Van der Valk (TV Series) Diane (1977) User Reviews

Diane

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 7 November 2019]

This was the final episode of Van der Valk until the show returned in 1991 as a series of feature length mysteries, copying Inspector Morse.

In fact elements of this episode reminded me of Morse. We see a classical music loving detective here who also appreciates literature.

Van der Valk helps a mysterious woman called Diane. Two of her recent lovers have met accidental deaths while drunk. She thinks they were murdered. Van der Valk notices that someone is snooping on her.

A colleague tells Van der Valk that Diane is 'a thousand miles of bad road.' Diane was once involved with a notorious gangster and her sons want revenge.

The episode has a melancholy air about it and a touch of noir. Diane is femme fatale and Van der Valk has to appear to act as her lover.

There was no Arlette and Samson appearing in this episode, strange as this was the finale until the series was resurrected some years later.

Farewell '70s Van der Valk!

[andywhite-60566 · 8/10 · 24 August 2023]

It seems half the cast have already left - and Arlette in particular was a big part of the success and originality of '70s Van de Valk - but the final episode is saved from being too melancholic by having a rattling good plot. The French Mafia are on a mission in Amsterdam, and in taking them on Van der Valk is really playing with fire. The gangsters go about creating a climate of fear to work in and the tension doesn't let up as the plot unravels. Jane Merrow is also superb as Diane - a kind of ultimate '70s alluring continental female character. It's an atypical episode to finish on, but there are a lot of atypical and unusually-set episodes in Series 2. The writers were not afraid to try new things out on the viewers, their ideas worked well in the main, and this is no exception.