Crimes for Days

Looking for new hidden gems to watch? Interested in crimes and foreign languages? This might just be the list for you!

First and foremost, this list will only be relevant to people who are subscribed to Netflix. If you are a crime show fanatic like I am then you must have watched a number of American shows such as CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Castle, Criminal Minds etc.

I grew up with cable and these were my go to shows. When I switched over to Netflix, I found gems from all over the world, and in many different languages. If you are not someone who enjoys foreign shows (having to read subtitles) then I am sorry to say this list is not for you. I do know Netflix also dubs their shows in English (but as far as I am concerned the dubs sound ridiculous).

These shows, in my opinion, surpass any of the crimes show which I previously listed. Having a whole season focused on one single crime is so much more interesting to me than having 24 episodes with 24 different crimes. You get to delve much deeper into the history of the people affected.

The list of shows I will share come with trigger warnings such as, self harm, violence, sexual violence, gore, and drug use.

If you are still interested after all these important points then please enjoy my list of 5 favourite foreign crime shows! (These are not in order of preference.)

1. The Valhalla Murders

This show is Scandinavian set is Iceland. It is gritty and dark and serious. It revolves around sexual abuse which happened at an orphanage. Though there are no sexual violence scenes, the subject of the show revolves around sexual abuse. There is a serial killer in town and the deaths are soon connected to sexual assaults that had happened in an orphanage years back. The subject is therefore brought up often. If you are not good with this type of subject, I suggest you skip it, though it really is a great show. It makes you think about important subjects which are 'taboo' yet so important to be shared.

2. Black Spot

This show is easily one of my favourites. It is a French show from Belgium with two seasons currently out. It has a supernatural aspect to it making it different from the normal crime show. It is set in a remote town, surrounded by deep woods with secrets to tell. The lead is a female detective, and her performance is amazing. I love the dark, gloomy atmosphere in which the village is set in. Although only two seasons are out I am waiting for a third one as the story is still not finished and there are so many more secrets viewers can expect to discover.

3. Tabula Rasa

I highly recommend Tabula Rasa as it has some horror elements to it. The show keeps you at the edge of your seat, wondering till the end whether the story has supernatural elements to it or not. The jump scares fit perfectly with the ambience of the show and they are not cheesy or misplaced. I enjoyed Tabula Rasa so much I wanted there to be a second season, though it was highly improbable as the story does finish in the first season, leaving nothing more to be discovered. This show is not a Netflix original, it first aired on Eén, a Dutch channel from Belgium so unfortunately it does not have English dub available.

4. Hôtel Beau Séjour

Another French show from Belgium. This one has a definite supernatural aspect, what with the main character being a ghost. This might seem a bit like a spoiler but you do find out she is dead at the very beginning of the show so I hope you'll excuse this little bit of information. The main character wants to find her murderer, which can be kind of hard while being a non corporal being. Nevertheless, she manages it and the ending has an amazing twist. This show kept me guessing the whole time and the actors were amazing.

5. The Mess You Leave Behind

This show is in Spanish (from Spain). The main character is a teacher who accepts a new position at a school. She soon finds out that the teacher she is replacing is now dead, apparently by suicide. Only, she receives an anonymous threat which makes her doubt her predecessor really did commit suicide. Throughout every episode the point of view changes from the main character's' story and parallels what she experiences with what the previous teacher experienced. This show was so well done with the back and forth, and not confusing at all. It kept me guessing and interested the whole way.

Hope this small list has been helpful. As I've written before, I absolutely love foreign shows and crime shows are my go-to comfort shows. There are way more than 5 on Netflix but I did not want to make this list overwhelming. I chose my favourites only!