The Swedish crime drama Beck has returned to the BBC iPlayer and BBC Four, with two feature-length specials for 2025. Continuing the long-running series about homicide cops in Stockholm, the new films see the further development of Martin Beck’s grandson, Wilhelm, from beat cop to junior detective.

Beck: Vilhelm

Wilhelm Beck (Valter Skarsgård) has not recovered well from his ordeal at the end of season 10 – a traumatic hostage situation. Now as an early responder to a burglary, he and his partner discover a man shot dead and Wilhelm is twitching – literally – to investigate the case. Even though it’s two steps above his pay grade as a patrol constable, he starts trying to gather information on his own.

Stockholm’s serious crime section has changed plenty since we last saw Beck back in 2023. The mischievous and self-serving chief Klas Freden has been replaced by a woman – Ebba Ståhl (Nina Zanjani) – who is introducing Toyota management principles in order to supposedly find new efficiencies. Martin Beck (Peter Haber), originally the central character and just about the only one left from the novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, has been moved to a group investigating robberies and burglaries. Alex Beijer (Jennie Silfverhjelm), introduced in season seven, now heads the homicide team.

Alex doesn’t appreciate Wilhelm’s interference, but new boss Ebba regards it as initiative. Rather than reprimanding Wilhelm, she promotes him to Alex’s team.

Wilhelm sees police procedure and his fellow detectives as an impediment to solving the case and goes rogue a number of times trying to track down the motorcycle-riding watch thieves at the centre of the case. Meanwhile, longstanding team members Oscar Bergman (Måns Nathanaelson) and Jenny Bodén (Anna Asp) seem more inclined to try a new restaurant than immediately track down leads. Wilhelm appears to be the new loose cannon, taking over from Steinar Hovland, who is absent this time around, and Josef Eriksson (Martin Wallstrom). The latter now seems like the voice of reason despite his own prior infractions.

Perhaps the outcome in the first of the two films – entitled Wilhelm – is more violent than might have been the case without Wilhelm’s haste, or perhaps justice is achieved because of it. You can be the judge. What you’ll witness is a story driven by desperation on both sides of the fence, with themes about abandonment, broken families, fate and fortune. Either way, Alex’s team pays a high price.

Beck: The Invisible Man

The first film is good. The second, entitled The Invisible Man, is even better. The department are in mourning and down three key players. The opening scene sees a man with a camera lurking in a young woman’s bedroom, filming her sleeping. Creepy! It’s not too much of a spoiler to say that the first big twist is that the victim isn’t this woman but a man found in bed with his throat slashed.

It turns out that the victim was a follower of Victor Roos, an Andrew Tate-style character promoting an alpha male philosophy based on strength, discipline and fighting. Wilhelm continues to take centre stage, accompanying Alex to a lecture by Roos, who offers masculinity training weekends, preparing the next generation of alpha males for a return to a male dominated society.

However, there are other dimensions to the case, which go back to the man with the camera, who climbed onto the balcony and broke in. This brings Martin Beck on board as it links to a case he’s working on. In a nice touch, the plot here is reminiscent of the third novel in the original Martin Beck series of books by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, The Man on the Balcony.

If you’ve followed the series since 2015 (what we called season five), you’ll notice the change in format from four hour-long, single-case episodes to two in-depth 90-minute mysteries. This harks back to the two Beck ‘specials’ of 2009 and 2010, when Oscar and Jenny were new to the team and Gunvald Larsson was still around. Who doesn’t miss Gunvald? It seems the writers have tried to create characters in a similar vein with Steinar and Josef, but neither quite has the presence Mikael Persbrandt brought to the programme.

Throughout recent seasons, Martin Beck has been less prominent in the series that bears his name while various other characters have come to the fore. He’s like a wise old sage now, doling out advice on seeing the police psychologist, following detective instincts or consoling his old comrades. There’s a sad moment when he stands on his balcony with a brandy and looks across to his neighbour’s now empty balcony. If you know, you know.

Now, new writers and a new director are developing Wilhelm to become the central character in the series – he is a Beck, after all. There are no spirits on the balcony for him, but there is an interesting contrast between him and his grandfather. Martin is careful, introspective, slow to judgement while Wilhelm is impulsive, frustrated and hot headed. He begins to recognise this in himself in The Invisible Man and it’s cleverly done.

Airing on BBC Four at 9pm on Saturday 9 August and Saturday 16 August 2025, these two new Beck productions are well worth your time. Beck has been going since 1997, it has evolved plenty, but still delivers gripping plots, an exploration of social issues, and a slightly different take on life. You’ll also be able to stream them on BBC iPlayer here.

If you love geeking out on Nordic noir, it’s worth noting that Valter Skarsgård is the son of Stellan Skasgård, who has appeared in various crime productions from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to River. In fact, Stellan Skarsgård played Martin Vanger in the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the same character Peter Haber played in the Swedish version.

A note on series numbering. How Beck episodes are broken down into different series differs from source to source. The BBC has now removed past seasons of Beck from the iPlayer and hasn’t given these 2025 episodes a season number. To us they would be season 11. Other sources might regard them as season 10.

Did you know there are plans for a Wallander remake? More details here.