Foreign drama thread (BBC4, C4's Walter Pres, Sky Arts etc)

I couldn't find a BBC 4 thread or foreign drama thread; if there is one it must be very old.

Anyway I don't know if any of you have been watching The Code, which is a 6-part Australian drama acquired from ABC.

The BBC are showing it in double bills as they do with most imported dramas, and started last weekend, due to finish next weekend. Interestingly, this means they'll show the final episode a day before ABC does in Australia.

While we're here, does anyone have details of upcoming foreign dramas on BBC 4 (or elsewhere)?

I know we're to get series 3 of The Bridge, Belgian series Cordon (timely given the subject), and a fifth series of Spiral is being made and due soon - has the BBC had a part to play in this as it has series 2-3? This article from the Guardian in August is the latest info I can find: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/21/bbc4-belgian-drama-bridge-spiral-edinburgh-tv-festval

BBC Four is also showing DR's '1864', a Danish period drama, the most expensive in Danish TV history IIRC. It stars Sidse Babett Knudsen of 'Borgen'.

One shocker was that DR's other popular new drama, 'Legacy', which was scheduled to be on BBC Four, has been sold to Sky Arts. Not sure when its transmitting though, but the first series was on DR in January.

Caught up on the first couple of episodes of The Code this afternoon - excellent stuff. Annoying though even in the days of iPlayer that if you miss the first airing of these that's the last time it's on TV all week - presumably no show nowadays is bought with the rights limited to a single screening so it seems an absolute waste of the rights not to have a narrative repeat before the next episode.

I think that you still buy a number of showings - and BBC Four often save them for a second showing a couple of months or so later rather than blowing them all in the same week.

If you like Nordic drama - then I can recommend a few other series that have yet to make it to the UK broadcast TV AFAIK :

Anno 1790 - Swedish period crime drama (set just after the French Revolution) Available on a Nordic Noir release with UK subs

Varg Veum - Norwegian series based around a social worker who becomes a private investigator. Set in Bergen. Tails off a bit - but first few are excellent. Norwegian DVD and Blu-ray releases have English subtitles

Beck - Swedish crime series based around the characters (but not the novels) of the Sjöwall and Wahlöö Martin Beck novels. The later episodes on Swedish DVD and Blu-ray have English subtitles and they are making a few more at the moment.

Irene Huss - Swedish series based around a female police inspector based in Gothenburg. First series released in Sweden on DVD had English subtitles (annoyingly apart from the first episode)

Unit 1 and The Protectors - two Danish DR-produced crime dramas. They are out on Nordic Noir with English subtitles. Not quite The Killing - but very watchable.

I import (or buy when I'm out there) a lot of Nordic drama - and either watch with Swedish subtitles (as I speak the language to a basic degree) or rip the DVD/Blu-ray, OCR the subs and Google translate with a bit of tidying up to make a watchable MKV version. There are lots of other series I've watched I could also recommend...

AIUI the recent Swedish "Crimes of Passion" series on BBC Four aired over here before it aired on TV4 in Sweden. (I don't think it has been broadcast there yet - as it is still in the DVD/Blu-ray release window - or TV4 haven't found a slot.)

One thing that's a bit different in Sweden and Norway is that a lot of the crime dramas shown on commercial TV are actually shown in the cinemas first (sometimes only the first episode - sometimes more than one), then released on DVD/Blu-ray and only after a suitable window are they shown on TV. I think it is to do with the funding via SF or Nordisk Film. The same was true of the TV4 Krister Henriksson Wallander series. The DVDs/Blu-rays are released once a month or so - and when they finally arrive on TV they aren't always shown as a weekly series, but instead more as one-off TV movies.

The Maria Lang series premieres on TV4 next Sunday:
http://www.tv4.se/maria-lang-m%C3%B6rdaren-ljuger-inte-ensam

The first episode was shown in cinemas last year.



As you say, it has a lot to do with funding. If you release a movie in cinemas that entitles you to grants and state support that isn't available for a regular TV series. It also spreads the risks more evenly.

It does however limit creative freedom a bit as drama concepts must be big enough to support a movie.

This thread got me wondering when series 2 of The Returned (Les Revenants) would be returning to Channel 4 - DS reports that it's not until late 2015. 2015!

Are they still doing their own remake?

Spiral should be on Canal+ before Christmas, so I'd suspect a Spring 2015 debut on BBC Four.

Spiral is back on Canal+ as soon as 10th November!

Inspector Montalbano on the Saturday 9pm slot from 1st November, continuation of a re-run.