How unappealing does this sound, a slow burning, twenty part, subtitled, Danish crime drama on BBC4. And to make matters worse it is being shown in double doses. Stieg Larsson and that whole Scandinavian thing has got a lot to answer for.
Well that's what I thought just before I watched the first episode of The Killing, ( BBC4 9.00 Saturday ), by the end of the second, I wished I had the box set. This really is looking like something special. Our hero is Sarah Lund, a Copenhagen police detective, thankfully free of all the maverick foibles that made Thorne so dreadful and laughable in equal measures. She is about to emigrate to Sweden, with her boyfriend and son, when the report of a missing girl falls into her lap. OK we've all been here before with the last case scenario. But The Killing is about much more than just Sarah. We meet the girl's family as their anxiety rises about the fate of their daughter, also the murky world of politics lurks around the edges. Well as murky as Copenhagen politics can be. When the girl's dead body is found in a rental car. The various strands come together.
A refreshing element, to The Killing, is that I wouldn't recognise a well known Danish TV star if he, or she, kicked me. So the characters have the element of surprise.What I'm getting at is, how many times have you watched a thriller only to see a quite well known actor, in what is supposed to be a minor role. You know full well they will be coming back to influence the story in a later episode. We have none of that here.
Just how The Killing will pan out, it's hard to say. Who knows it might fade twelve or so episodes in. But on the evidence of the first two, it's a little gem. Also, there is an American remake in the pipeline. But get in first and watch the Danish version. You won't be disappointed.
Over.
The Killing. BBC 4 - Saturdays 9pm.
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