DANISH political drama Borgen is back on our screens after almost a decade.
The programme, which aired between 2010 and 2013, was part of a wave of Nordic dramas on our TVs, which included The Killing and The Bridge.
What was Borgen?
While other popular Scandinavian dramas often centred around murder investigations and are packed with action scenes, Borgen was different. It followed politician Birgitte Nyborg – played by Sidse Babett Knudsen – as she became Denmark’s first female Statsminister (first minister) and goes on to form her own political party.
The title of the series means "the castle" in Danish. It's a nickname for Denmark's Parliament, Christianborg, which is a former royal palace. The series focused on the workings of the parliament – which is elected by proportional representation – and the personal lives of the politicians and journalists who work there.
Borgen had three seasons and was created by Adam Price, who is also a well-known TV chef in Denmark. It was the country’s first attempt at a political drama and received international attention. Its writing, magnificently shot scenes and focus on the key issues of Danish politics all drew particular praise.
Was Nicola Sturgeon not a fan?
Borgen went down well in Scotland, and was a particular hit with the First Minister. Nicola Sturgeon admitted to being a long-time fan and often tweeted while it was aired on BBC4.
Ms Stugeon even said that she had watched the series more than once and suggested that Sidse Babett Knudsen could play her in a biopic. The pair met ahead of an Edinburgh screening of the second-series finale in 2013 and posed for a photograph.
Perhaps Ms Sturgeon was able to resonate with the depiction of a female leader running a coalition government in difficult circumstances.
What can we look forward to in the new series?
Nyborg returns as minister of foreign affairs in a newly formed coalition government. The defining issue is newly discovered oil in the Danish dependency of Greenland. The former PM faces problems about climate and security, while old friendships and the relationship between Denmark and Greenland are at stake. The US and China also compete for influence.
The idea came from sitting MP and chairman of the Danish Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee Martin Lidegaard, who met Mr Price on a cooking show which he was hosting.
Mr Lidegaard had been Denmark's foreign minister from 2014-15, and before that was climate and energy minister. The duo worked on the basic plot together.
Has Nyborg changed?
Nyborg is different in this series too. She is more cunning, keeps her distance from others and begins to lose some of herself to her work.
Early views of the new episodes have been positive, so hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.
Those involved are keen to stress that this is not a fourth series of Borgen. It is a stand-alone project of eight episodes under the title Power & Glory.
It launches globally on Netflix on Thursday.
Andrew Quinn
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel