The Minister

I don't know how they do it. Iceland has a population of 350,000 people and yet they manage to turn out such high quality series on a regular basis. Especially impressive when you consider that they have no natural secondary market for their productions because their language is unique to the island (i.e. you'll need subtitles to watch).

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is one of our favourite actors in any international series and after the first series of Trapped several years ago my wife and I became fans of his. He is outstanding in this because of the complexity of the character. Initially he has to be the calm sane politician with just the hint of a quirk or two to having a few eccentricities in the second and third episodes to being a bit over-the-top irrationally enthusiast about projects as the series progresses to finally reach the inevitably conclusion. He portrays all this really well.

One minor criticism (from my wife who used to work in mental health) is the change from extreme manic to extreme depression late in the series is a bit unrealistic but I think viewers will excuse that realism flaw readily enough - especially given the circumstances of the change (say no more, don't want to give any spoilers).

The plot itself isn't perfect, but the character study and the acting from the cast and the beautiful Icelandic scenery more than make up for anything one might want to quibble with.

More please, Iceland, and especially more from one of our favourite actors.