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CULTURE

The best Danish TV shows to watch to understand Denmark

Denmark has a long and storied history of producing many great – and some not quite so great – television shows and series.

Published: 16 September 2022 16:47 CEST
Updated: 5 November 2022 09:09 CET
The best Danish TV shows to watch to understand Denmark
Actors Buster Larsen and Kurt Ravn as the characters Grisehandler Larsen and Røde in all-time classic Danish TV series Matador. Photo: Mini Wolf/Ritzau Scanpix

If you’ve got a good grasp of Danish but still feel like there are some cultural references you don’t quite ‘get’, here’s a list of programmes to help get you up to speed.

Perhaps you’re not sure what someone means when they call for “Hans Christian” in a melodramatic voice, or why artisan cakes are more popular than ever before. If so, there’s plenty of great Danish TV for you to discover.

Danes take their homes – not least interior design – very seriously. This perhaps explains the recent success of shows like Boligkøb i blinde (Viaplay), in which would-be house owners sign over all their assets to a panel of experts who buy a cheap property and renovate it for them, before handing it back.

Normally, this results in a large part of the contestants’ budget being blown on a run-down property which they initially hate, before a deft renovation leaves everyone thrilled with the result.

While the format of the show is good, easy-to-digest entertainment, it also throws up some great design tips and insight into how Danes get their homes to look so smart.

On a similar theme is public service broadcaster DR’s long-running Kender Du Typen?, which first aired in 1994.

In this show, DR’s lifestyle experts are shown around the home of a mystery celebrity and must guest the identity of their host from their design choices and inventory. It’s great for learning about obscure Danish public figures, as well as for picking up a bit of inspiration for your indretning (interior design).

Sofie Gråbøl starred as Sarah in 2007 DR series Forbrydelsen (The Killing). Photo: Søren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

Like anywhere else, Denmark has a vast back catalogue of reality TV shows, which are generally adaptations of formats shown in other countries.

X-Factor has proved hugely popular over the years and is still going strong since being picked up by channel TV2 after DR axed it in 2018. Watch it if you like X-Factor, but it sticks to the rigid formula seen elsewhere and won’t tell you much about Denmark.

The trashiest reality TV show in Denmark is probably Paradise Hotel, a US import that was first aired in Denmark by TV3 in 2005 and can now be streamed on Viaplay. It has claims to the title of Denmark’s most-discussed reality series, but probably loses out on this to DR’s altogether more wholesome Den store bagedyst – Denmark’s version of The Great British Bake-Off.

Now a veteran of 10 seasons, the Danish baking competition might surprise you in how different its contestants’ creations are compared to the UK version. It also shows you how traditional Danish cakes and pastries are made.

If you can’t get enough of Bagedyst, you can also watch Den store junior bagedyst in which youngsters aged 12-15 showcase their baking talents.

Danish television is best known internationally for the Nordic Noir genre – not least Swedish collaboration Broen, also known as The Bridge. The three-season detective series can be credited, along with political drama Borgen, with putting Danish television on international viewers’ radars.

I’m a fan of both these shows but as most people are probably already aware of them, here are a couple of lesser-known ones: Forbrydelsen (“The Killing”) was possibly the first in the wave of Scandinoir crime dramas to deploy muted tones, even more muted protagonists and brutal deaths. It can be viewed in Denmark via the online archive Filmstriben.

Bedrag (English title: “Follow the Money”), first released in 2016, has all the hallmarks of a Nordic Noir police show, with its focus on money laundering. After two mediocre seasons it returned for a third season with a freshened-up cast and much tighter plot: it’s this season I’d recommend as the closest thing Denmark has produced to highly-regarded US series The Wire. Don’t skip the opening credits.

If you’re going to watch Danish television to improve your knowledge of the national pop culture then you’re going to have to have a crack at the comedy at some point.

The most famous Danish comedy show is Klovn, which ran on TV2 and other channels from 2005-2018. Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam play main characters with the same first names as themselves, and the show follows their everyday lives.

Awkward silences, social faux pas and extreme cringe feature strongly in Klovn. These give it comedy elements in common with shows like The Office (UK) or Curb Your Enthusiasm (US), but Klovn is unmistakably Danish in its application of its humour.

After many years living in Denmark I’m still struggling to “get” Klovn, but I don’t know any Danes that don’t love it.

Actor Ove Sprogøe in a scene from Huset på Christianshavn. Photo: Olaf Kjelstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

If you want to watch a classic Danish television show, Huset på Christianshavn can be streamed on DR’s website. 84 episodes of this much-loved series were first broadcast in the 1970s, portraying the residents in a block of two-up, two-down flats in Christianshavn, a part of Copenhagen that has become considerably more exclusive since the series was made.

Watch Huset på Christianshavn to get a feel for Danish life in decades past, what tresser dansk (sixties Danish) sounds like and what Copenhagen looked like half a century ago.

The champion of Danish television shows is Matador.

Made by DR in the late seventies and early eighties but set during the period 1929-1947, Matador follows a range of characters and families spanning the class divide. It revolves around a long-term rivalry between old-money Hans Christian Varnæs and up-and-coming businessman Mads Skjern, who upsets the established order.

Its portrayal of life in a provincial town as it goes through generational change and historical upheaval is simple conceptually. But the depth of its characters, brilliance of its writing and quality of its acting gives Matador an almost unassailable position at the pinnacle of Danish television history.

Perfectly mixing melodrama, light humour and intrigue, Matador is almost part of the national subconscious. Danes often recall scenes, characters or memorable lines from the show – even if they were born decades after it was released.

Did we miss out your favourite Danish TV show? What else deserves to be mentioned? Let us know in the comments.

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DENMARK EXPLAINED

Manhood, butter, and piracy: How foreigners have managed to offend Danes

Danes are known for their ironic sense of humour and love of teasing. But can they take it as well as give it out? We asked readers if they've ever succeded in properly offending a Dane. Here are the answers so far.

Published: 16 April 2024 15:51 CEST
Updated: 7 May 2024 08:35 CEST
Manhood, butter, and piracy: How foreigners have managed to offend Danes

Danes often pride themselves on having an edgy sense of humour that can get very close to the bone, boasting that no topic, however non-PC is out of bounds. But is that actually true? Are there arguments you can make, insults you can give, and jokes you can crack that go beyond the mark? 

Several of the respondents to our survey have discovered that there definitely are, with some unexpected subjects managing to raise the hackles of their Danish friends, collegues and relatives. 

If you’ve also managed to offend someone in Denmark, either unintentionally or perhaps intentionally too, please answer the survey, which is pasted below and we’ll add it to this article. 

Casting aspersions on Danes’ chivalric manhood

Zdravka, from Bulgaria, says she has in the past offended Danish men by accusing them of lacking the manly virtues of chivalry and generosity celebrated in her home country. 

“I told him that according to my culture and upbringing he’s not considered a man because where I come from, men take pride in providing for their women and don’t expect them to split bills 50:50,” she wrote in our survey. 

She said that in her opinion the offensive power of her accusation boiled down to cultural differences. 

“It is a factor, since my culture is conflicting with the Danish mindset of equality, bordering on lack of chivalry and gentlemanly traits.” 

Failing to appreciate the superiority of Danish butter 

Ann, a scientist from Brazil, made the mistake of saying she preferred the taste of Italian butter when accompanying her Danish extended family on a holiday to Italy. 

“The next day for breakfast, my Danish family put Lurpack on the table and we never saw the Italian one again. After checking with my husband, or my boyfriend at the time, he said that yes, I had offended the whole family without realising it.” 

Danes she said had managed to offend her “all the time”. 

“About skin colour and what happens or not in Brazil: they have no filter for how they ask things, and are honest and direct. I have learned to like it.” 

Even so, she said, she had been surprised. “I couldn’t know what the sensitive topics were and how proud they can be of something as simple as butter.” 

Laughing at people with names from Norse mythology

Gary, a Frenchman living in Copenhagen, took a wrong step when he laughed at someone he met at a party who introduced themselves as “Thor”.

“In my first months in Denmark, I attended a party with my girlfriend. I started chatting with a guy and he introduced himself as ‘Thor’. I started laughing and asked him to tell me the truth. He turned red and never talked to me again. That’s how I learned that ‘Thor’ was a very common name in Denmark.” 

Breaking minor national laws

Lam from Canada came a cropper when he invited some Danish friends to a video night for which he had secured a bunch of pirated DVDs. 

“They didn’t say they were offended, but they just cut all communications,” he remembers, saying he had been confused by the reaction.

“I’m from Canada, and it could be an issue with some people, but definitely not to the point that they would cut communications.” 

Discussing Danes’ alleged lack of spontaneity 

Alice (not her real name), a Pole living in Roskilde, said she had once offended a co-worker by drawing attention to Danes’ alleged lack of spontaneity. 

“This wasn’t a big deal, but one time when out with some coworkers I said that Danes are not spontaneous, because they plan all social outings weeks in advance. One person didn’t take it well and seemed peeved that he could be perceived that way,” she said. “The situation was quickly forgotten though, as soon as the next round of beers arrived.”

Taking offensive jokes further than Danes would do 

Danes claim to like their humour edgy, but some other cultures like to get even closer to the mark when joking with close friends. 

“In Ireland, the more close your friends are, the more apparently ‘rude’ to them you are,” explained Greg, an Irishman living in Roskilde. He said that in the early stages of his marriage, this was something his Danish wife had struggled with. 

“My Danish wife took a while to understand why her loving, polite Irish husband was rude to his Irish friends…..and vice versa. But once she got it she joined in with gusto!”

Disrespecting the Danish royals 

Maria from Greece didn’t spend much time in Denmark before realising that making off-colour jokes about the then Queen Margrethe II did not go down at all well. 

“I cannot understand how they so much respect a family who lives from their taxes and supports such an outdated system,” she told us in exasperation. “Kings and queens are a no-no for Greeks, unless you are a fascist.” 

Have you ever offended a Dane, unintentionally or intentionally, please mention it in the comments or fill in our form below and we’ll add your anecdote to the article. 

 

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