Borgen S01E07

Sex scandals, scheming politicians, a voluptuous PM and a pouting blonde... no wonder everyone's talking about Danish TV thriller Borgen, writes the Mail's Emily Hill. The first episode opens with a quote from Machiavelli’s The Prince – a clear signal of the scheming and skulduggery that lie ahead. There are scandals over expenses, teams of whispering spin doctors, a politician catapulted into the limelight by a successful televised debate and a country left in limbo as, behind closed doors, a coalition government is formed. Borgen comes from the same Danish team that created the phenomenally successful detective drama The Killing. As with that series, Borgen made its British debut on BBC4, has a huge following on the Corporation’s internet television service iPlayer, and will undoubtedly make a move to BBC2 before the end of the year.

Both shows share the same high production values and feature pithy scripts, strong female characters and chisel-jawed men. Relationships between the sexes are just as fascinating, with a different dynamic to that seen in many British crime dramas. For example, where Helen Mirren’s DCI Jane Tennyson in Prime Suspect is a lone woman battling prejudice in a man’s world, Borgen has more female characters at the top of the tree. Whether they work in TV or politics, they are not prepared to sacrifice glamour for the sake of ambition. Take the main character Birgitte Nyborg, played by Sidse Babett Knudsen, who is leader of the fictional Moderate Party and becomes the country’s first female prime minister. Driven and opportunistic, she is also human and self-deprecating. She enjoys wine and cheerfully admits to battling with her weight as she struggles to cram her voluptuous frame into a power suit. Though conscious of her appearance, she is certainly not neurotic about her body, and enjoys flaunting it – at least if her frequently fruity exchanges with her husband are anything to go by.


Prime Minister Nyborg’s nemesis is the stunningly beautiful and brutally ambitious television reporter Katrine Fønsmark, played by 30-year-old Birgitte Hjort Sørensen. Fønsmark goes from dating one aide to sleeping with the prime minister’s spin doctor, who promises to leave his wife and children for her. They celebrate by making love at a hotel – but the following morning she finds him dead in bed. Fønsmark, who fears she may be pregnant, has to carry on covering an election as though nothing has happened. They are different settings and of different times, of course, but Fønsmark’s predicament is not unlike Lady Mary Crawley’s in Downton Abbey. Sørensen says: "Over here, we are all addicted to Downton Abbey. My character, like Lady Mary, finds her lover dead in bed, which is rather shocking."

Described as the epitome of happiness by her English teacher at school, the description fits nicely as Sørensen's engaging laugh fills the room. The actress adds words like dutiful and earnest about herself, before describing how the role in Borgen has rubbed off on her, as she is watching the news more and with a keener critical eye. Even politicians have become more exciting to listen to, she thinks.

Sørensen is an Anglophile who played Roxy Hart in the hit musical Chicago in the West End in 2008. She said: "I am a big fan of British actresses, especially Kate Winslet. Like Helen Mirren she can be both incredibly strong but equally vulnerable." She is delighted that a Danish drama set in distant, dark Copenhagen, could prove such a success in Britain. "I don’t think anyone would have imagined a Danish series would become popular in any other country because no one else speaks the language," she said.


Television Series: Borgen (S01E07)
Release Date: January 2012
Actress: Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
Video Clip Credit: Trailblazer












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