“Mediated cultural encounters” cannot occur if European popular narratives do not circulate widely across the continent (and beyond). Contributions to this special issue suggest that thanks to the familiar frame represented by popular genres like the crime genre, TV series which are genuinely grounded in their local/national context without neglecting cross-border implications, and narrate complex, engaging story-worlds with a fresh language, can travel across the continent, thus emphasizing the value of popular culture as a place to address social conflicts, to debate about historical and political issues and to negotiate a common transcultural European identity.