Long-Awaited Returns

Alas we have TWO long awaited returns with The Art of Crime (May 7th) and the classic Nordic Noir police drama Beck (May 21st). 

Art historian Florence Chassagne (Eléonore Bernheim: Murder In…) and police captain Antoine Verlay (Nicolas Gob: A French Village) are back solving murders and thefts involving France’s greatest cultural treasures in The Art of Crime. Kicking off Season 6 is a feast for the eyes and the heart with a two-part mystery involving a stolen Manet.

Meanwhile, Season 9 of Sweden’s iconic Beck crime drama brings back the same cast of characters, including Steinar Hovland (Kristofer Hivju: Game of Thrones, Twin) and Martin’s grandson Vilhelm (Valter Skarsgård: The Sandhamn Murders), who is making his way through cadet training.

New Series from France and Switzerland

The two new series premiering May 14th on MHz Choice are both in French, but that is where the similarities end: All This I Will Give to You is set on a gorgeous estate in Aix-en-Provence, France while the darker Minor Offence is set in the gritty underworld of Geneva, Switzerland. 

All This I Will Give to You is based on the award-winning international bestseller by Dolores Redondo. After the sudden death of Aymeric (Alexis Loret: The Art of Crime, Unclaimed), his handsome family estate is left to the even handsomer Manuel (David Kammenos: Murderous Memories), who is Amyeric’s grief-stricken husband. Aymeric’s less-than-sympathetic family expects to continue owning the vast estate which includes vineyards, a castle, a personal chapel and a sizable staff. Aymeric’s surviving brother and mother are particularly incensed by Manuel’s inheritance of their ancestral lands. Manuel suspects Aymeric’s death was not an accident and begins to investigate with the help of local policeman Richard Saugier (Bruno Solo: Perfect Murders, Blood on the Docks). Family secrets are revealed to be deep and twisty. 

The vistas on the wine estate in Aix-en-Provence are as beautiful as the halls of Juvenile Court in Geneva are gritty in Minor Offence. Characters forming each leg of the Juvenile Court triangle have vastly different approaches to working with teens who are in and out of trouble. Their styles clash when a young girl disappears and suspicions focus on the young and impulsive Malik, who is all too familiar with the Swiss justice system. Anaïs Joly (Noémie Schmidt: Cheeky Business) is a social worker with a warm heart who works closely with judge Gabrielle Favre (Marie Gillain: Speakerine), who also has a warm heart but is stern when she needs to be. Sadya Keïta (Assa Sylla: Captain Marleau) has a tougher edge from growing up in the rougher neighborhoods of Geneva, which lends a unique intuition into what the teens are up to.

More New Seasons and Episodes

Not to be overshadowed by the other new and returning series, there’s more to watch this month on MHz Choice. 

The German historical crime drama Babylon Berlin continues on MHz Choice this month with both Seasons 2 and 3 premiering on May 7th and 28th respectively. Berlin in the Roaring Twenties continues to swirl around police commissioner Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) as the crimes he’s investigating quickly balloon into larger conspiracies based on real-life events. Underneath the gaudy “Roaring” part of the 1920s, Seasons 2 and 3 also touch on the Black Reichswehr (extra-legal paramilitary that was secretly part of the German military), the tumultuous weeks before the 1929 stock market crash, and internal political tensions within the young Weimar Republic. 

Returning to contemporary crime dramas, there’s no spoiler in sharing that Italian prison drama The King will debut its second season on May 28th, starring Luca Zingaretti as Bruno Testori aka “The King.” A different power dynamic is at play in the second season as new suspicions arrive inside the walls of San Michele prison. There are also two brand-new bonus episodes of the popular French mystery series Perfect Murders set to premiere in May.