THE BEST TV LISTINGS

A young British psychiatric doctor turns detective in this dark thriller set in opulent Vienna at the turn of the last century

Our 52-page guide includes Claudia Connell’s Soap Watch, your essential Movie Planner and a special preview of mind-bending new thriller Vienna Blood

Vienna, 1906. A world of majestic architecture and cobbled streets, where discussions on art, culture, philosophy and science rage in its cafes and opera houses.

But beneath all of this ‘shadows lie’, according to brilliant young doctor Max Liebermann, and it’s those shadows that draw together Max and cynical Austrian detective Oskar Rheinhardt, the partnership at the heart of new threepart BBC series Vienna Blood, based on the best-selling Liebermann novels by Frank Tallis and brought to TV by acclaimed Sherlock screenwriter Steve Thomson.

The teachings of Sigmund Freud – the godfather of psychoanalysis – are unsettling the establishment and gathering acolytes, among them our hero doctor, a middleclass British Jew who moved to Austria with his family in his teens. His attraction to the dark side of human nature sees him become fixated with analysing the criminal brain – while being oblivious to the way his obsession is impacting those around him, especially his beautiful girlfriend Clara.

‘It’s interesting playing a knowit-all with a flaw,’ says Matthew Beard, who plays Max. ‘Taking an academic approach to people’s psychology isn’t bad but when you apply it to your relationships, it’s not what your girlfriend wants.’

Max convinces the police to let him observe their work, and he’s foisted upon the reluctant Oskar, who’s portrayed by Austrian actor Jurgen Maurer. ‘He’s a good police officer, from proletarian roots,’ says Jurgen. ‘He’s troubled, but I like his conviction.’

When we meet him, Oskar is trying to solve the murder of a beautiful medium. Sprawled on a chaise longue, she’s been shot at close range in the chest, yet her door is locked from the inside and her autopsy reveals that the bullet in the corpse has vanished. Are supernatural powers at work? It seems so – until Max employs his psychoanalytic training to probe the suspects, including the wealthy Juno Holderlein. Soon Max and Oskar are chasing some of Vienna’s most dangerous psychopaths.

Happy Valley’s Amelia Bullmore plays Max’s mother Rachel,

who’s struggling to cope with his departure from the path expected of him. ‘The family have a very prosperous textile emporium and they have a plan for Max, but he’s got another plan, so it’s difficult,’ she says.

His feisty sister Leah, meanwhile, pulls Max up on his selfishness. ‘He hurls his observations onto others,’ says Irish actress Charlene Mckenna, who plays her. ‘Leah’s the only one saying, “You’re great at looking around you, but look at yourself.”’

And so unfolds a thriller of domestic tension and intrigue, with no shortage of action scenes, albeit ones using stunt doubles. ‘I got to do part of a scene on a rooftop,’ says Matthew. ‘I watched from below, eating a strudel, as the stunt men did the rest!’ n