JUNE 2025
Suit PAUL SMITH, shirt FURSAC.
Photography DAVID REISS Styling GARETH SCOURFIELD Interview DAVID GARGIULO
There’s a cheeky glint to Matthew Goode’s voice, even when he’s describing 3 a.m. wakeup calls, knee injuries, or the emotional wreckage of his latest role, Carl Morck, a brilliant but emotionally barricaded detective teetering on the edge of a psychological meltdown.
It’s that rare mix of wit, humility, and total dedication to his craft that makes talking to Matthew feel less like an interview and more like bantering with an old friend—one who just happens to be leading one of this year’s most compelling crime dramas: Scott Frank’s adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Nordic noir novel Department Q. Carl Morck isn’t your typical hero, but a grizzled, bearded misanthrope: prickly, emotionally unavailable, and often deeply unlikable. Yet, as the series unfolds, Carl grows on you; impossible not to care for, despite his flaws. He is broken but not defeated, brutal but deeply human. Carl’s character demanded an actor who could carry that weight without softening the edges and Matthew rose to the challenge. As he explains, it wasn’t just the twisting plot or Scott Frank’s acclaimed scripts that pulled him in, but also the chance to explore something darker, funnier, and more unpredictable than anything he’d done before. And Matthew, ever the affable Brit, navigates it all with sarcasm, charm, and a fondness for offbeat British comedy.
David Gargiulo __ What drew you to Dept. Q? Was there something about the themes or the story that felt different from other crime dramas you've done?
Matthew Goode __ Honestly, what drew me to it is that I share an agent with Scott Frank. I worked with him about 20 years ago on a film called The Lookout, and it was such a great experience. He’s been one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood for the past 30 years, ever since Little Man Tate, and now he’s also one of the best directors. I heard he had this new show coming out and I was sent a couple of the episodes. They were two of my all-time favorite scripts I’ve ever read cold. They were so clever, with great twists, and the character, Morck, was very different from anything I’ve done before. Also, the Department Q book series by Jussi Adler-Olsen is incredibly popular. All of that together really excited me. It’s also a genre I haven’t explored much, and I’ve never played someone in the police force before. So yeah, it just felt really exciting.
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Total look GIORGIO ARMANI.
DG __ Talking about the character Carl Morck. He’s a great character. Really witty, but also very prickly.
MG __ Yes! Extremely, extremely acerbic. He’s brilliant at his job. He’s been working in the murder squad for about 15 years. So he’s carrying a lot of trauma, both physical and mental from a previous incident.
DG __ That’s where he is when we first meet him. What layers do we begin to uncover as the series progresses?
MG __ First off, he’s suffering from PTSD, so he has to go to counseling. He doesn’t have a choice. And Carl isn’t someone who’s going to respond to that particularly well [laughs]. He’s a brilliant detective, but a horrible colleague. Very prickly, as you said. He tears strips off people. Sometimes, that’s actually necessary, because he’s kind of accidentally mentoring younger cops. When they mess up or aren’t doing their job well, you don’t exactly go up and give them a hug, do you? So again, he’s dealing with PTSD and has to attend counseling sessions with the gorgeous Kelly Macdonald. Those scenes are always long and fantastic. She brings great humor and depth. Then, once the story takes off, they find a case involving a woman who’s been missing for four years. Is she dead? That’s the big question. Carl also has to navigate working with his new partner, Akram, a mysterious Syrian gentleman who used to work in the IT department. We have no idea what Akram was doing in Syria. He looks like a geography teacher, but there’s always the possibility he’s Batman. [laughs] Carl is trying to piece together as much information as he can about the past and the island of Mhòr, and the mystery of how this woman disappeared off a ferry. He’s got to get his brain working on that but at the same time, he’s navigating a very interesting home life. I can’t say too much about it, but it’s one of the more interesting relationships put on screen. He lives with two other gentlemen. Which sounds kind of weird. And that creates a lot of drama in his life. So Carl doesn’t have a relaxing life at all. You always feel like he’s right on the edge of exploding.
DG __ Indeed. He’s really something. Watching the show, I couldn’t help but think: if Matthew doesn’t get to shake off Carl between takes, that must be exasperating for the crew off-camera! [laughs]
MG __ Right? [laughs]. But I’m not a method actor. A lot of English actors are method actors between “action” and “cut,” and then we snap out of it. Otherwise, you'd absolutely burn out on a job like this! That said, with any role, there's always a bit of osmosis that happens without you realizing it. And that can make you a bit difficult to live with. You know, if you’re working in an American accent, that can seep into you. You might spend six months in the States, and then come back sounding like, [in American accent] “Hey man! How you doing?” Not quite that strong, but you get the idea. And then with Morck, it was such an exhausting show to do. A privilege, obviously, but I definitely got a bit short-tempered. My wife was very ready for this exhausted, grumpy person to deprogram and return to normal life. It takes about two or three weeks, and then you’re out of it. So, it wasn’t too bad.
DG __ It wasn’t too bad? Maybe for you. But what about her? [laughs]
MG __ It's not like I’m attacking her. [laughs] It’s also just the nature of long-form television. You’re doing these 16-hour days, getting up at 3 a.m.—OK, this is turning into the world’s smallest violin. [imitates a sympathetic voice] “Oh, poor you.” [laughs] You get up at 3, climb into what was usually a lukewarm bath because the hot water hadn’t been on, then start going through your lines for day and the next two weeks. I like to stay about two weeks ahead. If I nailed that, I’d reward myself with a pot of coffee and half an hour to watch Ken Burns’ Baseball, which is a brilliant documentary. That was my treat. Then you go to work, come home around 9 p.m., and try to throw some food down. And repeat that for six months.
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DG __ That would make anyone prickly, right? [laughs]
MG __ Exactly!
DG __ Nordic noir. This is your first time stepping into the genre. What was that experience like for you?
MG __ It didn’t feel like Nordic noir in the traditional sense, like The Bridge and others. I’m not an expert on Danish drama by any stretch, but the show was really good, and of course we wanted to honor that tone. What I enjoyed most was how Dept. Q evolved into its own mix of genres. It’s undeniably dark but it’s also got a lot of levity. We love these characters. They’re all kinds of oddballs. Really damaged. Deeply human. There’s a huge amount of humanity on display, and at times, it almost felt Chekhovian to me. There’s a thread of tragicomedy throughout the series. I think Scott [Frank] has done a beautiful job shaping that in the edit. Some people don’t like their dramas too grim. If that’s you, don’t worry. This one’s balanced.
DG __ There are a lot of fun moments because the characters’ behavior goes so far to the extreme, it almost becomes absurd, in the best way.
MG __ Exactly. And it’s not just the tone. It's the cast, too. Honestly, I’ve worked with some of the finest actors in this, and I know they’re Scottish, but still. [laughs] Kate Dickie’s Moira is hilarious and brilliant. Leah Byrne, who plays Rose, is a revelation. She’s got so much going on. Her character’s medicated, emotionally complex. But she can make you cry and laugh in the same scene. What really made it special, though, was the atmosphere on set. It felt more like we were a theater company on tour than a TV shoot. There was no ego, no competition for screen time. Just a tight-knit group who loved what we were doing. I couldn’t be prouder of the work, and I really hope we get to come back for a second season.
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DG __ You were mentioning specific scenes or moments, like your character’s interactions with others. Is there any particular moment or scene that you found especially challenging or rewarding that you'd like to share with us?
MG __ I messed up my knee years ago while filming a movie called Watchmen. I injured my meniscus. A few months before production of Dept. Q started, I got into the car one night. Someone smaller had been in it, maybe my wife or the nanny, and I had to rush to get something from the store. I accidentally cracked my knee right into the steering column and thought, "Oh no!" At first, I laughed it off because it was just bruised, but then my knee started clicking. And of course, I re-injured my meniscus. I was on my back for six weeks, wearing a brace, and it never quite felt right afterward. About a week before filming started, I got an MRI and the doctor told me I needed surgery. But if I had surgery then, I wouldn’t be able to work. So I had to push through. Walking on my knee for six months was painful. Thankfully, there wasn’t much running! But I did have a fight scene, which was uncomfortable. Still, I’m proud I got through it. More than that, though, I’m proud of the relationships I built on set. Because I’m central to the story, I worked with everyone. My relationship with Kelly MacDonald was one I’m especially proud of. It was a bit tricky because she only appeared in a few scenes per episode, so we didn’t get to find much rhythm together. But she was amazing and brought a lot of humor to our strange friendship, the counselor and the traumatized. And with the rest of the cast, the relationships felt real. You can sense the history between the characters on screen, even though we’d only known each other for days in real life before filming those scenes.
DG __ Carl doesn’t strike me as much of a runner anyway, so you should’ve been okay there. [laughs]
MG __ Exactly! That’s what Scott [Frank] said too. I told him, “Scott, my knee's a mess.” And he just goes, “Don’t worry, Carl’s not much of a runner.” So that worked out pretty well.
Total look CANALI.
DG __ Was there anything about the production, for example the locations, the pacing, or the wardrobe, that helped you lock into the essence of Carl?
MG __ That’s a very good question. Very pertinent. Edinburgh is such an incredible place. It has this medieval-meets-modern energy, a real beauty with just a hint of darkness. That tone fits the show perfectly, both visually and emotionally. We also had an amazing production designer, the much-unsung Grant Montgomery. This was my fourth time working with him. He’s just brilliant. The scale of the police station set, for example, was massive. I walked in and thought, “Jesus, look at the size of this!” It gave the show such a grand, iconoclastic feel. Then there’s the basement. Dark, claustrophobic, shut off from the world, which added so much to the mood. As for Carl, I had Scott’s writing to work with, and Scott only writes nuanced characters. He’s a genius. Truly incapable of writing anything flat. He wanted Carl to look horrific, just absolutely worn down by life. So I grew my hair out, gray and all, and wore this massive beard. At first I wasn’t sure it would work, but it really did. It aged him. You could see the trauma in his face. You could see how Carl was beaten down by life and his job. We worked hard on his look. Sharon [Long], our costume designer, did wonders on a limited budget. At one point, she had a rail of jackets, but they didn’t feel right. Detectives don’t usually wear ties. They’re out on the street and often need to blend into working-class environments. Then we found this sheepskin jacket and I quite liked it. It was different as you don’t see many people wearing that kind of coat. It just gave Carl this really strong look with his beard and everything else. Also it was quite warm, which is useful in Scotland at that time of the year. And then the shoes. I was adamant about the shoes. I told them, “Look, I don't want to be wearing expensive shoes. He's a detective. He doesn't have loads of money, you know. And they need to be practical.” As much as my knee would love the most amazing pair, with the most amazing sole, where you just sort of float through life. It can’t be that. So we got a pair of these walking shoes. I was like, “I’m sure he would’ve bought these in a sale. They’re not a brilliant brand. Like 40 quids.” And the minute I put them on, started moving around and everything, I was like, That’s it. There he is. That’s Carl!
DG __ I absolutely love that exploration and character building. Thank you for sharing. In what season were you recording in Edinburgh?
MG __ The whole Winter. From January to June. It was just starting to warm up in June.
DG __ You’ve played aristocrats, scientists, murder suspects, and now a deeply conflicted detective. There’s a beauty about that diversity as you weren’t locked into a specific character or genre. Has that versatility been a conscious choice, or has it unfolded more organically?
MG __ Well, over the course of a career, there are moments when it feels like you have choices. But really, you don’t. It’s more like a river. Like a chafing Tiber, winding and meandering. Sometimes you're in the current, sometimes you're stuck in an eddy. Anyway, enough of that metaphor. [laughs] What I mean is, you never really know. So, you try to make strong choices. And you hope that if you give a good performance, someone like Scott Frank might come along and say, "I see you differently. I want to use you in a different way." That’s when you get lucky. That’s happened to me a few times. Recently, for example, Dexter Fletcher cast me as Bob Evans. I’ll be forever grateful for that. It scared the hell out of me, I’m not gonna lie. But I think I’m entering a phase where I want to be scared. Morck was a little scary, too. And when you get through something like that, you feel real pride. Especially if people respond to it and it all comes together. Taking risks has to be part of the job. Sometimes you're playing a role so close to yourself it's almost invisible. Maybe you throw in an accent, but it's still basically you. Other times, it’s something more chameleonic, like Bob Evans or even Morck. But I’m a gun for hire. That’s what acting is.
DG __ For my last question. When it comes to your own story, what’s giving you hope these days? What are you looking forward to, whether in your work or your life?
MG __ I’m a dad. That’s basically what I do. I don’t really like being away from my family. They’ve made me accidentally agoraphobic. [laughs] I’m just always in the house with the monkeys, as we call them. One of them, our eldest, is navigating her GCSEs right now. We’re very proud of her. She’s studying hard. My middle daughter, Teddy, is doing a lot of dance and performance stuff, which is exciting. And my son, check this out [runs off camera to pick up a painting], he’s only nine, but he’s started doing these paintings!
DG __ Wow! It belongs in a museum!
MG __ I know! It’s like Jackson Pollock meets I don’t know what. But I’m thrilled he’s doing it! As for the world? Hope lies in community. We’ve got to look after each other. Maybe we need to shake up the system but let’s not get political. I just really love my wife, and I love the little life we’ve built here. I'd like to move to the deepest and darkest countryside, but I don’t think she’d go for that. When I’m off filming, she’d be isolated. Still, I’d love it. I do most of the cooking, and the supermarket runs. I’d like to learn a few more dishes, though. Sophie makes incredible curries. Actually, she makes everything well. [yells off camera] Sorry darling. But it’s true!
Photographer David Reiss, Styling Gareth Scourfield (One Represents), Interviewer David Gargiulo, Groomer Dani Guinsberg (The Only Agency) using Medik8 & Oribe Hair Care, Photography Assistant Stefania Carli, Talent Matthew Goode (Premier PR)
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