Walking onto any TV set is a thrill - and having followed Department Q since Jussi Adler Olsen's novels were first developed into a Netflix series, the chance to visit the sound stages of Edinburgh's FirstStage Studios was even more thrilling. The second season began filming in the Scottish capital in June, and is due to continue until October. I was given the chance to go behind the scenes and speak to some of those behind the success of Dept Q.
The set includes maverick detective Carl Morck's New Town flat. It's four times the size of any actual property so it can accommodate the cameras, lights and crew, as well as the characters who are supposed to live there. The attention to detail is extraordinary, from the half full jars of jam on the kitchen surfaces to the takeaway menus and personal trainer ads on the side of the fridge.
Elsewhere, a steep flight of gloomily-lit stairs lead to the basement where Morck and his misfits are based – the abandoned shower quarter of the fictional police station which gives them the name Department Q. There are showers, and some of the most disgusting-looking toilets I've seen since Trainspotting - perhaps a homage to Leith's other great cultural export. Everything looks as if the characters have simply stepped out for a moment.
The biggest set is the interior of the police headquarters – an open-plan office with personal effects on each of the desks and boards of photographs and details of the fictional cases they're working on. Inside the office of Det Ch Supt Moira Jacobson (Kate Dickie) there are even more files, including the cold cases she passes to the team in the basement. There's a bravery award in her name on the wall, and a peek in her diary reveals a series of appointments, meetings and to-do lists.
The concrete pillars and swirling sixties carpets look like they could be part of the brutalist Argyle House building in the city centre which doubles as the exterior of their headquarters – but they've all been built from scratch. The only headache for executive producer Rob Bullock is that the actual building is now earmarked for demolition. "I am very sad that I've had to use otherwise I would be down there with a suitcase of money begging them not to demolish this building - because it IS department Q," he jokes.
The building's future is secure until at least 2033, when the current lease runs out – but with 10 books in the series, the production team isn't taking any chances. They've already begun scanning the building in case a digital recreation is required. It's all part of the framework which American showrunner Scott Frank started to build when he persuaded Netflix to locate the show in Scotland three years ago.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
