#Like Your Mysteries Gritty? Check Out ‘Marcella’ Season 3 on Netflix

Netflix

As British sleuths go, she’s no Miss Marple. Marcella Backland (Anna Friel, above, second from right) is not so much the warmly observant, busybody type as she is the mentally unstable, loose cannon type.

She favors tire irons over knitting needles and has a tendency to black out and go into fits of violent rage. But if you like your mysteries gritty and your antiheroines deeply troubled, Marcella (from Hans Rosenfeldt, who created The Bridge) is the crime drama for you.

For those in need of a primer: The series follows Marcella, whose husband has recently left her, as she returns to work at the London Metropolitan Police Service following a 10-year absence. After pursuing two serial killers and investigating a pedophile ring during the course of the thrilling first two seasons, Marcella is offered the chance to work undercover. 

And that’s where we find her in Season 3: bleached blonde, going by the name Keira Devlin and embedded with the Maguires, an international crime family in Northern Ireland who are involved in sex trafficking and gunrunning.

“If anyone can take the Maguires down, it’s her,” says Marcella’s handler Frank Young (Hugo Speer). Just as long as she doesn’t blow her cover…or let her overwhelming personal demons upend the mission.

Marcella, Season 3, Streaming now, Netflix