I signed up for a free month of Britbox to try Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous police inspector.

First episode is based on the #5 book Sidetracked.

Emmy-award-winning director Philip Martin was hired as lead director. Martin worked with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle to establish a visual style for the series. …

Like Branagh, Philip Martin did not watch any of the Swedish-language Wallander films so that he could bring a fresh interpretation to the films.

It is well done.

Branagh, born in Belfast, is terrific. Perfect as the flawed detective with many demons.

But Tom Hiddleston tends to steal every scene in which he appears.

It was Branagh who later asked Hiddleston to audition for the film Thor.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.