Beyond the Bridge ─ Contemporary Danish Television Drama

Danish television drama has never been as successful as in recent years. Drawing worldwide acclaim from critics and audiences alike, programmes like The Killing, Borgen, The Bridge and The Legacy demonstrate widespread fascination with Danish style, aesthetics and culture as seen through television narratives. This book uses familiar, alongside lesser known, case studies of drama series to demonstrate how the particular features of Danish production – from work cultures, to storytelling techniques and trans-national cooperation – have enhanced contemporary Danish drama’s appeal both at home and abroad. The era of globalisation has blurred national and international television cultures and promoted regular cross-fertilisation between film and television industries. Important questions have emerged from this context surrounding, for example, the ‘Americanisation‘ of foreign television formats, the meaning and practice behind the term ‘quality television‘, and the purpose and efficacy of public service broadcasting. Beyond the Bridge tackles these issues in relation to Danish television, by examining the so-called ‘scaffolded production processes’ behind the making of quality serials and their thought-provoking content. Drawing on popular motifs from these celebrated dramas such as foreign politics, organised crime, global warming, and the impact of multinational corporations, this timely book provides crucial insight into the Danish dramas at the forefront of sophisticated, forward-thinking, fictional television.

Tobias Hochscherf is Professor of Film, Radio and Television at Kiel University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Previously he worked as a senior lecturer at Northumbria University, UK. His research interests include film and television history, televisual representations of society and politics, as well as transnational media cultures. Hochscherf is the author of The Continental Connection: German-speaking Emigres and British Cinema, 1927-1949 and has co-edited the anthologies Divided, But not Disconnected: German Experiences of the Cold War and British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays. He is Associate Editor of the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.Heidi Philipsen is Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University ofSouthern Denmark. Her research interests focus on the creative processes and talent development within audiovisual media. Among other publications, she has written a comprehensive study of The National Film School of Denmark: The New Wave of Danish Film - Influences and Imprints from The National Film School of Denmark.