Pigerne fra Englandsbåden

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.

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.

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.

This is a slowly evolving narrative. It's not anything like as bad as some suggest. There is nothing doubt some scenes are on the ponderous side so the direction is a bit at fault. The story is credible and interestingly convoluted. There's definitely a number of points where you try to get Nora to behave a bit more rationally. Lisbeth is played with some menace by Susan A Olsen who stands out here compared to other roles she has been given in Borden or The Eagle. Over all worth watching. It is important to accept the play is about the character development and underlying psychology of the individuals here. I enjoyed it even with the slow pace.

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.