Pigerne fra Englandsbåden

When my wife encouraged me to see this one, I resisted, mainly because I hadn't really heard about it, and I certainly thought I didn't have the time. But as she persisted I gave it a try, and got quickly hooked. Within the afternoon I catched up with her, and we watched the remaining 4 episodes together in the evening. I mention this because I have always loved to watch TV with others rather than alone, and in this one it's good to have someone to discuss details with. I don't think I've ever digested a show this fast, I don't binge watch often. This is like a good book. A real pageturner. I felt it was so refreshing with a "new" cast of actors, of whom I only knew a few. I think it made the mystery even more unpredictable. When other claims it's too slow, I disagree. It doesn't have to fast paced and packed to the max with sound efffects and loud music to be thrilling. Yes, certain editors would maby have cut it shorter, but I personally loved every second. Thank You for this. Good work. More please.

I had really been looking forward to this, nordic crime, as so often before, and hopefully as good as usual.

But despite a good story, based on a popular book, a cast that seems to deliver, even if not big stars, it ends up boring, because so little happens, way to many empty pauses, and characters that stare empty into the void. If the series was shorted by one third, it would work.

On top of that, lines that is too much, that no one would say in real life, and is too clumsy. Sometime I wonder if the book has a deeper layer, that the movie never dig enough into and we therefore do not understand. Instead we hear actors say sentences that is not really connected to anything and sound like a cliche.

It is not all bad, after all I watched it to the end. It's just never really good. Maybe I should read the book.

So they skimped on an editor - a shame. Could've worked in four episodes. Way too slow paced. The last two episodes, where you'd expect it to become exciting, 'thrilling' it completely deflates and leaves the viewers in this household yawning and glancing at their phones. The author surely can't be pleased with the result? The actors all do their best to make this glacier-moving narrative work, but have apparently all been told to speak excruciatingly slowly. If you have the time, then give it a go, but if you don't need to have everything repeated and regurgitated for you again and again, then give it a miss.

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.

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.