a bomb there was a little baby hidden in the suitcase, and it might be possible, that the police killed it (forensics can't find out for sure whether the baby was dead before or whether it was alive).

Beck is called in to investigate.

While Beck is an inspector, the series bears certain similarities to "Cracker" (UK series; Robbie Coltrane plays "Fitz" a psychologist supporting the Manchester police). In both series, it is not the crime itself, that is the central point of interest, but in both series, the people and circumstances around the case are highlighted. And in both cases, we get to see the personal sides of the main characters...

If you have a chance to see these, seize the opportunity. :) (Even more so if you liked Cracker as well).