Twin

Nordic storytelling and pace. So if you enjoy other Nordic drama, you'll enjoy this one.

This is one of those series that lacks a great publicity machine and hype, but which nonetheless delivers. The acting is mostly excellent: Kristofer Hivju is brilliant as Adam and Eric; I thought that Rebekka Nystabakk had aan uncertain start, but grew into the role. The plot is somewhat unlikely, but once you buy into it, you realise that they did what seemed to be the best way out and the story shows us - rather compellingly - what that does to the characters and to the children. The scenery is spectacular and adds a real power to the story: I wonder how much the local Tourist Board subsidised the production... Anyway, well worth a watch.

Compelling story, great acting and beautiful nordic landscapes. I binge watched the series in one go, that good it was!

The idea that one twin might take the place of the other, almost without anyone noticing, is one of the oldest tropes in storytelling. It's in almost every ancient culture and, like the rivalry of the Biblical Cain and Abel, it's been filmed many times in many settings but with very mixed results.

Seldom has a more gutsy, subtle, nuanced and creative version been produced for screen than this. Add terrific, moving performances, extraordinary, breathtaking landscapes, excellent direction, photography and directorial pacing, and you have perhaps the very best example of so-called Nordic Noir since The Killing set the bar so high that few have come even close in the past decade or so.

Twin is a show that should not be missed. Ignore the 2-star reviews elsewhere here (particularly when the writers have completely missed important and clearly signalled details like the fact that the youngest child is adopted and not, as suggested, evidence of the mother 'playing away from home'!) Seriously? To review a show (especially one as creative as this), one ought at least to do it the honour of paying attention all the way through ;).

Tastes vary, and a relatively slow moving, in-depth exploration of relationships (rather than a plot that heaps killings upon killings) might not be to everyone's taste. But if you're in the market of a surprisingly grown-up piece of entertainment, drawn out of an almost threadbare premise, here's a no-brainier for you.

This is a first-rate piece of TV that makes so much else look like the muck it really is. Congrats to all involved. It seems unlikely there'll be a second season for quite a while yet. I'll have to console myself by watching season one again in a couple of weeks!

The idea of a story where a man impersonates his identical twin sounds intriguing; unfortunately, 'Twin' doesn't quite manage to pull it off. It relies, as many dramas seem to do, on characters acting irrationally after being involved in events where they fear they might be liable to criminal prosecution. There's just no real meat to the story; we see a fraud of convenience, designed to be conducted only in the short term, and in the full knowledge of the one character who might otherwise be most affected by it. There's a back story - the difficult prior relationship of the two brothers - but we never really get to the bottom of that either. There are some good ideas, notably the view the protagonist gets of his own real life from an outside perspective; but overall the setup is just too contrived. The north Norwegian scenery at least provides a stunning backdrop to the tale.