With quite a lot of time on my hands I am quite grateful for the international TV dramas and films on the SBS World Movies channel. I can’t remember how many Nordic neo-noir crime dramas I’ve seen and – for the most part – have enjoyed.

While it’s a bit disconcerting to note an overall trend to focus on some very bleak or downright dark themes, the acting and storytelling prowess of these recent Scandinavian outpourings has been an eyeopener. There was even a series set on the remote Faroe Islands, for crying out loud.

Today, I watched the first episode of Amsterdam Vice, a cop show set in the notorious Amsterdam Red Light District. (For Dutch readers > I think it’s an adaptation of the ‘Baantjer’ series of books.)

It started, cleverly, with a seminal Dutch rock anthem; Saturday Night by Herman Brood – in my humble opinion one of very few songs emanating from the Netherlands that can be added to the wider international or at least English-speaking canon.