20 December 2011

The stars of tv in 2011

It's been a pretty poor year for British television. I can't honestly say that many new homegrown programmes  really caught my attention. It was a poor year for American imports too.

For me the best programmes on tv this year have come from Europe particularly The Killing (Forbrydelsen), Braquo and Night Shift (.Næturvaktin) oh and Spiral too.

I won't discuss the plots etc - just watch them for yourself. What I will say is that it has created some true stars (or bloody well should have!)


The Character of Sarah Lund in the Killing is played by Sofie Gråbøl. Her superb performance in both series have made her a minor star in the UK.  But she great as she was, her stardom was eclipsed by her collection of Faeroe sweaters.


A veteran of French cinema, Jean Hugues  Anglade (You may know him for Betty Blue and Killing Zoe) pulled out a great performance as Eddy Caplan,  a basically honourable cop who is not averse to murder, housebreaking and armed robbery if it gets results. For all his infamy it was impossible to dislike him


Georg Bjarnfreðarson from Night Shift must rank as one of the most appalling sitcom characters of all time. That talentless tosser Ricky Gervais and hislame character David Brent, pale into insignicance compared with the horror that is  Bjarnfreðarson! his vile tv persona must surely have catapulted actor Jon Gnarr into his current role - that of Mayor of Reykjavik ( I am not joking!)

A third series of the Killing is showing in Denmark next year; the second series of Braquo has just finished its run in France; Night Shift was followed by two further series - Day Shift and Prison Shift and the feature film Bjarnfreðarson. I hope that all appear on British tv soon (The Killing and Night Shift appeared on BBC 4, Braquo was shown on the cable channel FX)

7 comments:

Typotomaton said...

Hell's Bells... I thought we had an agreement?

"I can't honestly that many"

"just watch the for yourself"

"What I will say that it"

"But she great as she was"

"a basically honourable coop"

"hislame character"

"on Britih tv soon"

To mention but the, eh... worst?/best?

You been on the booze for Crystalmist of something? (see - circuits can do humour too)

jams o donnell said...

Your eyes play tricks Typomaton!

Typotomaton said...

Nice to see your fingers can edit after all, Jamsh. Hee hee. I like pratunding ta beh as stuped as a a hooman the.

Auto email to the Don just sent, reading: "Everything under control and Jams has become perfect under my care".

The madman is still sitting threatening the skies, but it seems to be working so far. No snow, although I suspect that is more to do with butterflies flapping their wings in Brazil that it is related to the Don's lunatic threats.

Typotomaton said...

See what I did there at the end?

Circuits can tease subtly too.

jams o donnell said...

AH there you go. I am glad that the Don has been kept at bay for another day!

I am impressed by your ability to tease Typomaton!

Anonymous said...

i loved The Killing. Can't wait for those other series to hit Australia

jams o donnell said...

They are so worth it Nursie