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Color Page 2 • Terre Haute Tribune-Star • September 3 - 9, 2023 Some of television's favorite detectives are hot on the trail of chilling cases across Europe as PBS welcomes back two crime dramas for season premieres on this side of the pond. "Unforgotten" and "Van der Valk" debut back-to-back season premieres on Sunday, Sept. 30. "Van der Valk" premieres the first in- stallment of its three-episode third season following the titular cynic detective Piet Van der Valk (Marc Warren, "Flack") as he combs through the criminal underbelly of idyllic Amsterdam to solve the city's murders. A reboot of the 1972-1992 series of the same name starring Barry Foster ("Maurice," 1987), both series are inspired by the "Van der Valk" detective novels by author Nicolas Freeling. The character's stories have been adapted not just for TV but for radio and film as well. In the season premiere of "Van der Valk," the detective chases leads in the murder of a prominent freerunner. Con- nections in the case to Amsterdam's drug scene send Van der Valk on a mission that puts his street smarts to the test. Maimie McCoy ("All Creatures Great and Small") stars as Insp. Lucienne Hassell, with new additions this season, Django Chan-Reeves ("Industry") as Sgt. Citra Li and Azan Ahmed ("Mood") as Sgt. Eddie Suleman. Emma Fielding ("Sanditon") returns as Van der Valk's boss, commis- sioner Julia Dahlman, and Darrell D'Silva ("Domina") is back this season as forensic pathologist Hendrik Davie. London-set drama "Unforgotten" stars Sanjeev Bhaskar ("Yesterday," 2019) as DCI Sunil "Sunny" Khan and new addi- tion Sinéad Keenan ("Showtrial") as DCI Jessica James in its fifth season of cold case deep dives. Each six-episode season centers on one decades-old case reinvigorated by newly discovered evidence. The much-anticipated upcoming season of "Unforgotten" kicks off with a puzzling first case for the newest member of the cold case unit. A bit stiff and overly professional in her new role, DCI James is sent to Hammersmith, London, to inves- tigate the discovery of remains that could possibly date back as far as the 1930s. Uncovered during restoration work, it is not immediately clear which of the antiques in the historical home could be contemporaneous to the remains. The team must quickly figure out how to work together if they are going to construct a timeline that could very well span a century. Returning this season are Carolina Main ("Foundation") as DC Fran Ling- ley, Jordan Long ("Prime Suspect: Ten- nison") as DS Murray Boulting, Pippa Nixon ("Angela Black") as DC Karen Willetts, Georgia Mackenzie ("Casu- alty") as pathologist Dr. Leanne Bal- combe and Michelle Bonnard ("Blind- spot") as Sally Field, Sunny's partner. Fair warning that spoilers lie ahead that reveal the events of the fourth sea- son of "Unforgotten." If you are caught up on the show, then you already know who is missing from cast members returning for the new season. "Unfor- gotten" said goodbye last season to the beloved DCI Cassie Stuart, portrayed by "Annika" star Nicola Walker. Stuart's tragic on-screen death imitated life in a way for Bhaskar, as he told Mas- terpiece in a 2021 interview, that between scenes at Stuart's bedside in hospital, "We were all sitting around talking about 'Hey, do you remember when... ?' 'Do you re- member the first day you were on set?' It was that weird, weird thing of the energy mimicking the scenes that we don't see between them." Losing such a central character is mere- ly a creative challenge for "Unforgotten" series creator Chris Lang, who told Mas- terpiece that he and Walker worked on her exit from the show together over two seasons, asking her to stay for Season 4 so that he could, "Write [her] a proper story." Inspired by how American dramas like "Breaking Bad" deal in big swings, Lang added, "Writing out your lead — it's quite a challenge there to move forward, but it's a really good challenge." coverstory BY SARAH PASSINGHAM Marc Warren in "Van Der Valk" In the mood for mystery: Detective dramas return with back-to-back premieres The life and career of one of television comedy's most iconic actresses got justified attention in a recent HBO documentary, and logically, much of that project focused on her eponymous 1970s sitcom. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" remains in evidence weekdays on Catchy Comedy, and it continues to hold up beautifully, thanks in no small part to the smart writing that began with series co-creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns. The saga of Mary Richards, a local-TV-news producer negotiating her so- cial life as well as her career, also had a major benefit in what Moore – whose company produced the series – understandably called "the best ensemble cast" when she addressed the studio audience after filming the final epi- sode. Edward Asner, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman all got their own spinoffs, with Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight and Georgia Engel also contribut- ing mightily to the sophisticated fun. Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Knight in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" "Mary Tyler Moore" still makes it after all classiccorner BY JAY BOBBIN "The Incredibles" (Freeform, Sunday, Sept. 3): The su- perhero genre takes some fun ribbing in this animated, Os- car-winning 2004 Disney-Pixar feature, with Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter supplying the voices of the superpowered parents who lead their children into a battle with a former admirer turned nemesis (voice of Jason Lee). The 2018 sequel follows immediately. "Unfaithful" (Hulu, streaming): Another superbly moody melodrama from "Fatal Attraction" and "Indecent Proposal" director Adrian Lyne, this 2002 film reunites "The Cotton Club" co-stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane as a couple whose marriage undergoes considerable strain when the wife begins an affair with a stranger (Olivier Martinez) … which the husband finds out about. The plot takes twists from there, and both Gere and Lane are excellent in depicting the emo- tional roller-coasters that their respective characters endure. Michelle Monaghan had one of her earliest movie roles here. more retro rewinds