Detective Sarah Lund, played by Sofie Gråbøl
If you’re not already watching The Killing, the stylish Danish police thriller showing on BBC4, you’ve got a treat in store.
Head down to the iPlayer where you’ve got a month to catch-up on the 10 episodes you’ve missed so far – episodes 11 and 12 are on Saturday night.
The plot may tread familiar territory – a teenage girl goes missing, a couple of quarrelsome detectives get on the case – but in execution, the show’s Danish creators have done something exceptional.
They leaven the dark tragedy of Nanna Birk Larsen’s disappearance with a parallel story of political intrigue, set against the backdrop of Copenhagen’s mayoral election.
Troels Hartmann, a troubled candidate for city mayor, played by Lars Mikkelsen
And they counter-balance the familiar science of the police procedural with an insight into the broader impact of the girl’s disappearance.
Thus we spend almost as much time with the family of 19-year-old Nanna – her stalwart, hard-working father Theis; her warm, loyal mother Pernille – as we do with the two detectives searching for her.
Most importantly, by casting the subtle, magnetic Sofie Gråbøl in the role of detective Sarah Lund, the producers have provided a deeply watchable lead who acts as a centre of gravity for each episode.
As Lund wades deeper into the mystery, she never loses our attention and rarely tests our sympathy – except perhaps in her personal relationships, which increasingly suffer from her workaholic devotion to the case.
A kind of yang to Lund’s yin, Lars Mikkelsen, with his blonde good looks and striking cheekbones, is equally compelling as the liberal politician Troels Hartmann, whose campaign to become mayor is constantly on the brink of being derailed by unknown forces.
At times it’s hard not to compare The Killing to the BBC’s State of Play, another gripping TV series that begins with a tragedy involving a young woman, but which is more deeply embedded in the political world. The Killing does not quite match the compact panache of the BBC series, although that is partly by nature of its far longer running time – 20 episodes compared to State of Play’s six. It does offer comparable levels of suspense. Ten episodes in, we still don’t know what happened to Nanna on the night she disappeared, although pieces of the jigsaw are beginning to emerge.
Wow Oh Wow! If this is the general quality of Danish drama, hand over the licence fee now. Between this and Wallander, we have enjoyed exceptional TV this year, and I don’t care how many people enjoy the TV basic fodder, these programmes do me just fine. Oh and thank you!
Then wait for “The crime 2″. In some way it is different, but I was hooked every sunday night her in Denmark when it was on. Before we only had one channel here. So there were no competion. Todays it is very different ande it is difficult to make a series everyone is talking about at work the next day. Actually we did that with this series. Also because in some way “the crime 2″ is a lot about stuff haooening right now in Denmark.
In total agreement with Simms above.
what is really refreshing and makes the story so watchable is that its subtly played and has many layers.Also the suspense is kept up week after week.thanks for treating us to such good series in their original language….always better for drama.
We have just spent the last week catching up on this series. I loved Wallender and find this even better. Its pace allows you to really get into the characters and their lives; little snippets of evidence branch off to keep the intrigue going and build up suspense wonderfully. Having watched them back to back almost, it will be frustrating to wait now for the epidsodes to be released. Thanks for showing it.
This is compelling viewing. Have to go away thank god for the iplayer so I can catch up when I come home would hate to miss any of it. I am addicted. More of this kind of drama please BBC.
have to agree with all comments above and original blog post. The Killing, like the Wallander series, is quite superb. The characters are finely drawn and acted with great subtlety esp Sarah and Theis …
Wallander kept my family glued to BBC 4 every Saturday night and we all suffered from withdrawals when that series ended. By chance I caught a review on The Killing comparing this with Wallander and passed the information to my family members. Since then we can’t wait for Saturday nights to come around and share views on the excellent characters and mesmerising acting. I hang on every breadth of the tragic parents and rest of the cast. It is without doubt the best thing currently on any of the TV networks and with no commercials…..terrific!
my oh my iv just watched the final episode of this brilliant fantastic crime series the killing, the best thing iv seen on tv ever, the acting was superb, the story had me gripped over 20 episodes, was really sad wen it finished, but then bbc started showing bits of the killing 11, myeyes lit up, i was happy again, wen does it start, im going to get the boxed set from radio times to show my daughter who missed it, thank you bbc, keep them coming
as a loyal wallander addict i was loathe to watch the killing. how wrong!! this danish crime drama was beautifully acted, understated, and controlled a characteristic which i noticed in the wallander series. please bbc4 more of the same, i,d much prefer this type of drama than fast paced american.
I know it is Sophie Grabol who seems to hold centre stage but as someone has already remarked it is drama of many layers and each layer or segment seems to have remarkably talented actors. There are no bit parts in this drama. The victims mother Penile I believe, has a magnetic presence which is well supported by her brooding husband. To compare it to other dramas is doing it a disservice.
I only have one complaint and that is my Humax digibox is unable to separate the two Killings and is dumping them both in the same file. I am at the moment unable to think of any way to achieve two files. I am not watching the American version because what I did see was not to my liking but I cannot stop the American version in case I end up stopping both. BBC take note if the digibox is filing by the word ‘Killing’ then adding 1 to the title may have differentiated it for my digibox.