The Walter Presents output on Channel 4 is the gift that keeps on giving, with a Polish police procedural as the latest foreign-language drama to be added to the streamer.
Crusade – which aired as Krucjata in its native country in 2022 – takes us inside the swanky apartments and exclusive celeb hotspots of Warsaw.
Directed by Łukasz Ostalski, this dark, brooding thriller (is there any flavour of thriller out there?) sees homicide detective Jan Góra Mandżaro, played by Julian Swiezewski, and his Warsaw unit on the case of a series of crimes.
The first (warning: this is grim) is the case of a brutally murdered young woman, who has been partially eaten. When the killer is soon caught fleeing to Estonia, touting a strange manifesto, the force realises they have something far bigger on their hands.
What follows is carnage in the city, with a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. They are all figures in the public eye, ranging from a high-profile banker and a renowned TV journalist to a politician and a judge on a TV talent show.
Detective Mandżaro soon deduces that this is part of a sweeping, city-wide conspiracy, forcing him to follow the gruesome leads to the eventual answer.
What other shows can you stream this weekend?
- Vanished on Amazon Prime Video. Kaley Cuoco and Sam Claflin’s new four-parter about a sudden disappearance.
- Bridgerton season 4 part 2 on Netflix. Prepare for a gut punch that readers at least will be able to see coming.
- Scrubs on Disney Plus. The show originally ran from 2001 to 2010, and John Michael ‘J.D.’ Dorian and his colleagues are now back for a reboot.
The curator of Walter Presents, Walter Iuzzolino, said of the show’s addition to the Channel 4 platform: ‘I have always been a fan of Polish drama, and Crusade is a perfect addition to our substantial and ever-expanding slate of the best Eastern European titles on the market.
‘It is an intoxicating cocktail of gritty and glamorous, fast pace and twisted – a brilliant show which will keep you glued to the screen.’
Having previously been available on Netflix, you can now find the 13-episode season on Channel 4 with English subtitles, in time for a weekend watch.
A second season of the show aired in Poland last year, but so far it’s only the first season that’s available in the UK.
But if you tear through those 13 episodes, there’s more crime drama for you yet on Channel 4. The broadcaster most recently added the Italian case-of-the-week detective show Lolita Lobosco.
Set in the charming seaside town of Bari, it might look like a postcard setting, but there are dark misdeeds underneath the delightful exterior.
Does Crusade sound like one for you?
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Absolutely
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Sounds too gritty
Crusade is available to watch on Channel 4.
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