Kurt Wallander

The writer Henning Mankell has sold a lot of books. Some of them are actually very, very good. Some of them aren't. Mankell is erratic in a way that, for example, Dashiell Hammett never is — even Hammett's lesser works are well worth reading whereas Mankell's can easily be abandoned half-way through — and even at his best Mankell tends to plod where Hammett soars. Mankell is no genius. It's good news for him, then, that the BBC picked the Irish actor Kenneth Branagh, who is a genius, to play Wallander in a three part series. Parts one and two have already aired, part three airs the 31st, on PBS. Also forthcoming soon on DVD. Branagh's performance as the imperfect detective who copes the best he can is magnificent, stunning. Supporting cast is marvelous. The plot lines are a bit odd, but that's how Mankell wrote them. Well worth watching.