The Investigation

The Investigation (BBC Two) has been an elegant series about an ugly crime. Over six sombre, sober episodes, it told the story of the Copenhagen police investigation into what became known as “the submarine case.”

Writer and director Tobias Lindholm resists portraying the murder and its perpetrator as masterful and instead turns the lens on the grinding policework and overwhelming sense of familial loss left in Wall's wake. This makes "The Investigation" feel laborious in its pacing at times, deliberately so, rendering it authentically poignant in a way that's unique for crime dramas.

Through Lindholm’s telling, the story of Kim Wall becomes less remote; she is not merely a victim but the reason the story matters at all. ... The Investigation doesn’t soften or tame any of the details. But Lindholm’s approach, in focusing on all of the people and all of the effort that had to go into the case, brings things back down to earth—and marks a next step in the evolution of the true crime genre.

Superficially, The Investigation has all the usual ingredients of a true-crime drama. Grizzled male public servants, plucky sidekicks, angry parents. Yet between the cinematography, which makes even the winching of a submarine out of the water an artistic event, the excellent lead performances, and a script that works on the accumulation of small details rather than fireworks, it is elevated into something far more engaging.