The Killing (2007), Denmark

Overview

Central crime of the first series, lead detective and describe how she is represented and three narrative strands of the first series.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Identify the Danish crime drama set for study and give its broadcast details.

   Model answer

   The Killing, Series 1 Episode 1 (2007), first broadcast on DR1 in Denmark and shown to UK audiences by BBC Four.

2. 2

   What is the central crime of the first series?

   Model answer

   The abduction and murder of a young woman, Nanna Birk Larsen, whose body is found in a car submerged in water outside Copenhagen.

3. 3

   How is the first series structured in relation to time?

   Model answer

   Each episode covers one day of the investigation, so the twenty episodes of the series track twenty consecutive days.

4. 4

   What effect does the one-day-per-episode structure have on the audience?

   Model answer

   It slows the story to something close to the real pace of an investigation, makes every dead end feel costly, and builds pressure as the days accumulate without an arrest.

5. 5

   Name the lead detective and describe how she is represented.

   Model answer

   Sarah Lund is a single-minded investigator whose obsessive pursuit of the case steadily destroys her relationships with her partner, her mother and her son.

6. 6

   Why is Sarah Lund's jumper significant beyond costume?

   Model answer

   The plain patterned Faroese jumper refuses the glamour usually given to a female lead, marks her as practical and indifferent to appearance, and became the most recognisable brand image of the series.

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