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This month’s international dramas includes lighter watches, among them the comedy St. Maik. Maik is a quick-thinking con man, but an impromptu disguise leads him into a long-term charade as a parish priest. Other feel-good series are the lawyer-centered Munch from France and the coming-of-age drama Mafia Only Kills in Summer, from Italy. My favorite so far is a crime thriller – Sweden’s Top Dog – which doesn’t involve the police. Instead, two outsiders from their own respective corporate and criminal worlds must solve a kidnapping together – not on behalf of law and order, but for their own futures.

See all of the international period dramas, mysteries, epics, thrillers and detective procedurals under the Walter Presents umbrella. By May there will be more than 95 series, many with multiple seasons!

Top Dog, Season 1

The curator of Walter Presents gives an introduction to the Swedish thriller Top Dog, above.

Two worlds collide in Stockholm, bringing together unlikely collaborators. Corporate lawyer Emily (Josefin Asplund of Vikings, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) is an outsider within her firm, but she is desperate to make partner. Ex-con Teddy (Alexej Manvelov of Before We Die, Occupied, Chernobyl) has just finished a 10-year sentence related to his involvement with a close-knit Serbian criminal gang. Both Emily and Teddy are trying to improve their lives but are always at odds with the people around them. The two loners need each other’s help to uncover who is behind a crime that has unsettled both an elite company and the criminal underworld. The series is from the producers of the international hit The Bridge. In Swedish with English subtitles.

Binge Top Dog, through December 31, 2024.

St. Maik (Sankt Maik)

In this German comedy, con artist Maik Schafer (Daniel Donskoy) trades his fake train conductor’s suit for a real priest’s garb while trying to escape a job gone wrong. Standing in for the new vicar in the Catholic parish of Lauterberg, Maik finds himself caught up in the parish members’ fates and fortunes. He’s got problems of his own: his brother is stuck in Berlin with 50,000 Euro debt to a crime boss. At the same time, choir leader and police officer Eva Hellwarth shows interest in the new vicar–though in a different way than Maik had hoped. A review on Amazon put the series in PBS context: “Not as serious as Grantchester or as over-the-top as the Vicar of Dibley, this hits just the right note.” From Walter Presents, in German with English subtitles.

Binge St. Maik through December 31, 2025

Interns, Season 1

Due to some drastic preventative health measures, the doctors in charge of the hospital’s intern department find themselves quarantined. Hold on: don’t turn away if you’re tired of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was written well ahead of it, premiering on French television in 2018. Three inexperienced interns and a medical examiner dive into their heavy responsibilities in the absence of their supervisors, unaware that this temporary quarantine is about to be extended indefinitely. Kelly Luchtman of Foreigncrimedrama.com warns that the show is “not for the squeamish,” and gives it a 90% satisfaction rating. In French with English subtitles.

Binge Interns, February 16 through December 31, 2024

Mafia Only Kills in Summer, Season 1

Salvatore and his family try to avoid involvement with the Mafia in Palermo, Sicily, during the 1970s. This touching coming-of-age story has its share of dark comedy. In Italian with English subtitles.

Binge Mafia Only Kills in Summer, February 23 through December 31, 2025

The Miracle Years

Follow three sisters of an industrialist family in post-World War II Germany. In a politically, morally and economically destroyed country, these young women in West Germany reinvent themselves and set the course for their future. From Walter Presents, in German with English subtitles.

Binge The Miracle Years through December 31, 2023.

A Murder of Crows

Tormented by the past, haunted by the present, Martin Bruhl is still a brilliant investigator. Unable to eat or
rest until a case is solved, Martin’s colleague and lover knows his secrets. Each episode is a new case. In German with English subtitles.

Watch A Murder of Crows , through March 30, 2025.

The Crimson River, Season 2

Old-school police detective Pierre Niemans and his former student Camille Delaunay tackle complex, brutal murder cases with unsettling rituals in this thrilling French crime drama. From Walter Presents, in French with English subtitles.

Binge The Crimson River through March 31, 2025

Inspector Ricciardi, Season 1

In 1930s Naples, police commissioner Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi possesses a unique skill. He can see the ghosts of people who have died violent deaths and listen to their final thoughts. We haven’t seen this series yet and it sounds very similar to River, set in contemporary London. In Italian with English subtitles.

Binge Inspector Ricciardi, through December 31, 2024.

Sisi: Austrian Empress, Season 1

Witness the rise of Empress Elisabeth of Austria – Sisi – Europe’s superstar. With her beauty, love of freedom and promise to give the Habsburg monarchy a gentler face, this legendary empress inspired the whole continent of Europe. Sisi captured the modern public’s imagination starting with Romy Schneider’s break-out roll in the Austrian film Sissi (1955), which had two sequels. In German with English subtitles.

Binge Sisi: Austrian Empress, through December 31, 2026.

The Paris Murders: Seasons 1, 2, 3

Intuitive profiler Chloe Saint-Laurent solves the most puzzling cases with the Paris homicide division in this suspenseful and fast-paced series based on actual criminal cases. Her exceptional sensitivity enables her to read the minds of killers and victims alike. From Walter Presents, in French with English subtitles.

Binge The Paris Murders through December 31, 2025

Inside Suspicion, Season 1

Alice lives a normal life as a happy mom, until her whole world is turned upside down: Thomas, her husband—and the father of her child–is suspected of being Antoine Durieux-Jelosse, an infamous assassin who vanished after murdering his entire family 15 years earlier. In French with English subtitles.

Binge Inside Suspicion, a two-part season, February 16 through June 30, 2025.

Bella Germania, Season 1

The title suggests the two cultures crossing in this drama about generations of a German-Italian family. The German production stars Natalia Belitski, Silvia Busuioc, Alessandro Bressanello and Denis Moschitto. It opens in Munich in 2018, when Julia Becker (Natalia Belitski) finds out that her father is still alive. What else has been kept from her and why? This sprawling family drama spans generations and nations, posing the question, does love truly conquer all? In German with English subtitles.

Binge Bella Germania, February 16 through December 31, 2024

Acquitted (Frikjent), Season 1

This drama ranks as one one of the most watched series in Norway. Aksel Borgen returns home to a village in a stunningly beautiful area to save an ailing local firm from bankruptcy. Though he was acquitted of it, Askel was accused of murder 20 years earlier. The town hasn’t forgot what happened, and the murder remains unsolved. In Norwegian with English subtitles.

Binge Acquitted, February 17 through December 31, 2025

Something to Hide, Season 1

Family. Career. Everything in Claude’s life is a success. Then one day, his beloved grandson Lucas accuses Claude of rape in this drama based on the true story of Christian Iacono. In French with English subtitles.

Binge Something to Hide, February 23 through January 31, 2025

Raven (Kruk), Season 1

The expressions on these two men’s faces make for the creepiest show art photography I’ve seen among the scores of Walter Presents series. The man with the neck brace and – tears in his eyes? – is Detective Kruk, who is convinced to go back to his hometown in Bialystock, Poland, to work on a cigarette smuggling case. He’s married, takes opioids for his back pain and is reluctant to return because of bad memories of living in an orphanage there. While pursuing his smuggling case, a young boy’s disappearance in the village triggers something more personal for Kruk. In Polish with English subtitles.

Binge Raven, from February 23 through December 31, 2024

The King of Warsaw

This Polish series is set in 1937 Warsaw, when Jewish gangsters siding with communism clash with fascist antisemites and residents boast their elegant capitol was “the Paris of the East.” This crime syndicate story centers on boxer Jakub Szapiro, who aspires to rule Warsaw’s underworld. The series, based on Szczepan Twardoch’s novel, is about violence, the lust for power and maintaining it at all costs. A gang sows fear and submission in the Polish capital in the years leading up to World War II, using political conspiracy and gangster bloodletting to try and shape a nation. From Walter Presents, in Polish with English subtitles.

Binge The King of Warsaw, through December 31, 2024.

Munch, Seasons 1 & 2

Lawyer Gabrielle Munchovski – Munch – is devoted to justice and leading her law firm. Bold and irreverent, she will cross any line in defense of the innocent and marginalized. We haven’t seen this one, but the light-hearted legal drama ran for six seasons in France. In French with English subtitles.

Binge Munch, February 23 through December 31, 2025

Pulled Apart

This is the rare 90-minute film within the Walter Presents collection. A baby, only a few months old, is hospitalized. The doctors immediately suspect the parents of child abuse and refuse to listen to anything the parents offer as an explanation. It’s an incredibly moving story of how human lives can be blown to bits by insidious rumors and blind justice. In French with English subtitles.

Watch Pulled Apart, February 23 through November 30, 2024

Dicte, Season 1

Newly divorced crime reporter Dicte Svendsen returns home to Aarhus with her teenage daughter in tow. Plagued by painful memories of growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness and of the son she was forced to give up, Dicte’s new chapter is marred by the ghosts of her past. What’s more, her ex-husband remains irritatingly close to home. In Danish with English subtitles.

Binge Dicte, February 24 through December 31, 2025

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More international Walter Presents dramas will continue to arrive on Thursdays and Fridays, through May 4.