Department Q - Blog Posts

Carl should be thinking about the case but instead, he’s daydreaming about his therapist. 👌

(Completely Unofficial) Morck Merch. We need some.

Already in love with them ❤️

Drawn in Procreate using Liliyth Enchanting Girls brushes and the Netflix Department Q Trailer for references.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59334226

(Sucker for a slowburn ❤️🔥).

Morckin’ about is the only thing to do on Sundays. 📷 References from Netflix and @pleasereadmeok on Insta 📷

A little Matthew montage to celebrate our first sightings of Carl Morck. Whoop. Thank you, Netflix. 🥰

⬆️ Mørck and Rachel Fan Scribbles (rushed and imperfect but tried to capture the feelz) based on some photo edits I did a while ago. The idea is that Carl and Rachel end up in a beachfront cafe after a windswept walk. The photo edits below are how it starts and the Procreate sketch above is where it’s heading…

The (improbable) scenario rambled on a bit a lot so I put it on AO3. Still wondering what these two characters will be like; hoping they’ll lead us on a merry dance; still hoping for some sneak peeks from Netflix soon. ☺️

⬆️ Fan-art-photo-faffing for Department Q; Carl Mørck (played by MG) at a Greasy Spoon - Part 3; all made up/just for fun whilst we patiently await the show

Let’s call this ‘Variations on an MG-string’ - Mørck’s mood from cool to warm to abso-bloody-lutely (re: Mona/Rachel, of course). This series of edits imagines a meeting between Carl and Rachel at a beachfront cafe after a windswept walk. Perhaps it’s Portobello Beach. Perhaps it’s a date. Or could turn into a date. Who knows.

📷 ⬆️ Original photos/screenshots by Uli Weber, @asgoodeasgold and from Downton BTS 📷 Edited using Procreate 🖌️🎨

Hurry up Netflix and give us some info so I can stop overthinking it! 😂 Can’t wait!

⬆️ Fan-art-photo-faffery using Procreate - photos of MG and KM edited just for fun to make them Carl and Rachel on a Department Q theme as I read the books

That cheered Carl up at least 🙃

There is a scenario for this somewhere in my addled brain. But, for now, let’s just guess what’s tickled him. I love MG’s cheeky grin in the @asgoodeasgold screenshot. Can’t wait to see what he does with Carl Mørck. I think I’ve said that before… 😂

I’m enjoying messing around on Procreate again. Photoshop would probably be the better platform but I’d need to take some serious lessons. Maybe in the summer holidays.

⬆️ Original photos (not mine; borrowed and played around with just for fun). From @asgoodeasgold, Getty (?) and whynow.co.uk

[90s filter just had to be done for the legendary Kelly]

Carl’s trying (and failing) to enjoy a cup of tea in a greasy spoon on the beachfront. Who’s sitting opposite him, I wonder… 🤔

📷 Photo faffing (imperfect and just for DQ fun) - original photo of MG by Uli Weber for Style Italia and of the greasy spoon from whynow.co.uk blog 📷

Fan Art - Carl Mørck - Department Q (using Procreate)

Carl Mørck in his beautifully brooding glory. This Procreate sketch/paint tries to capture my love for this character, the amazing Department Q books and the beautiful Matthew Goode, who will be playing him on Netflix. Hurrah.

Based on a photo from the Hackett SS24 Campaign, as seen on @asgoodeasgold feed on Instagram. Sketched first and then faffed around with different brushes and effects. A Mørck Metamorphosis, you might call it 🙃 Can’t wait for the Netflix series.

Saturdays are for sketching. Sketching Matthew Goode, to be precise. My spatial awareness is worse than useless so I used a photo to get the outlines/proportions [see below] and then messed about with filling in using various brushes in ProCreate. Cheating really. Got carried away adding more hair because @asgoodeasgold has officially declared this to be Windswept Weekend with her epic, rugged reel from this morning. Also because I’m reading Department Q (have I mentioned that already?!) and am Carl Mørck obsessed 😂

The sketches aren’t finished - set myself a one hour time limit. I always over-faff sketching and so I’m trying to practise getting the impression of something/someone and then moving on before ruining it.

📷 Original photo from Hackett SS24 campaign as posted by @asgoodeasgold on Instagram 📷

⬆️ Photo-collage-fan-faffery / the wanderings of my mind as I read the Department Q books

Windswept scenario - Department Q

Above is another (imaginary) candid snap of ‘The Carl and Rachel dance’. It’s early on in the dance - book 2 ish - at the point when the screenwriters have forced them together on the beach (somehow?!) and there’s such a vibe: he’s definitely interested but she still needs a lot of convincing. It’s a bright day but breezy and stickily, saltily damp; the sea spray is everywhere and the fresh air is electric between them. They’re asked to pose for a photo (who knows why?!) and Carl leaps at the opportunity to put his arm around her. It’s a touch - a contact - that’s not happened before. The warmth of him makes her stomach churn deliciously and she dips her gaze and smiles at the realisation. The camera catches the moment. Then the contact is broken. They look coyly - sideways and both suppressing smirks - at each other before continuing along the beach with the rest of the group.

[Cut to some dark, harrowing kidnap scenes - this is a thriller after all].

—

In the books, Adler-Olsen gives only the most tantalising glimpses of ‘The Dance’ between these two. Hence my ramblings 😂 I wonder how the dynamic will pan out in the show. Towards the end of Department Q Book 1 in Carl’s internal monologue, he confesses to being ‘crazy’ about her, despite her wearing a wedding ring (which is later removed). Adler-Olsen leaves us to guess what changes her mind eventually. But if Carl Mørck looks like Matthew Goode it’s not that much of a mystery, is it? 😂🫠

📷 Original pics from @asgoodeasgold (I’m so envious that these are actually your pictures I could cry) and Wikipedia; faffed around with, inexpertly, by me 📷

Photo collage/edit (see previous post)

“He drew her towards him, holding her so tightly not even a blade of grass could get in between. She really was exceptionally gorgeous, fragrant and appetising almost beyond belief.”

~ Jussi Adler-Olsen, Guilt (Department Q Book 4, translated by Martin Aitkin)

These are actual words in the book about the Carl and Mona/Rachel dance. And it’s not the only time Carl thinks about how good she smells. Just saying. For anyone who needed to know. 😂

I’m half way through Department Q Book 3 and Carl is pretty into Mona, from the tiny snippets JAO gives away. I need more MG charm in the story so, instead of tidying the kitchen and getting on with work, I tried some more photo faffing using the 📷 above (by Female First website and Philip Sinden) and here’s what I came up with:

‘A candid snap of Carl and Rachel at the messy end of a post-work social (that Carl didn’t want to go to). They’ve tried to sneak off together but got side-tracked in the doorway: Carl pulls her in, playfully, towards him and she can’t resist. The photo, though, is a bad idea as far as Rachel’s concerned. Carl hasn’t even noticed they’re being watched (he’s tired, as usual, and she smells just too good).’

In my mind, this is where the ‘Carl and Rachel dance’ is at, @asgoodeasgold 🖤

I need to work on my photo editing. It’s fun. But I lose focus before my brain is onto the next thing. I’d love to try photoshop but feel fully overwhelmed every time I look at it.

Carl ended up looking exasperated. By himself or Mona/Rachel? Only time will tell.

Mixed media photo and Procreate faffing about as I enjoy reading Department Q and wait patiently for the Netflix show.

📷 Orginal photos by BBC drama and David Calder on Facebook 👌

Work in progress: faffing about with photos of these two [📷 original photos from BBC Drama and David A Calder on Facebook] whilst reading/pondering Redemption (DQ Book 3).

Mona is fleeting and enigmatic in the books. I’m not sure about her but I suppose that’s the point if she’s there to help us unpick/deepen the tangle that is Carl. I wonder what Rachel/Mona will be like in the series. We know she and Carl ‘fascinate’ each other, so hopefully the character might be less enigmatic in the show 🤞

Hurry up, Netflix. Please give us a peek of him!

Procreate sketch ✏️ based on fabulous 📷 shared on facebook by David A Calder - Department Q shoot on Portobello Beach

Can’t get enough of the Department Q books. Normally this genre isn’t my thing (too much of a scaredy cat) but the link with MG was too tempting and now I’m hooked. Difficult, awful subject matter but Carl Mørck is such a comedic and compelling character that I can’t help but read on. Great writing and translating, in my opinion.

I’m currently on Book 3. Made myself a silly bookmark; I know MG’s photo isn’t right AT ALL (from the glimpses we’ve had of filming) but hopefully there’ll soon be some promos from the show and I can make a better one🤞

📷 photos (edited into a montage) from Netflix, The Times and BBC Drama