Nordic Noir – so deep has the effect that genre description has had on our TV viewing that now we have a DVD label named after it.
There have been four series aired on British TV over the past two years that hit an absolute bullseye, and have ingrained themselves so deeply into our culture that we now think of them almost as our own. Perhaps it was the gloomy settings, the constant rain, the seemingly endless dark winters, the obsession with solving murders but then there are no murders in Borgen, the political thriller which in a way makes it the odd one out.
Maybe it was the quite brilliant acting, with superbly written and brilliant minor characters everywhere. Sarah Lund, played by Sofie Grabol, stole our hearts and minds with her stupendous performance as a cop in The Killing, the murder series which, perhaps more even that Wallander, got the whole ball rolling.
Then there was Borgen, followed by The Bridge a series which focused on one murder, but between two countries. It took a different spin, but was still, in the end, quite brilliant.
Finally there was Arne Dahl, which looked rather old-fashioned and less post-modern than the rest, based around an ace team appointed to solve particularly puzzling serial killings. Each episode revealed more about one of the team, and unglamorous and flawed though they were, they became absolutely believable and each adventure more gripping.
Which brings us neatly to Unit One. This has all of the ingredients of Arne Dahl a team of agents is set up to solve murders and disappearances. We gradually get to know them. It’s got Mads Mikkelsen in it.
So why is Unit One such a disappointment? The first clue could be the release date the episodes were first aired on Danish TV in 2001, before the whole Nordic Noir thing got going. Boy does it look dated.
An example from one episode, the disappearance of a small boy from a village, should suffice. The trail takes one of the cops to London cue a montage of red double decker buses, the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square oh dear.
Exactly why this is so limp is hard to say, but it has none of the complexity of The Killing or The Bridge, little of the verbal exchanges of Borgen and none of the matiness of Arne Dahl. Murders are committed then solved, everyone goes home happy.
A pre-Casino Royale Mads Mikkelsen does his best, and looks great in his leather jackets driving cars fast, but he is given little chance to really stretch himself emotionally. Weirdly his team are called the Flying Squad, although any similarities to The Sweeney are only superficial.
The whole thing feels a little tired and old-fashioned, strange considering that years later those other series would do so much to breathe life into the murder genre. I suppose Mads had to start somewhere.
Overall verdict: At last we’ve found a Nordic Noir thriller series that is actually no good. No-one can have a 100% hit rate, and this is certainly the weakest release on the label to date.
Reviewer: Mike Martin