Those Who Kill. Danish Cop Series

[Freddy]

Radio times

Is it The Killing? Is it Borgen? No, it's Those Who Kill
ITV3 follows in the footsteps of BBC4 and brings a new Danish drama to Britain.

Paul Jones
1:15 PM, 27 January 2012


As the popularity of Danish TV drama continues, ITV3 is attempting to cash in with the acquisition of Those Who Kill, a crime series by author Elsebeth Egholm.


The success of BBC4 shows The Killing and political drama Borgen (currently airing) suggest the appetite for Danish drama has not diminished, and here to take over where Sarah Lund left off - ITV3 will be hoping - is Inspector Katrina Ries Jensen, played by Laura Bach.


Unlike The Killing's dogged detective Lund, who concentrates on just a single case, Ries Jensen heads up a police unit that investigates a number of crimes during the course of the series.


But in common with The Killing, Those Who Kill (known in it's native language as Den Som Draeber) is based in the Danish capital Copenhagen and also co-stars Lars Mikkelsen, who played mayoral candidate Troels Hartmann in the BBC4 show.


The deal with distributors Trust Nordisk looks set to bring Those Who Kill to ITV3 in the coming weeks, although it is still unclear whether the channel has bought the 6 x 90-minute version of the show or the 12 x 45-minute cut.


It will be a rare acquisition for ITV3, which generally offers only archive content, but a similar model to that arranged by BBC4 would make it an attractive proposition. The first series of The Killing is rumoured to have cost the channel just £1,200 per episode but pulled in audiences of up to 600,000, with Borgen currently exceeding that.


Those Who Kill was produced for just £9.5 million and drew a record share for Danish public broadcaster TV2 when it aired last year.

[ChuckEddie]

It will be interesting to see how this does. Not sure what the viewing figures are for ITV3 programs.

Will keep my eye out.

[mrs_emma_peel]

Thanks for the info Freddy, will keep a look-out for that one
I wonder if BBC4 bid for it ... I'd much prefer to watch it on the sanctuary of an advert-free channel ...
but it's also good to see ITV3 acquiring some original drama.
Emma

[Freddy]

Pleasure.

Hopefully they will not compete with the 9pm BBC4 slot which for the past year has been wonderful. The viewer will record and fast forward the adverts anyway if that is their strategy.

[woody123]

Thanks for the heads up.Now if we could also have a new series of Spiral,that would be perfect.

[ChuckEddie]

At the moment, this looks to be starting on Thursday, 23rd Feb, 10.00pm - midnight ITV3.

Still not sure if it's subbed or dubbed.

[mrs_emma_peel]

I was very impressed with the first episode ...
thrilling, fast moving and with an excellent heroine
Emma

[Azanti]

Being Danish I really appreciate the heads up and the Killing was simply superb.

[batman]

I enjoyed the first episode. It reminded me a bit of early Cracker. The cast was good (including one or two faces from both series of The Killing) and the fact it was a howdowecatchhim? rather than a whodunnit? distanced it far enough from The Killing so that hopefully unnecessary comparisons won't be made. If next week's episode is as good (and the scenario sounds promising) ITV3 should have a winner on their hands.

[RogerThornhill]

I was wondering about these foreign series, are all the main characters women or are some of them men?

[batman]

The series has five stories. In Denmark they were shown as ten x one hour episodes while in other countries (inc the UK) they will be shown as five x two hour episodes. Apparently the series has been cancelled in Denmark, so there will just be the one series plus a TV movie Those Who Kill:Shadow Of The Past for us to enjoy. There will also be a US remake in 2013.

[Freddy]

Watched the repeat last night on itvplayer, enjoyable and completely different from The Killing and Wallander and the set up looks as if it could transfer easily to other countries. However where itv3 let itself down was in the number and length of breaks which really did hinder the flow of the story and then for about ten seconds to have a reminder put in the top right hand corner of when the next episode is was annoying over egging the pudding. As with all itv one to tape and then fast forward though if you watch via computer that option isn't available.

I'll still watch next weeks but if missed will not loose any sleep over it.

[Mervyn2]

I'll still watch next weeks but if missed will not loose any sleep over it.

My thoughts exactly, it was enjoyable enough, but it didn't particularly grip me.

[Freddy]

Enjoyed this week's episode, good storyline.

[batman]

I will hopefully be watching it today.

[popeye]

I enjoyed the first episode (both parts on itv3) very much, can anyone tell me if the dvd box set has english language option?, it wasn't too clear on the amazon listing, anyone bought the set?
i definatly aggree regarding the number of adds and all the "what's comeing up next" reminders, so i copy it, than watch and FF out the rubish,

[batman]

This is the UK release. The details clearly state that it has English subtitles.

Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Those-Who-Ki...0801738&sr=1-1

[ChuckEddie]

I thought not much on the box tonight so I'll look at my recording of episode one. Well guess what, the recording failed.

Is it a serial, or stand alone episodes, can I pick up from episode two, which recorded ok?

[batman]

It's repeated next Thursday. However, if you miss that one too, they are stand alone episodes.

[ChuckEddie]

Thanks Bats.