Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, it seemed to me that a lot of Brit cop shows started adopting Scandi elements and had to up their game to compete and were improved for it.
Shame this one is on Sky and not free to air, BBC4 is the logical home for all things detectivy and foreign. I particularly enjoy Spiral, now in its fifth season and still going strong. But being French it couldn't be any more different from those cool Scandinavian drama's. It's turbo-charged with a much more 'in your face' and punchy production style, some great - if annoyingly dashing - characters, and serious plot complexity. I'm hoping I can remember everything that happened week-to-week so I record them just in case I need a recap. Missed Broadchurch but shall endeavor somehow to see Fortitude as I miss Sophie and there won't be any more Wallander... There were a few good drama's on the BBC this year but they are hard to recommend as they were so English that the eccentricities might make it like watching Star Trek to anyone else here. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : Now that the second season of "Broadchurch" has turned out to be so bad, I went looking for something interesting and British to watch, and stumbled onto "Fortitude." T'would seem that the Brits have grown so fond of Scandinavian Noir TV shows like "The Killing" that they've started creating their own. "Fortitude" is a crime thriller set in an isolated location, like "Broadchurch." But whereas the town of Broadchurch was just in a remote part of Britain, the town of Fortitude is *really* isolated -- above the Arctic Circle in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, an island 500 kilometers north of Norway. It's so small that everyone has a job, and there is a Sheriff but he doesn't really have anything to do because there is no crime. Until now. The cast is excellent. Richard Dormer as the Sheriff, Sofie Gråbøl (from "The Killing") as the Governor of the island, Michael Gambon as a dying wildlife photographer, Christopher Eccleston as a scientist at an Arctic Research Facility, and Stanley Tucci as police inspector brought in from the mainland to supervise the investigation of what appears to be Fortitude's first murder. Just as the peaceful, boring Dorset town of Broadchurch was revealed to be anything but once a murder caused people to start looking below the surface, it's pretty obvious that "the town with no crime" will be similar. The first episode plants enough red herrings and hints at to suggest that pretty much anybody could be the guilty party. Plus there is the scenery -- it's so bleak and white that it is difficult at times to believe that this was series was actually shot on planet Earth. If you're feeling cold and oppressed by Winter where you live, watching this show should help to warm you up by reminding you how good you've actually got it. Fortitude Trailer (First Look) - IMDb http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2081861401/ http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2081861401/ Fortitude Trailer (First Look) - IMDb http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2081861401/ Watch the latest Fortitude Trailer (First Look) on IMDb View on www.imdb.com http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2081861401/ Preview by Yahoo
