More Danish Drama! Arvingerne…The Legacy!

Okay, can you handle more drama?  Just when you thought those crazy Danes had saturated the tv market with the (fabulous) Scandi crime series Forbrydelsen (“The Killing”) and Broen (“The Bridge”) – not to mention the highjinks at the Danish Parliament, Borgen (“Borgen”) – along comes DR1 (the Danish public service channel) on the first of January and hits us right between the eyes.  Again!  Kapow! 😛

ARVINGERNE “THE LEGACY”

 

No policitians.  No murders (at least, not yet?!).  Nope, our new ‘let’s-all-unite-around-our-television-sets-on-Sunday-nights-and-discuss-it-Monday-morning’ series is a family drama: Arvingerne (“The Legacy”).

Picture the scene: a famous, eccentric Danish artist – Veronika Grønnegaard – is dying.  Along with her art, she’ll leave behind an eclectic family…  Four children.  Gro, the eldest daughter (who has a wardrobe to die for…), works with her mother.  Gro’s biological father Thomas (a.k.a. Jesper Christensen, a.k.a. Mr White from the recent Bond movies – though, yegads, you’d never recognise him in this new rôle) lives on the property.  Frederik (who has cut off contact with his mother) and Emil (who only contacts his mother when he needs money) are the two middle sons.  Their father committed suicide.  And then we have Signe, the youngest daughter.  Who doesn’t know that she is actually Veronika‘s daughter – she’s been living with adopted parents, blissfully unaware.  But Signe is contacted by Veronika a couple of days before she dies…  Throw into the mix an ‘I’m-minutes-from-dying-and-am-handwriting-a-new-will-and-testament’ and let the fun commence!

Oh.  And the title music – sung by Nina Persson (yes, her, from The Cardigans) – is also fabulous, but not available anywhere yet.  Boo!

The series is apparently already on its way to British, Belgian and Australian viewers.  Two out of three Danes are watching every week…  I’m hooked!  As they say in Danish, Glæd Jer!  “Look forward to it!”

Diane 🙂

 

We ♥ Danish Drama!

[This post is also published over at www.blogs.denmark.dk – the official website of
Denmark run by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

Whenever I phone my Mum in Dad in Edinburgh (Bonnie Scotland), the conversation invariably turns to the same subject.  Danish drama.  And I don’t mean the group Denmark have drawn for Euro 2012 in Poland this summer… 😉

No, I’m talking about Danish Radio’s hugely popular drama series Forbrydelsen” which has taken the UK by storm.  The Americans made their own (apparently very tame) remake of “The Killing”, but the Brits are thoroughly lapping up the gloomy atmosphere of gritty Copenhagen.  Fashionistas are desperate to get their hands on the Faroe-knit jumper worn by the female detective, Sarah Lund.  The original jumper from Gudrun + Gudrun – which features in all episodes – will set you back Euro. 280.  But even H+M are cashing in on the series’ success – here’s a copycat version I spotted this morning…

Want to dress up as Sarah Lund for Fastelavn/carnival? Kr. 100 or Euro 13.45

Yep, it’s hip to be Danish.  And even the Danish language has achieved cult status.  In the Christmas TV special of Absolutely Fabulous, Sarah Lund (the actress Sofie Gråbøl) makes a cameo appearance – yes, in that jumper – and Edina attempts to talk to her.  På dansk. 🙂

But back to my Mum and Dad.  Who (given that their daughter is married to a Dane and permanently settled in Copenhagen) are naturally seen by their cronies as the Oracle on all matters Danish.  At the church coffee morning last week there was a very lively discussion about the latest Danish drama series to hit the UK – a fictional drama about the first woman to become Prime Minister of Denmark.  (With life reflecting art just months later, when Helle Thorning-Schmidt did it for real.)  Mum and Dad’s friends thought it was funny that Mikael Birkkjær a.k.a. ‘the baddie’ in “The Killing II” turns up as the Prime Minister’s husband in the new drama series.  Not, of course, that any of the women were complaining… [Swoons.]

What they were really puzzled about was the title.  Which is Danish.  And which, for some strange reason, hasn’t been given a catchy – or, at the least, explanatory – title in English.  “Can’t you phone your daughter in Copenhagen and ask her what “Borgen” actually means?”  So that’s exactly what Mum did…  [She typed – in true cliffhanger style.]

Have a wonderful Wednesday! 🙂