Pigerne fra Englandsbåden

Very poorly scripted, with too many plot holes and unrealistic plot behaviour. Foreign viewers may not notice the theatrically presented lines and artificial lines, but a Danish viewer will quickly notice. Foreign viewers will, however, notice how slooooowlyy things move. The 8 x 40 minutes could easily have been reduced to half without losing anything. But not even that would make it worth watching due to the poor and unbelievable plot. I never understood why film makers don't have professionals proof read their scripts before thet start filming, among others to check if the behaviour of the poliecemen is at least remotely plausible.

I wanted to like this, but the longer it went on the worse it was. It had started out quite well. A mystery for a journalist to solve. And a missing girl in present day. That storyline seem to disappear very quickly. It got a bit more interesting with the introduction of the serial killer in prison. For a savvy journalist Nora made some pretty stupid decisions. I lost count of how many times I shouted at the screen as she did something stupid. The last 2 episodes were a lot of staring into space and standing about. Nobody was particularly likeable throughout the whole series. It could have been so much better with some tweaking. Disappointing.

After seeing the negative comments I decided to write a review about this series. Well, some of these comments are indeed true, such as being too slow and having plot holes, but if you like big twists and turns, this is one of those series you are looking for. Therefore, the series may not mean anything to the viewers until the sixth episode. Marie Sando Jondal gives a great performance and plays the lead character, journalist Nora Sand. This series is worth watching and I rate it 7 out of 10. Finally, please write a review here after learning the difference between Danish and Norwegian I am not DANISH but at least I know from checking on IMDb and Google that this series is not NORWEGIAN.

Journalist Nora Sand has to step back from her prestigious London job after getting romantically involved with a person she was investigating. She returns to her home town in Denmark and shortly after her arrival an unknown person places an envelope containing photographs in her letter box. They are of two girls who vanished from a ferry on a school trip to England in 1980. She determines to investigate; in the process uncovering various long hidden secrets. At the same time another teenage girl goes missing; is there a connection?

I thought this was a decent enough mystery series. It may not be the best of the ever growing number of Nordic dramas available to watch in the UK but the story is solid and had some good twists that I hadn't really expected. The protagonist is a little difficult to like; especially early on as she manages to annoy many people she interacts with. However by the time she was in danger towards the end I did worry about how things would turn out. Early on it is a little slow moving but the finale is genuinely tense and claustrophobic. The cast does a solid job bringing the characters to life. Overall a decent enough addition to the Nordic Noir genre; worth a watch if you enjoy such series.

These comments are based on watching the series in Danish with English subtitles.

Streaming on Channel 4 (UK) made the slow paced thriller even slower.

The frequent adds, and the glitches at times in the streaming made this a difficult watch. I can't really take away stars from the film for reasons outside the film makers control, but it did impact on my enjoyment watching this.

I'll take one star away because of the ending, as it it just didn't meet my expectations.

I'll take another because it simply was a tad to slow at times. Like unnatural long pauses in phone calls. Only example I can give to avoid spoilers.

Another star is deducted because of the filming. At first I made excuses it was an old production but it appears from 2023, so a bit too old school or low budget.

The story line had potential but falls short at times, the yet another star deducted.

The acting is not great performance either, a final star deducted.

I'll leave the remaining 5, as I did watch it to the end. The plot delivers twists and turns and all sorts that belongs to a decent thriller, and it could have had great potential. At least it's a mini series with no cliffhangers.

I'll give it an extra star because it is a Danish series jumping it to six stars.