Code 37

Female detective Hannah Maes leads a police squad, specialized in sexual offenses. A smaller, but important part of the story is about the private quest of Hannah. She investigates a past robbery at her home and the subsequent brutal rape of her mother.

Code 37 (2009-2012) is a Belgian police crime drama created for VTM, following detective Hannah Maes (Veerle Baetens), who leads a squad specialized in sexual offenses. Her colleagues and rivals include Charles Ruiters (Marc Lauwrys) and Bob De Groof (Michaël Pas), while Carry Goossens plays her father-linked family figure Robert Maes in the personal thread that runs beneath the caseload. The engine of the series is the daily grind of investigating rapes, assaults and abuse cases, with each episode built around a new victim, suspect and the procedural pressure to build a case the courts will accept. Running across three seasons of thirteen episodes each, it moves as a serialized procedural in which the squad's work and Hannah's private quest feed one another. The tone is grim, sober and emotionally heavy, with an atmosphere of institutional strain and quiet dread. Its central interest is the cost of pursuing justice when the crimes touch one's own family. Fans of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, The Killing and The Bridge will find resonance in its seriousness and its female-led investigation.

• Law & Order: Special Victims Unitpolice procedural structure centered on sexual offenses, serialized personal trauma of a detective
• The Killinggritty Belgian-style crime serial with a detective's personal wounds driving the investigation
• The Bridgedark crime drama with a female detective carrying a private family trauma through the case

Release Date

2009-08-31

Episode runtime

45 min

Rating

7.4 / 10 (17)

What is Code 37 about?

A Belgian detective leads a unit specialized in sexual offenses while privately pursuing the truth about a past robbery and her mother's rape.

What is Code 37 like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Code 37 as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is Code 37 violent?

Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Code 37 as moderate.

Which shows are like Code 37?

Shows with a similar feel include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Killing, and The Bridge.

How long is Code 37?

Code 37: 3 seasons, 39 episodes.

Is Code 37 still running?

No, Code 37 has ended.