"The Bridge" - Season 4 on BBC2

[aeolium]

And Saga's staring, unblinking, uncomprehending eyes! As if everybody but herself was some new species to be analysed before accepting?

But don't you think it is a really serious disadvantage in a detective to be unable to understand motive, relationships, to enter in to the personality of a suspect, as it were? She is almost totally reliant on colleagues for all of that.

you don't play for Blackburn Rovers by any chance?

Perhaps we should export our own version of The Bridge, based on a wealthy West London football club, run by an autocratic expatriate billionaire who periodically stabs managers in the back, with a cast of harassed managers, players who play the spoilt brat and occasionally have brushes with the law, non-performing superstars, etc etc

Oh, hang on - we already do

[DracoM]

< But don't you think it is a really serious disadvantage in a detective to be unable to understand motive, relationships, to enter in to the personality of a suspect, as it were? She is almost totally reliant on colleagues for all of that.>

Early on, Saga's colleagues actually ask if the incoming detective has any idea how weird she is before martin Rohde even enters the scene in any complex way, and it is clear that her boss is likewise wary.

What a daring schema for a detective thriller? A bit like Stacey Chen for Val McDiarmid, brilliant with technology but low on people skills, Saga Noren has a phenomenal memory for facts, things, tiny details, can see patterns and shapes, recalls the merest whisper of info. Rohde is hot on sussing out motive, knows low-lifes, mixes easily with them on a man to man basis, has a network of feeds, has experienced instincts - yes an unlikely pairing, but intriguing for telly. I think the production team need congratulating on their ambition and clever playing with conventions.

[eighthobstruction]

Do I notice a likeness to the film '7', and TT already reading August's facebooking....'I'm pregnant' is obviously going to have something to do with it....

Really it is no different to many BBC, ITV etc dectectives....though 10 + episodes always makes a difference [for the good]....But I do enjoy these looks at Danish/Swedish society, and the portrayal of a stark lack of cohesion and feeling....people 'in clean little boxes'....trapped unable to examine their own emotions....that is what I find most interesting....

....besides this there is so little on Tv to at all tickle ones fancy....

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Killing I & II; Borgen; Bridge and harking back Wallander [if you have to ask which you don't know]

Homeland; 24 [first series]; Rubicon

does brit tv come up with anything half as good [Sherlock maybe but it has that arch camp distancing and tricksiness going on ....we are too luvvie?]?

[eighthobstruction]

Not since Prime Suspect perhaps ???

[aeolium]

I've liked some of the TV drama writing by Tony Garnett, e.g. the series of The Cops and Attachments, and also Tony Marchant, especially his late 90s series Moving On. Jimmy McGovern's series The Street were also good, imo. But these are going back a few years and I agree that British TV drama is in the doldrums at present.

Here is a sceptical view about Scandinavian TV drama. I think the article makes some fair points, though I don't entirely agree with it.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks for that aeolium some points mebbe [dialogue in foreign etc] but actually the acting and writing are really good and they are visually stunning in the Scandi programmes.... and HBO has been beating us hollow for years Sopranos, Wire, Six Feet etc ...

i find myself drawn to Silent Witness as a brooding chiller and there was Waking The Dead and Spooks but these are all formula shows ....

[Mahlerei]

Did anyone see teh prog on BBC4 about the international success of these Danish series? Apparently Borgen is doing well in Brazil, has a cult following in Canada and has taken South Korea by storm. And the producers thought it wouldn't travel beyond Scandinavia...

[Nick Armstrong]

Did anyone see teh prog on BBC4 about the international success of these Danish series? Apparently Borgen is doing well in Brazil, has a cult following in Canada and has taken South Korea by storm. And the producers thought it wouldn't travel beyond Scandinavia...

This one I guess:

I'm hooked as well, anton - and for all sufferers, this doc aired in the early hours and produced by BBC News will be of interest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...et_of_Success/

[Mahlerei]

Yes, that's the one. Should have looked back at earlier posts :(

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

i find myself drawn to Silent Witness as a brooding chiller and there was Waking The Dead and Spooks but these are all formula shows ....

Silent Witness is becoming self-parodistic: ooh, look! Leo's got out of his car on a deserted road in the middle of the night again! Which of the three main characters is going to have a disasterous affair this week? etc. But I do enjoy it! (The thing is, William Macnamara is doing that kind of acting that actors do when their character is later revealed to have a brain tumour! What do you reckon?)

[Nick Armstrong]

i find myself drawn to Silent Witness as a brooding chiller

So do I.... but...

Silent Witness is becoming self-parodistic: ooh, look! Leo's got out of his car on a deserted road in the middle of the night again! Which of the three main characters is going to have a disasterous affair this week? etc. But I do enjoy it! (The thing is, William Macnamara is doing that kind of acting that actors do when their character is later revealed to have a brain tumour! What do you reckon?)

I agree... it's all too angst-ridden and over-stylised.

One series which I think has settled in very well is the ITV Sunday evening "Vera". The first run was a little dour and dull, but I think that the two so far in the second season have been really very well done indeed. I stuck with it because Brenda Blethyn is one of my favourite actresses - and the writing and particularly the photography has improved I think. Intense but not over-wrought plots, and lots of wonderful north-eastern seascapes, and bleak urban landscapes, beautifully shot. And Blethyn has grown into the character. Worth a look

[amateur51]

So do I.... but...



I agree... it's all too angst-ridden and over-stylised.

One series which I think has settled in very well is the ITV Sunday evening "Vera". The first run was a little dour and dull, but I think that the two so far in the second season have been really very well done indeed. I stuck with it because Brenda Blethyn is one of my favourite actresses - and the writing and particularly the photography has improved I think. Intense but not over-wrought plots, and lots of wonderful north-eastern seascapes, and bleak urban landscapes, beautifully shot. And Blethyn has grown into the character. Worth a look

Glad to read this Caliban - is an in-depth knowledge of series 1 essential to the enjoyment of series 2?

[Nick Armstrong]

Glad to read this Caliban - is an in-depth knowledge of series 1 essential to the enjoyment of series 2?

Not in the least.

Try last night's on the ITV Player, ammy. http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=315551 Would be interested to know how you find it

[amateur51]

Not in the least.

Try last night's on the ITV Player, ammy. http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=315551 Would be interested to know how you find it

Cheers Caliban - I watched the first one & enjoyed it but somehow forgot about it. Once I'm up-to-speed with The Bridge I'll give Vera a go for sure Oooops smiling too easily again - Saga & Mr Pee would be flummoxed!