The Killing: BBC4's new Scandinavian importIt's Prime Suspect meets State Of Play via Wallander and every bit as good as that sounds. Meet Inspector Sarah Lund, star of Danish cult hit Forbrydelsen (The Killing)
The Killing Troels Hartmann (Lars Mikkelsen) and Deputy Superintendent Sarah Lund (Sofie Grabol) in The Killing. Photograph: BBC/DR/DR
Gravelly goddess Sharon Gless telling the flasher to put it away during the opening credits of Cagney & Lacey. Helen Mirren's DCI Jane Tennison insisting that Met misogynists call her guv, not ma'am, in Prime Suspect. The 80s power-hair of Jill Gascoine in The Gentle Touch and Heather Locklear in TJ Hooker – so huge it barely fits on their warrant card photos. There is nothing quite like a female TV cop. And we've been waiting ages – four years, in fact, since the Kleenex-crumpling climax of Prime Suspect: The Final Act – for another worthy one to come along. But already this year, like buses with blue lights on top, two have arrived at once.
A fortnight ago, the annual Above Suspicion mini-series brought us the formidable, flame-haired DI Anna Travis (the excellent Kelly Reilly). As the sole female in a team of grey-stubbled, world-weary veteran Met males, Travis is like a younger model of Tennison. It's no coincidence both were created by Lynda La Plante. Now comes Inspector Sarah Lund in dark Danish whodunnit Forbrydelsen, which translates as The Killing. (There's an English-language trailer here, but it will actually be broadcast in Danish with subtitles). It's been a cult hit in Europe, was nominated for the Best International Drama Emmy and is being remade by Fox in the US, due to debut on AMC this spring.
The first episode opens ominously, with a teenage girl pursued through a forest, bloodied, with torn clothes, clearly running for her life. We then cut to an ingenious sequence as Lund (mournful brunette Sofie Grabol), head of the Copenhagen homicide department, arrives at the crime scene. "I've never seen anything like it," the officer standing guard at the police tape tells her. I won't spoil the surprise, except to say it's a sizeable one involving a Viking helmet.
Clues point towards the campaign office of ambitious politician Troels Hartmann (Lars Mikkelsen, brother of Bond villain Mads). Twisty-turns ensue, of course. It's Prime Suspect meets State Of Play via Wallander – and every bit as good as that sounds. The 20-day investigation unfolds over 20 hour-long episodes, kicking off with a double bill, after which you'll likely be hooked for the long-haul.
Lund shares lineage with the female cops of yore. Like Tennison, she has instinctive empathy with the murder victim, which drives her obsessive pursuit of the killer. Like Cagney, she's developed a steely cynicism to survive in the male-dominated police precinct. Like Lacey, she's trying to balance a family with her demanding job. And like Alex Drake in Ashes To Ashes, one of her biggest battles is against the corner-cutting incompetence of her male colleagues – especially the sidekick with whom she's suddenly saddled, Jan Meyer (Soren Malling), who reminds us of a Scandinavian Russell Tovey. It's something around the ears.
So will you be watching The Killing? And who are your favourite female TV cops? Someone we've mentioned or one we've missed – say, The Wire's hard-ass Kima Greggs (Sonja Sohn) or the more parochial charms of Juliet Bravo? Let us know below. Just remember – don't call them ma'am, call them guv.
• The Killing begins with a double bill on Saturday, from 9pm on BBC4
Guardian
