TV crews take over Leith Links as season two filming for hit crime drama Dept. Q gets under way

TV crews were spotted around Leith Links on Thursday as filming for the second season of the Netflix hit Dept. Q begins in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh council confirmed several roads in the area, including Links Gardens, Links Gardens Lane and Salamander Place, are closed to traffic until 8pm while filming for the show - which first aired in May last year - takes place.

The streets around Leith Links were closed on Thursday as filming took place | Iconic Media

Images taken on Thursday afternoon show dozens of crew members on Salamander Place filming a scene which appeared to involve a motorbike. Several vehicles were also parked on-site, including a black van splattered in red paint.

Netflix confirmed on Thursday that the second series of the show is officially in production, with filming expected to take place in various locations across the city over the summer.

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The other filming locations have not been confirmed, however residents in the Harrison Park area in the southside of the city said they had been alerted by location managers of possible filming vehicles in the area this week.

A crew member was spotted hosing down a black van splattered with red paint | Iconic Media

Edinburgh’s Old Town and New Town, as well as Portobello, Leith, Wester Hailes and Ratho featured prominently in the first season of the crime thriller, which spent six weeks on the platform’s global top ten list.

The show is an adaptation of the novels of the same name by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, and revolves around DCI Carl Morck, played by Matthew Goode, the notorious figure in charge of a new cold-case unit of the Scottish police force.

The first season followed DCI Morck and his team of maverick colleagues as they attempted to solve the case of a missing Scottish lawyer - played by actress Chloe Pirrie - who disappeared four years before the story begins.

It is understood crews were filming a scene involving a motorbike | Iconic Media

Across nine episodes, the series delved into the complex mysteries of the case, and the inner lives of the detectives themselves.

On Thursday Netflix confirmed the season two return of Alexej Manvelov as Akram Salim, a Syrian refugee who works as administrative assistant in the Edinburgh police force before becoming part of DCI Morck’s team, as well as Leah Byrne as DC Rose Dickson and Jamie Sives as DS James Hardy.

The second season is also welcoming a string of new cast members, including Irish-Italian actress Aisling Franciosi, The Crown’s Greg Wise and Outlander’s Tony Curran.

Giving a preview of what viewers can expect from the second season, Rob Bullock, an executive producer of the show, said: “This season, Carl and his band of misfits tackle a terrible crime hidden in the highest echelons of Scottish society.

“It is a story for our times: rich and powerful people who believe they are above the law. Carl, of course, knows otherwise. It’s a joy to be working with master storyteller Scott Frank once again, along with the rest of team dolally.

“We applaud Netflix’s courage for letting them loose once again.”

Jamie Sives as DS James Hardy, Leah Byrne as DC Rose Dickson, Matthew Goode as DCI Carl Morck, Alexej Manvelov as Akram Salim | Iconic Media

Executive Producer Manda Levin said: “Season one of Dept. Q made us laugh and cry; it shocked and intrigued us; we fell in love with the characters and with the incredibly vivid and iconic world that Scott Frank and his amazing team conjured up in one of our very favourite cities.

“That it was embraced so wholeheartedly by an audience in Scotland, in the rest of the UK, and across the world, was thrilling.

“The story of Season 2 is as darkly delicious as you’d expect, and Carl and his glorious gang will have their work cut out pinning down the perpetrators as we launch back in for more.”