Ten reasons why The Killing is the best thing on TV right now

The slow-burning Danish crime series has been steadily gaining viewers since it appeared on Saturday evenings on BBC4. But what is it that makes it so compelling?

1. It’s better than Wallander

Sofie Gråbøl as Sarah Lund

We’re used now to Scandinavia being the source of all things grim and criminal, so the arrival of a new Danish detective thriller might be expected to elicit no more than a so-what shrug.

But good through the trio of televised Wallanders were (in ascending order, and all on BBC4, bless them: the Branagh, laughably pompous; the long-running Krister Henriksson, enjoyably soapy; and the original and better Rolf Lassgård, authentically unglamorous) this is something else, successfully avoiding, for much of its run, many of the most egregious cop show clichés.

2. It’s so slow

First of all, take its sluggish plotting. Spreading a single case – the kidnapping, rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl – over 20 hour-long episodes makes for an intense viewing experience. It gives time to dissect and savour every red herring, and fully explore every dead end. It also explains why the show has only gradually wormed its way into viewers’ hearts – it’s so un-gung ho, you might not notice you’re hooked until a couple of episodes in.

3. There’s only one murder in it (so far)

The gradual unfolding of the investigation allows the programme makers to settle themselves almost luxuriantly into the workaday procedural element of the police officer’s lot. That they do so without ratcheting up the tension with subsequent murders is admirable. The moment in a recent episode when Lund’s criminal psychologist boyfriend suggested the team comb through other similar disappearances was brilliant for the way it teased us with the thought that – ooh, it was a serial killer! – only to almost immediately dash it. They did look into it, and there were no other similar disappearances.

But then, the flat at the end of Episode 10? Maybe I’ll have to eat my words…

4. It treats the victim’s family with respect

No matter than one of them is clearly a wrong’un, the amount of time spent showing the effect of the girl’s murder on her parents is admirable. The funeral – not just there so the detective can sadly stand at the edge of the cemetery, looking moody. (Kenneth Branagh, back of the class.) The arguments between the bereaved mother and father. The silence. The way the mother (the absolutely excellent Ann Eleonora Jørgense) took back the boys’ rubber duck from the duplicitous babysitter when she realised she’d been less than honest and open…

5. There is absolutely no sexual chemistry between the leads

Everybody loves Sarah Lund – for her jumper, her prepossession, and her doggedness in the face of institutional sexism - but her police partner Jan Meyer is a brilliantly imagined foil. Like every sidekick he’s annoyed by his second billing (he was supposed to be taking over the case when Lund emigrated to Sweden, only to have her stick around), but unlike every male-female cop partnership in television history (and most male-male/female-female ones) they hold not a shred of repressed attraction for each other. Particularly pleasing when you think how otherwise great shows like Silent Witness seem intent on turning into Willis/Shepherd-era Moonlighting, chock full of ‘will they/won’t they’ coyness. Lund and Meyer… won’t.

6. You can buy Lund’s pullover online

Much of the in-show Twitter-chat (and I assume we are all now aware of the irony that Twitter is in the process of saving television from box set/hard drive-driven irrelevance?) has been about Sarah Lund’s loverly sweater, white with a black snowflake design. Will she ever change it? Ooh, she’s changed it ! Then someone tweeted the website of the Faroese (they’re from the Faroe Islands) knitwear house who produced it (Gudrun and Gudrun), and everyone immediately checked if they had €280 spare, and if it could be delivered in time to wear while the show’s still running.

7. There are no last minute, end of episode dashes to rescue the innocent

Well, okay, just the one.

8. Nobody goes maverick

Okay, everybody’s allowed to go maverick just once in a cop show. It’s in the rules. So Lund goes rogue, just once. We all forgive her, don’t we? At least the killer’s not going to turn out to be the smooth, smiling politician. (Is he?)

9. The music

It’s the cool, slowly encroaching, gently electronic backing music that makes me think – The Killing is gradually turning into that other greatest of slowly-unfolding murder-based television series, Twin Peaks. Without the eye-gargling loopiness, obviously. But think: cool music; pretty, wholesome girl victim who, it emerges, had a darker side; scary dad. No log lady yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

10. You can watch it all on iPlayer

The BBC is, good for them, keeping it all on the iPlayer for a whole month, so there’s no excuse not to go right back to the beginning if you’re not already a fan, and join the multitudes. And with ten more episodes to go (two a week, every Saturday night, starting at 9pm), you’ve got plenty of time to catch up.

The further good news is that a second series has already been aired in Denmark, with a third currently in production. The bad? It’s been remade in the US.

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• richardedwards

  You missed another asset, it’s unknown cast. For once a cop show without Robson Green, or any of the British “Amanda’s”. It reminds me of the late lamented Welsh show that starred Phillip Maddoc, another show with a relatively unknown cast.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Parker/100001415393047 Chris Parker

  I am hooked!, better than anything on British tv.

• http://twitter.com/dhg23 dhg

  Great show, but the unanimous judgement in my household is that those jumpers of Lund’s are disgusting! (And they cost that much? ;-0) Also, unlike the hugely overrated Twin Peaks, the Killing has a clear linear plot that makes sense. And there is a ‘will they, won’t they?’ element: will Lund ever leave home for Sweden? I say not happening!

  No idea who dunnit, but there’s definitely something fishy about the politician’s PR guru/girlfriend – who is the buxom sexy dish of the piece!

• greggf

  Yes, excellent series.
  I suspect the “disappearances” may turn out to be illegal immigrants who have no records in Denmark.
  The “duplicitous babysitter” is the mothers sister, the dead girl’s aunt is’nt she?
  What “institutional sexism”?
  Lund has an unaggressive style in contrast to Meyer, but its getting to her because she has started smoking…..

  PS Branagh was useless in his copy of Wallander!

• shudBwerkin

  My wife and I are hooked too. No tray eating, have to read the subtitles. We still Wallander (all flavours), but this is the biz.

• Gerald Laws

  I agree completely with all Jonathan says and have to compare this wonderful piece of Drama with Outcasts which is the diametric opposite and predictable, stereotype, awful acting, worse directing, Hermione Norris should be ashamed of appearing with those other amateurs.

• moretears

  Rather silly way to end the article: “The bad? It’s been re-made in the US.” It’s been re-made by AMC, the channel that has given us Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Rubicon, and The Walking Dead. All of which means that the US show is something anybody who properly appreciates AMC’s incredible record with drama series should be very much looking forward to their version of The Killing.

• http://twitter.com/mcuk Mal

  moretears – it’s being remade by Fox. AMC is merely the commissioner and broadcaster.

• moretears

  You are correct, but that is a technical distinction irrelevant to my point. Commissioning broadcasters exercise creative control and are responsible for content. The four AMC shows I mentioned above were all made by different producers, but they were made to standards set by AMC. It is those high standards that should make anybody optimistic about the quality of the re-make of The Killing.

• scarlet_noir

  An excellent summary – but is the dad ’scary’ or a ‘wrong ‘un’? He’s shown to be overwhelmed with grief at his daughter’s death, but tries very hard to keep a lid on things. It’s the wife who winds him up and points him in the direction of the teacher…
  As for the ’serial killer’ idea – it’s still there in the background – a low-level detective has tried a couple of times to press a file on killings to Lund, without success so far!