Touristically Brexit in Crime

ITV — BBC — SHETLAND — SEASONS 1–5–2012–2018

It is a British series (Seasons 1 to 5), even if it takes place in the northern islands, Scottish islands mind you, and that means that actors and actresses are good because they have had a full career in acting, on the stage, on the big screen, and on the little screen. Most of them act like champions and that’s good in a series that is supposed to be entertaining. For British television, entertainment is a serious industry, if not business.

The special position of these islands makes the series fascinating. Connected to Aberdeen directly, to Glasgow, and rarely to Edinburgh more indirectly, but also a little bit to the Netherlands and a lot to Norway which is not a member of the European Union. At the time of the shooting of the series, the UK was still a member of the EU. And that is fascinating because the arguments that were developed to get Brexit are there illustrated in their most ferocious and blinding colors.

The Shetlands have been transformed by locals in connection with European mafias from different countries, including Russia of course, but also the USA and Africa in the last season, into the gate to Europe for all sorts of people from Africa or Asia, including the Middle East who have been lured with Europe, though they find themselves deprived of their…