Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole… Harry Hole, although while in Norwegian, his surname is pronounced “Hoo-lay”, in the UK, it just sounds like a hole in the ground.
Then again, the detective, played by Tobias Santelmann (Marcella), does often find himself in tight spots, not least with his internal demons, since he’s still haunted by a bank robbery he didn’t stop, which led to the death of a civilian, and a car chase after the baddie, still unidentified, which led to his partner dying on the job.
It’s not shy to throw in a bit of slight and/or dark humour from time to time, though, such as when it shows him going to a psychologist, and it’s HE who is the one that lies on the couch!
His cop partner, now, is Ellen (Ingrid Bolso Berdal – Westworld), but I don’t envy some of the location they travel to, especially when I saw a scene of someone diving into a swimming pool, but it’s really grimy as hell… eww! Give it a clean!
There are a few too many clichés at times, such as how Harry has a messy love live, such as living in a shitty flat, while listening to vinyl only. Somehow, he’s managed to achieve a girlfriend, Rakel (Pia Tjelta), who has a son from a previous marriage, while also being a not-very-well-functioning alcoholic, and with an angry police captain, who looks a bit like Glenn Morshower from ‘24‘!
There’s not only just that, but while there’s a killer on the loose who’s leaving a strange curiosity with each victim, Harry has another cliché where he has a case he needs to solve, but is told he can only do it on his own, *in his own time*, AND keep it on the down-low!
However, while most of the cast is Norwegian, the team also includes forensic expert Beate Lønn (Ellen Helinder) who’s Swedish, and a bit like Channel 4’s Patience, in Beate’s case being able to memorise tons of details about criminals, as if she’s a human database.
Oh, and as someone once said: “Opinions are like arseholes: Everyone has one”… sadly, the same goes for arsehole colleagues, and while normally seen in English-speaking roles, The Suicide Squad‘s Joel Kinnaman (actually born in Sweden) plays Harry’s colleague, Tom Waaler, who drives a flash car, stays sober, and has the second-highest clear-up rate after Hole. Snotty get!
Still, despite any slight issues, as comedian Frank Carson said, “It’s the way I tell ’em”, and when brought to the screen Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole comes together in a brilliantly engaging fashion, gripping you from one episode to the next.
Plus, a heads-up that there’s a “Coming soon” at the end of episode 1 – which does show at that point that there’s a lot more to come, even if you were blown away by the opener – but if you want to avoid spoilers 100%, you might want to skip that segment.
Personally, I’ve not read the Harry Hole books, nor seen any previous adaption, so I’m coming to this fresh. I did love 2011’s Headhunters, based on his novel, but I didn’t realise a 2022 mini-series had also been made from that work, so I need to catch up with that, too.
Score: 8/10
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole is on Netflix from tomorrow.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-65 minutes per episode (9 episodes)
Release date: March 25th 2026
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.20:1
Series Directors: Øystein Karlsen, Anna Zackrisson
Producer: Tor Arne Øvrebø
Novel: Jo Nesbø
Creator: Jo Nesbø
Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
Cast:
Harry Hole: Tobias Santelmann
Tom Waaler: Joel Kinnaman
Rakel Fauke: Pia Tjelta
Ellen: Ingrid Bolso Berdal
George: Aleksander Varadian
Higgins: Dahlberg Anders
Viktor Møller: Magnus Kjørrefjord
Nathan: Nathan Andre Augusto
Beate Lønn: Ellen Helinder
Sverre Olsen: Arthur Hakalahti
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.