BBC Imports: “Wallender” and “State of Play”  In an unfortunate
bit of timing, I had two miniseries come into the library at
once. Both were BBC productions. Wallender has three 90 minute
movies and stars Kenneth Branagh. I’s based on the mystery novel
series by Swedish writer Henning Mankell. State of Play had six
hour-long episodes and was the basis for the US film starring
Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck that was released this week on
DVD. Try as we might, we weren’t able to finish 450 minutes of
BBC miniseries in a week that also included Mad Men, Project
Runway and Top Chef. But with the long weekend, we managed and
the library late fees aren’t too bad.  Branagh’s Wallender is a
weary Swedish detective whose wife has left him because he was
too involved with work. His daughter tries to get him out of his
shell, but he’s confronted by such horror in his work that it’s
understandably hard for him to heed advice to rest, stay home,
relax and see other people. In “Sidetracked,” Wallender tries to
help a scared