Næturvaktin

Like the previous commentator, I saw this programme when BBC4 presented it as part of their Iceland season. The first couple of episodes I liked, but I was a bit lost. Once I got to know the characters, though, I loved it more and more. The characters are beautifully drawn and magnificently played: you don't think of it as acting, you feel you're seeing a window into someone's life. I also thought Daníel should have paid more attention to Ylfa, starting with telling her she looked nice in episode 11, but life isn't perfect. Ólafur, for me, is the finest achievement: on the one hand, he's the perpetual underdog, so that you can't help feeling sorry for him, but on the other hand, he is forever doing something stupid. My favourite episode is the eleventh, where Georg tries to teach his embarrassed and uninterested pubescent son the Facts of Life with the help of a copy of Hustler ("The man has a penis, the woman doesn't have a penis. Well, that one does, but she's deformed.") and a white-board for vocabulary and diagrams. I was quite relieved when that one was over, because I was laughing so much it hurt. I shall certainly buy the DVD, which I am pleased to find is available with English subtitles.

It should be difficult to believe that, from such a small country by population like Iceland, produces this master piece. This shows perfectly well that it does not need a huge crew and writers when one team can be called more than talented. Simply clever from the start.

The characters are built so well that you either want to see them or not at all. The setting is absolutely amasing - nothing much but yet, everything.

One simply recognise these people involved, be them main characters or punters that you can only hope this will never see an American version. Do not touch this Hollywood, this is not for you - please let people look like people and feel like one.

Iceland remains a magic place. People like Björk and Sigur Ros have shown the world that the Icelandic can make beautiful and unconventional music, but what is still rather unknown is that they can also produce great films and TV series. This comedy-drama series about the staff of a Shell gas station in Reykjavik is the funniest and most charming sitcom I've seen in years and can absolutely compete with sitcoms from "traditional" sitcom nations like the USA and UK. When you watch the first couple of episodes, you may at first find it rather tedious and just another bland variation of The Office, but if you stick with it, you will find out that the characters are very well written and beautifully nuanced and superbly acted, and the gags get better and more black and lead to some very funny laugh-out-loud moments like you don't see them that often in most of today's comedy series. Jon Gnarr as the manic night shift boss is terrific, probably the best "bad boss" since David Brent, but Olafur and Daniel are very strong and believable characters as well. There is no English dubbing, but if you watch it with English subtitles, you will have absolutely no problem understanding it, as the dialogue is very simple and doesn't rely on wordplay.

When this series was shown on British TV last year I liked it so much I found the DVDs for other 2 series online and ordered them It seems a lot of people are quite confused by it as there aren't that many obvious jokes or punchlines and most of the humour comes from the characters themselves and the feeling of uncomfortableness that their interactions can give you. At first I though the character of Georg was far too obvious a comedy character, with his balding head and ginger hair but once the series gets going you see there is more to him than the obvious visual comedy of his appearance. I'd very much recommend finding the other 2 series to watch as well if you enjoyed this series as it only gets better.

I'm a fan of Scandinavia. I have watched quite some Scandinavian TV series and films and have come to the conclusion they are really experts in making productions who don't feature a lot of explosive and intense action themselves but merely interest by stimulating the watcher his/her deepest and silent emotions. With Iceland being no exclusion.

Næturvaktin brings a mix of drama and comedy to keep the audience at the edge of their seat by making them think and make them create expectations of what might happen to the protagonists next. With a lovely scenario played out by Jón Gnarr Kristinsson as a communist-like supermarket leader with five university degrees and just as good performing deuteragonists like Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon and Jörundur Ragnarsson you can't waste time by checking out this Nordic gem.

The type of humor might not be suitable for everyone. Although, i very much enjoy the office-like and "daily basis" humor more than a whelm of attempts at being funny, issued by more than one Hollywood-made TV-series nowadays.

Don't take my word for it, please go have a look yourself and if this series grabbed your attention, don't mind checking out dagvaktin and fangavaktin. The sequels in the trilogy who are just as good.

If you still can't get enough of Georg and his buddies. You can always watch Mr. Bjarnfredarson the movie.