As Borgen captivates a British audience, Maggie Brown goes to Copenhagen to visit the channel behind an extraordinary television boom
As they sift through a pile of enthusiastic British press cuttings, united in praise for the latest television triumph to come from Denmark, the makers of Borgen are both delighted and faintly bemused.
"I am completely overwhelmed – it is absolutely wonderful," the drama's producer, Camilla Hammerich, told the Observer. Morten Hesseldahl, the cultural director of DR, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, who oversees output, added: "We thought Borgen was maybe too Danish to travel. We are amazed and happy it is possible."
Borgen, the Danish term for parliament, is a glossy political thriller in which the plot turns on the election of a fictional female prime minister. In the first episode the plot begins in London, but that was for the benefit of Danes rather than the potential export market. "It was to appeal to Danish viewers – we had no idea it was going to travel back to the UK later," said Hammerich.
Borgen is already showing signs of emulating the success of The Killing. An impressive 650,000 viewers tuned in for the opening episode, two weeks ago. When the 10-episode run is over, yet another murder drama from DR, Bron/Broen (The Bridge), will hit our screens.
So much for the worry that British viewers would never take to subtitles. Initially the BBC was so wary of audience reaction to The Killing that it ran two episodes at a time. One year on, BBC4 has transformed its schedules to accommodate the booming demand for subtitled Danish drama. Ben Stephenson, the BBC's controller of drama, said: "It's a phenomenon, brilliant. People love a strong story."
How has Denmark done it? Strong, compelling roles for women provide part of the explanation. In The Killing, Sofie Gråbøl memorably played the part of Sarah Lund, a dysfunctional single-mother detective. Borgen is likely to make the British reputation of acclaimed actress Sidse Babett Knudsen, starring in her first TV series as prime minister Birgitte Nyborg. It may be no coincidence that DR also gained its first female general director last year, lawyer Maria Rørbye Rønn.
But a visit to DR's quayside headquarters in Copenhagen underlines the added value of a uniquely focused creative culture. DR is a dedicated public service broadcaster, funded by a licence fee costing about £250 a year. Its annual income is an eighth of the BBC's, and slender resources of about £20m a year for drama mean the emphasis is on picking winners. Over the past 20 years, executives, producers and writers have refined that art to develop the classiest, most efficient drama factory in world television.
The rules are straightforward. Commissioners insist on original drama dealing with issues in contemporary society: no remakes, no adaptations. The main requirement is material for the 8pm slot on Sundays, when gripping drama helps Danish audiences through the long winters. Writers have the final say. Hammerich said: "We give them a lot of space and time to develop their story. The vision of the writer is the centre of attention, we call it 'one vision' – meaning everyone works towards fulfilling this one vision, and very few executives are in a position to make final decisions. I believe this is part of the success."
On the fourth floor of DR, one of the co-writers of Borgen, Jeppe Gjervig Gram, is currently spending months at a large table, surrounded by walls of scribbled storyline boards. He is part of a three-strong writing team led by Borgen creator Adam Price (who is half-British and doubles as a TV chef). The three are currently finessing the final scripts for Borgen 3 before filming next month. Borgen 2 ended in Denmark last month, with a peak audience of two million, about 60% of the population, which placed it on a par with The Killing.
The writers craft seven drafts of a script, then shoot two episodes at a time with the same director, ensuring continuity, for 33 days. Gram said: "The thinking for Borgen began four years ago, long before Denmark elected its first female prime minister. We took a lot of advice from people in politics – consultants, politicians, spin doctors, journalists and commentators – and rolled characters and events into different fictional ones."
Borgen became a domestic sensation from the moment it was shown in Denmark in 2010, partly because it uncannily forecast actual developments in Danish politics. In the show, Nyborg becomes the first woman to run the country and quickly finds herself embroiled in mystery and controversy. In real-life Danish politics, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the leader of a centre-left coalition who is married to Neil Kinnock's son and the mother of two children, became prime minister last October. In the drama's first series, the toll exacted on family life by Nyborg's political career is explored at length as the character's daughter suffers from depression.
According to Hammerich: "The series has come under constant scrutiny from political and journalistic quarters. Everything is analysed. Lots of parallels are drawn between Schmidt and Nyborg. We know the prime minister watches it. She finds it entertaining. But she is not always happy with developments in the life of Birgitte Nyborg." The themes, she says, are just as relevant to Britain. "Borgen reflects the universal dilemma: is it possible to obtain and keep power and be yourself? Are you able to have a career and take care of your family and yourself all at the same time?"
There are indications that DR is planning to expand the scope of its future ventures. The Bridge is made by two independent producers for DR and Sweden's STV, while The Killing's acclaimed producer, Piv Bernth, is taking over as head of drama from April. She is expected to expand and attract more co-production money, while keeping DR's tight control over scripts. DR has also decided to strike out in a new direction, making an eight-part historical series about 1864, the year when Denmark was forced to cede Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia. There are unconfirmed rumours that Sofie Gråbøl may star in it.
But for the time being, as Denmark's ambassador to Britain, Anne Hedensted Steffensen, has pointed out, series like The Killing and Borgen are raising the country's profile abroad. UK audiences need only sit back and enjoy the ride.