SWEDISH WALLANDER ON BBC: THE AFRICAN

This weeks episode of Wallander, The African, was compelling viewing and attempted to dispel those myths about Sweden's perfect democracy.

A black man's body is found in a train in Gdansk Poland, and he was dumped in the train in Ystad so it is a case for Kurt Wallander. The racism of certain sections of the population, an election campaign by the Social Democrats on a pro- immigration program and meeting up with a childhood friend complicate matters for Kurt, while his daughter Linda completely loses her cool about housemate Stefan's active sex life.

Because of the possible political repercussions Stockholm send in their fixer Farzan to take charge. I was amused by the somewhat hostile reception given to Farzan by the local Ystad team. A natural reaction to an interloper in most police jurisdictions but sometimes ignored in crime novels.

The scenic beauty of sparsely populated Scania is once again a feature of the programs in this impressive series made by Yellow Bird the company that produced the Stieg Larsson Millennium film, Men Who Hate Women.