I liked the episodes. It was a little stiff and charicatured, maybe lacked some of the nuances of the "normal" episodes, but hey. I particularly liked the fact that the investigative journalism done by TV1 - and subsequently decided not to run - was actually the thing that was needed to seal the deal, and of course they would never ever subsequently know that. The homophobic comments, the stolen oil revenues, the awkwardness of the UN and the slightly begging nature of the relationship with China all highlighted the extreme murkiness of what lengths you need to go to or deal with to get things done in international politics.
Also I did like the slightly weird way I was watching Birgitte communicating in English through an Arab translator who spoke to her in (subtitled) Danish. That little multilingual blast in itself was a bit of a head****.
Katrine and Kasper negotiating their relationship through the awkwardness of their respective careers is interesting to see.
The only slight lemon on the horizon is the slightly crappily handled Laura story. I see why it's in there, it's just not very believable.
The documents that Katrine stole from Kasper are dated March 2013. Birgitte is scheduled to go to Kharun on the 8th March 2013. Is this date consistent with the timeline in Borgen? Brigitte has been in power for over two years(three years when October time comes around?). They keep saying the next election is a year away, assuming she gets her full term in office - 4 years.
Yes the timeline seems about right. In Denmark like Australia, the PM can call an election whenever they wish unlike in UK, US, Germany, Sweden etc.
I liked the episodes. It was a little stiff and charicatured, maybe lacked some of the nuances of the "normal" episodes, but hey. I particularly liked the fact that the investigative journalism done by TV1 - and subsequently decided not to run - was actually the thing that was needed to seal the deal, and of course they would never ever subsequently know that. The homophobic comments, the stolen oil revenues, the awkwardness of the UN and the slightly begging nature of the relationship with China all highlighted the extreme murkiness of what lengths you need to go to or deal with to get things done in international politics.
Also I did like the slightly weird way I was watching Birgitte communicating in English through an Arab translator who spoke to her in (subtitled) Danish. That little multilingual blast
in itself was a bit of a head****.
Katrine and Kasper negotiating their relationship through the awkwardness of their respective careers is interesting to see.
The only slight lemon on the horizon is the slightly crappily handled Laura story. I see why it's in there, it's just not very believable.
Of the 20 episodes of series 1 and 2, these two were my least favourite episodes.
Of the 20 episodes of series 1 and 2, these two were my least favourite episodes.
Oh, I'm not saying those two episodes were Borgen's finest hour, but I didn't try to erase the memory of them from my mind after they ended, I still enjoyed them.
Yes the timeline seems about right. In Denmark like Australia, the PM can call an election whenever they wish unlike in UK, US, Germany, Sweden etc.
Thanks VV. I don't keep track of the timeline while watching the show. But it does help sometimes to know how the months are passing over the course of a series.
Fixed term Parliaments or snap elections? I always thought fixed term ones had the edge. But now we are living it...... not so sure now:D:D
I liked the episodes. It was a little stiff and charicatured, maybe lacked some of the nuances of the "normal" episodes, but hey. I particularly liked the fact that the investigative journalism done by TV1 - and subsequently decided not to run - was actually the thing that was needed to seal the deal, and of course they would never ever subsequently know that. The homophobic comments, the stolen oil revenues, the awkwardness of the UN and the slightly begging nature of the relationship with China all highlighted the extreme murkiness of what lengths you need to go to or deal with to get things done in international politics.
Also I did like the slightly weird way I was watching Birgitte communicating in English through an Arab translator who spoke to her in (subtitled) Danish. That little multilingual blast
in itself was a bit of a head****.
Katrine and Kasper negotiating their relationship through the awkwardness of their respective careers is interesting to see.
The only slight lemon on the horizon is the slightly crappily handled Laura story. I see why it's in there, it's just not very believable.
Thanks VV. I don't keep track of the timeline while watching the show. But it does help sometimes to know how the months are passing over the course of a series.
Fixed term Parliaments or snap elections? I always thought
fixed term ones had the edge. But now we are living it...... not so sure now:D:D
Mmm, I tend to agree. Fixed terms were preferable prior to 2010, now I think I'd rather have snap elections.
Yes the timeline seems about right. In Denmark like Australia, the PM can call an election whenever they wish unlike in UK, US, Germany, Sweden etc.
I know Cameron & Clegg said they don't want an election before one they plan for 2015 partly to give them a decent period in government and partly to avoid speculation and instability but that's not the same as saying UK has fixed term parliaments.
I know Cameron & Clegg said they don't want an election before one they plan for 2015 partly to give them a decent period in government and partly to avoid speculation and instability but that's not the same as saying UK has fixed term parliaments.
I think you'll find that we DO in fact have fixed term parliaments. Royal Assent was given on 15 Sept 2011 and thr next election is on Thurs 7 May 2015
I worked for a few years in Bush House and we saw the listening figures from each country. All over the world almost every country tunes into BBC news for 'impartial' coverage - hundreds of millions. Mind you, BBCWS used to be funded by the FO - not sure it gets the same service now the BBC are paying the bills!
Yes most trusted broadcaster internationally for impartial news is something we have every reason to be proud of. Some people compare news from some other source and when there's a difference claim the BBC is biased. Not so.
It seems pretty plausible to me that they were watching the BBC because apart from being a trusted source and in English, they'll have more resources, so more chance of correspondents near any developing news story than a much smaller Danish broadcaster.
I think you'll find that we DO in fact have fixed term parliaments. Royal Assent was given on 15 Sept 2011 and thr next election is on Thurs 7 May 2015
Interesting, so I wasn't right. Though it does say when the next one is it could be earlier but not by PM's choice as previously. It doesn't set a fixed shedule for the future like the US having them every fourth November .... 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024 ....
The new legislation sets fixed five year terms in the UK, but an election can be held earlier if 55% if MPs agree to it.
Similar clauses exist in other countries with fixed terms including Sweden and Germany. In Germany Schroder was able to bring forward a scheduled general election by one year, but still Germany, like the UK is considered as having fixed term parliaments.
Oh, and the way they were following the BBC coverage of the Chinese boat? Was that just sucking up to their new UK fans, or would they really use the BBC as a primary political source?
As one of the primary newsgathering resources in the world, the idea that citizenry and officialdom in other countries might keep a weather eye on the BBC News channels is rather more likely than producers simply pandering to a few hundred thousand British viewers.
The BBC itself has a Monitoring Unit which collates information from news and other media resources around the world for use by government departments etc.
There was a goof there - in the BBC News banner headline it said the Chinese ship had been halted on its way to the North Kharun capital of Lahore, when in an earlier scene the subtitles had identified the fictional capital as Safore.
Lahore is of course a city in Pakistan so whoever created the insert footage for the "BBC News" report must have made a boo-boo in using a real world name.
In case anyone is left in any doubt as to the inspiration for this storyline, at about 14 minutes into the first episode of the two-parter, Birgitte is in her office late at night listening to the news report about the UN Security Council failure to do anything meaningful about the situation. She glances briefly at a map of "Kharun" on her desk - if you pause iPlayer here you can just about make out the names Khartoum (just above the subtitles), and Jebel Abyad Plateau (on the left of the map) both of which are in Sudan
Thanks Kenny for the interesting info. Just wondering how are these figures collated? Do you go traipsing, knocking on people's doors asking them "did you watch Borgen last Saturday? If not, why not!")
Eps 5&6 should go over the 1 million mark once HD figs are factored in(if the HD viewers hold up as normal). It will be interesting to see how the viewing numbers are holding up once the HD numbers are in. And then again after 8 eps. Many viewers seem to think the Kharun storyline was a low point for the show. I wonder if the figures for the final two eps of Season 2 will nose dive after last weekends airing? If people decide they have had enough. Let's hope those who didn't like the adventure in Africa see it as just a blip.
A question for VV. Did the Kharun eps go down well in Denmark? Or did the Danes think like many over here - Meh. And did the figures hold up over there for the final two eps - spoiler free of course;):):)
PS
Radio Times confirm that the new series of Spiral starts the Saturday after Borgen ends(Sat 9th Feb start date). Double eps as usual. 12 in all. Laure!!!!:D:D
Eps 5&6 should go over the 1 million mark once HD figs are factored in(if the HD viewers hold up as normal). It will be interesting to see how the viewing numbers are holding up once the HD numbers are in. And then again after 8 eps. Many viewers seem to think the Kharun storyline was a low point for the show. I wonder if the figures for the final two eps of Season 2 will nose dive after last weekends airing? If people decide they have had enough. Let's hope those who didn't like the adventure in Africa see it as just a blip.
A question for VV. Did the Kharun eps go down well in Denmark? Or did the Danes think like many over here - Meh. And did the figures hold up over there for the final two eps - spoiler free of course;):):)
PS
Radio Times confirm that the new series of Spiral starts the Saturday after Borgen ends(Sat 9th Feb start date). Double eps as usual. 12 in all. Laure!!!!:D:D
The Kharun eps got average Borgen ratings in Denmark, but ep 9 fell slightly. It's safe to say that ep 9 is a return to form and hopefully if tomorrow's Radio Times and some of the Saturday papers publicise the fact that the final two will air on 2 Feb, hopefully ratings will increase.
The DVD of this series has been available from amazon for over a year and I notice sales are generally quite good for it. I was expecting the whole series to be lower than it has been but I think a good chunk of the audience have already seen it and possibly were aware of eps 7 and 8 being "different" and maybe chose not to bother with a rewatch of those two.
I expect 9 and 10 will return to the series average and taht BBC will more than likely buy Borgen 3.
I'll have to see what the SVT ratings were for the series too. I believe they were around 550,000 per ep which isn't too bad screening in the ten Mondays leading upto the Olympics at 9pm.
Eps 9 and 10 are definitely worth a watch and if I could only watch 18 out of the first 20 eps again, i would chose 1-16, 19 and 20.
I'll try to get the HD ratings for eps 5 and 6 from the Ratings thread.
Rejseholdet (Unit One) seems to be selling well on amazon too.
There's no doubt the Danes are very good at speaking English. The actress playing Birgitte can clearly speak French very well too but does anyone here have any idea how good the Danes are at learning any other languages such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, other Scandinavian languages etc?
After WWII, English was the first foreign language taught in Danish primary schools (replacing German) and in the Danish educational system French and German are also taught as foreign languages but students start studying those languages later on. Therefore, it's reasonable that PM Birgitte could speak good French.
The Kharun eps got average Borgen ratings in Denmark, but ep 9 fell slightly. It's safe to say that ep 9 is a return to form and hopefully if tomorrow's Radio Times and some of the Saturday papers publicise the fact that the final two will air on 2 Feb, hopefully ratings will increase.
The DVD of this series has been available from amazon for over a year and I notice sales are generally quite good for it. I was expecting the whole series to be lower than it has been but I think a good chunk of the audience have already seen it and possibly were aware of eps 7 and 8 being "different" and maybe chose not to bother with a rewatch of those two.
I expect 9 and 10 will return to the series average and taht BBC will more than likely buy Borgen 3.
I'll have to see what the SVT ratings were for the series too. I believe they were around 550,000 per ep which isn't too bad screening in the ten Mondays leading upto the Olympics at 9pm.
Eps 9 and 10 are definitely worth a watch and if I could only watch 18 out of the first 20 eps again, i would chose 1-16, 19 and 20.
I'll try to get the HD ratings for eps 5 and 6 from the Ratings thread.
Rejseholdet (Unit One) seems to be selling well on amazon too.
Cheers VV. I thought you would be lurking.:D:D
I think the overall officials for the series so far are good. Ignoring the ''strange'' ep 4 phenom, 1m+ is more than acceptable for subbed drama on BBC4/BBC HD. Let's hope the Beeb goes for the rights to Season 3. I will be disappointed if they don't secure them.
I've sent for Unit One S1 from Amazon. Looking forward to that. Thought it might arrive today, but sadly not.
PS
Forgot to report back on Nesbo's Jackpot on DVD. I rented it from LoveFilm. It's very violent and hilarious in places. Geir Elvis is on top form. If you liked LilyHammer and Headhunters then you will enjoy this. Can be had for a fiver from Amazon.;)
Yes most trusted broadcaster internationally for impartial news is something we have every reason to be proud of. Some people compare news from some other source and when there's a difference claim the BBC is biased. Not so.
No point getting into this here really but just to say I disagree that the BBC is impartial. It reports certain issues from a particular standpoint - it's clearly pro 'big government' for one thing plus pro Obama. You only wouldn't notice any of this if your political views were similar. For example watch what it does in the run-up to any EU referendum that we may get. It will be a whitewash of panic about what happens if we leave and giving hardly any airtime to the side that wants us to leave. It will reach epic and absurd proportions in the couple of weeks before.
I've really got no idea why Europeans still trust BBC news - I avoid it these days. I think they're under the illusion that it's as trustworthy as it was a few decades ago.
After WWII, English was the first foreign language taught in Danish primary schools (replacing German) and in the Danish educational system French and German are also taught as foreign languages but students start studying those languages later on. Therefore, it's reasonable that PM Birgitte could speak good French.
Thanks Kenny for the interesting info. Just wondering how are these figures collated? Do you go traipsing, knocking on people's doors asking them "did you watch Borgen last Saturday? If not, why not!")
there are very helpful souls in the Ratings thread that have access to the overnight BARB ratings and I use the BARB website for the "officials", which come out about a week later...
UK TV Ratings @TVRatingsUK
#Borgen on BBC4/HD last night averaged 695k and 573k. 81.4% of the audience were ABC1.
Looks like terrible ratings even including HD. Ep 8 will probably be the series low with 7 or 4 in second place. I suppose the BBC will be happy with the 81.4% of ABC1s though.
It's impossible even to get into University in Denmark unless your English is very good. Some lecturers are given in English and English textbooks are used as it's usually not worth the cost for the publishers to have the translated into Danish.
It's also very common for Danish students to spend some time studying abroad in the UK and US.
It's impossible even to get into University in Denmark unless your English is very good. Some lecturers are given in English and English textbooks are used as it's usually not worth the cost for the publishers to have the translated into Danish.
It's also very common for Danish students to spend some time studying abroad in the UK and US.
Comments
Also I did like the slightly weird way I was watching Birgitte communicating in English through an Arab translator who spoke to her in (subtitled) Danish. That little multilingual blast in itself was a bit of a head****.
Katrine and Kasper negotiating their relationship through the awkwardness of their respective careers is interesting to see.
The only slight lemon on the horizon is the slightly crappily handled Laura story. I see why it's in there, it's just not very believable.
Yes the timeline seems about right. In Denmark like Australia, the PM can call an election whenever they wish unlike in UK, US, Germany, Sweden etc.
Of the 20 episodes of series 1 and 2, these two were my least favourite episodes.
Oh, I'm not saying those two episodes were Borgen's finest hour, but I didn't try to erase the memory of them from my mind after they ended, I still enjoyed them.
Thanks VV. I don't keep track of the timeline while watching the show. But it does help sometimes to know how the months are passing over the course of a series.
Fixed term Parliaments or snap elections? I always thought fixed term ones had the edge. But now we are living it...... not so sure now:D:D
Mmm, I tend to agree. Fixed terms were preferable prior to 2010, now I think I'd rather have snap elections.
The new legislation sets fixed five year terms in the UK, but an election can be held earlier if 55% if MPs agree to it.
I think you'll find that we DO in fact have fixed term parliaments. Royal Assent was given on 15 Sept 2011 and thr next election is on Thurs 7 May 2015
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/fixedtermparliaments.html
It seems pretty plausible to me that they were watching the BBC because apart from being a trusted source and in English, they'll have more resources, so more chance of correspondents near any developing news story than a much smaller Danish broadcaster.
Interesting, so I wasn't right. Though it does say when the next one is it could be earlier but not by PM's choice as previously. It doesn't set a fixed shedule for the future like the US having them every fourth November .... 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024 ....
Similar clauses exist in other countries with fixed terms including Sweden and Germany. In Germany Schroder was able to bring forward a scheduled general election by one year, but still Germany, like the UK is considered as having fixed term parliaments.
As one of the primary newsgathering resources in the world, the idea that citizenry and officialdom in other countries might keep a weather eye on the BBC News channels is rather more likely than producers simply pandering to a few hundred thousand British viewers.
The BBC itself has a Monitoring Unit which collates information from news and other media resources around the world for use by government departments etc.
http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Monitoring
There was a goof there - in the BBC News banner headline it said the Chinese ship had been halted on its way to the North Kharun capital of Lahore, when in an earlier scene the subtitles had identified the fictional capital as Safore.
Lahore is of course a city in Pakistan so whoever created the insert footage for the "BBC News" report must have made a boo-boo in using a real world name.
In case anyone is left in any doubt as to the inspiration for this storyline, at about 14 minutes into the first episode of the two-parter, Birgitte is in her office late at night listening to the news report about the UN Security Council failure to do anything meaningful about the situation. She glances briefly at a map of "Kharun" on her desk - if you pause iPlayer here you can just about make out the names Khartoum (just above the subtitles), and Jebel Abyad Plateau (on the left of the map) both of which are in Sudan
BORGEN (SAT 2101) 972
BORGEN (SAT 2201) 916
Updated table so far:
Overnights:
e1 1.08m (inc HD)
e2 852k (inc HD)
e3 754k (inc HD)
e4 653k (inc HD)
e5 787k (no HD)
e6 683k (no HD)
e7 653k (no HD)
e8 550k (no HD)
Officials:
e1 1.33m (inc HD)
e2 1.12m (inc HD)
e3 1.01m (inc HD)
e4 907k (inc HD)
e5 972k (no HD)
e6 916k (no HD)
K
Cheers Kenny.
Eps 5&6 should go over the 1 million mark once HD figs are factored in(if the HD viewers hold up as normal). It will be interesting to see how the viewing numbers are holding up once the HD numbers are in. And then again after 8 eps. Many viewers seem to think the Kharun storyline was a low point for the show. I wonder if the figures for the final two eps of Season 2 will nose dive after last weekends airing? If people decide they have had enough. Let's hope those who didn't like the adventure in Africa see it as just a blip.
A question for VV. Did the Kharun eps go down well in Denmark? Or did the Danes think like many over here - Meh. And did the figures hold up over there for the final two eps - spoiler free of course;):):)
PS
Radio Times confirm that the new series of Spiral starts the Saturday after Borgen ends(Sat 9th Feb start date). Double eps as usual. 12 in all. Laure!!!!:D:D
The Kharun eps got average Borgen ratings in Denmark, but ep 9 fell slightly. It's safe to say that ep 9 is a return to form and hopefully if tomorrow's Radio Times and some of the Saturday papers publicise the fact that the final two will air on 2 Feb, hopefully ratings will increase.
The DVD of this series has been available from amazon for over a year and I notice sales are generally quite good for it. I was expecting the whole series to be lower than it has been but I think a good chunk of the audience have already seen it and possibly were aware of eps 7 and 8 being "different" and maybe chose not to bother with a rewatch of those two.
I expect 9 and 10 will return to the series average and taht BBC will more than likely buy Borgen 3.
I'll have to see what the SVT ratings were for the series too. I believe they were around 550,000 per ep which isn't too bad screening in the ten Mondays leading upto the Olympics at 9pm.
Eps 9 and 10 are definitely worth a watch and if I could only watch 18 out of the first 20 eps again, i would chose 1-16, 19 and 20.
I'll try to get the HD ratings for eps 5 and 6 from the Ratings thread.
Rejseholdet (Unit One) seems to be selling well on amazon too.
After WWII, English was the first foreign language taught in Danish primary schools (replacing German) and in the Danish educational system French and German are also taught as foreign languages but students start studying those languages later on. Therefore, it's reasonable that PM Birgitte could speak good French.
Source = http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tysk_%28skolefag%29
Cheers VV. I thought you would be lurking.:D:D
I think the overall officials for the series so far are good. Ignoring the ''strange'' ep 4 phenom, 1m+ is more than acceptable for subbed drama on BBC4/BBC HD. Let's hope the Beeb goes for the rights to Season 3. I will be disappointed if they don't secure them.
I've sent for Unit One S1 from Amazon. Looking forward to that. Thought it might arrive today, but sadly not.
PS
Forgot to report back on Nesbo's Jackpot on DVD. I rented it from LoveFilm. It's very violent and hilarious in places. Geir Elvis is on top form. If you liked LilyHammer and Headhunters then you will enjoy this. Can be had for a fiver from Amazon.;)
No point getting into this here really but just to say I disagree that the BBC is impartial. It reports certain issues from a particular standpoint - it's clearly pro 'big government' for one thing plus pro Obama. You only wouldn't notice any of this if your political views were similar. For example watch what it does in the run-up to any EU referendum that we may get. It will be a whitewash of panic about what happens if we leave and giving hardly any airtime to the side that wants us to leave. It will reach epic and absurd proportions in the couple of weeks before.
I've really got no idea why Europeans still trust BBC news - I avoid it these days. I think they're under the illusion that it's as trustworthy as it was a few decades ago.
Maybe the PM studied the language at University?
K
I noticed this on twitter yesterday -
UK TV Ratings @TVRatingsUK
#Borgen on BBC4/HD last night averaged 695k and 573k. 81.4% of the audience were ABC1.
Looks like terrible ratings even including HD. Ep 8 will probably be the series low with 7 or 4 in second place. I suppose the BBC will be happy with the 81.4% of ABC1s though.
It's impossible even to get into University in Denmark unless your English is very good. Some lecturers are given in English and English textbooks are used as it's usually not worth the cost for the publishers to have the translated into Danish.
It's also very common for Danish students to spend some time studying abroad in the UK and US.
I meant maybe she studied French
Phillip lectured at a business school in Danish?