The Bridge

_The Bridge_ is the latest series to grace our screens and give Britain nail biting drama from Scandinavia. It follows the success of _Wallander, The Killing_, and _Borgen_, all of which have received high praise for their scripts and execution. Being half Danish I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into the award winning series, _The Killing_, after all my relatives had been talking about it. Though my friends may say I am being biased I can without a doubt say that this is some of the best TV I have ever seen. It is engaging, fast paced, twisted, intelligent, and whilst it makes me incredibly jumpy and hide behind a cushion, I cannot stop watching.

My reaction to _The Bridge_ is no different. The series is a collaboration between public broadcasters from both Denmark and Sweden, with a mixed cast from both countries. The reason for this? A body, found on the Øresund bridge that links the two countries, directly on the border line. The catch? The body is cut in half; half Danish and half Swedish. Danish and Swedish police forces work together to solve a crime that escalates every week.

The differences between the two nationalities are clear. At the head of the Swedish investigation is Saga; a peculiar character who appears to be lacking in the knowledge of social conventions and who at times seems laughable, yet at others extremely vulnerable as she is unaware of her social awkwardness. Her headstrong nature is contrasted with the Dane, Martin Rohde, whose relaxed tendencies makes Saga’s comments stand out as hilariously funny and naive. An unlikely pairing, and an unlikely crime, yet they leave me wanting more each week. My flatmates and I were quickly drawn in by the tangle of subplots and the serial killer – whose voice we hear but cannot be tracked. _The Bridge_, like _The Killing_ and political drama _Borgen_, draws upon fault lines in society including the concern over immigration, homelessness and exploitation of child laborers, highlighting and tackling real life political and social problems that many script writers find easy to simply gloss over.

It is certain that Scandinavian dramas seems to have created somewhat of a cult following. It is something I look forward to; my flatmates and I discuss the plot lines, our theories, I occasionally laugh at their pronunciation of the Scandinavian names and their attempts to talk the language that they are all now so interested in learning. I feel that not only does Britain get incredible television out of these dramas, but that my friends (and indeed the whole country) are learning about a more obscure language, and get to see countries which wouldn’t necessarily occur to them as places to visit, that are rich in culture and beautiful to see; the places I spend my summers.

Britain, I feel, is often very insular in its culture, sticking to its own productions, own traditions; the arts is an easy way in for other cultures to enlighten the British public to what they are missing. A drama, in this case, introduces people to a European country close to home, yet never really considered. _The Bridge_, as a haunting and beautifully produced series, with an amazing script will undoubtably leave a first time Scandinavian drama viewer wishing they had watched _The Killing_. They will quite possibly rush out to buy the boxsets for both series, and without a feeling of guilt, happily sit for an entire weekend watching 30 hours of spectacular drama, escaping from exam stress and the real world and delving into a world of suspects and Red Herrings galore.

‘The Bridge is on BBC4, Saturday 21:00 – 23:00 or on iPlayer