The crime scene in transnational crime TV series after Brexit: Vigil and Giri/Haji

Traditionally national and local, the crime genre has shifted to depictions of invisible borders and free movement during European integration. In the wake of Brexit, this development has been disturbed, with greater focus on borders as obstacles and on restricted movement. This article examines the spaces of borders and movements of border crossings in UK transnational series Vigil (2021–present), set in the Atlantic Ocean and Scotland, and Giri/Haji (2019), set in London and Tokyo. It focuses on the crime scene in these series as a space that has responded to these historical shifts in genre. The series illustrate two contrasting responses to these developments in a post-Brexit context. Vigil depicts its crime scene on a nuclear submarine as a space that is initially both isolated and rigidly bordered. At the same time, it reveals borders between nations, characters and genres to be increasingly porous. Giri/Haji follows a Tokyo police detective on the search for his ex-Yakuza brother in London. Its crime scene connects both cities into a mediatized space that moves with the characters. In both series, the highly connected cross-border spaces of earlier series are shown to be disrupted on various levels, including their temporalities.