Borgen – This Danish political series is excellent!

Here is a great series. Hubby does his research and bought it for us. We've gone through several series, Broadchurch was amazing (even the scenery), not the Hollywood version with some Brit actors, but the original in Ireland. The entire Morris, lots of mysteries, such as UK: Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, Inspector Lewis, George Gently, and the Swedish Wallender.

I spotted an editorial that points out how badly Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) is using taxpayer dollars, in treating its halfway-intelligent citizens. I agree. CBC is trying to pander to the younger folks, despite we oldies being a majority of the population. Rather than seeking intelligent shows, for a thinking audience, they run shows with a target audience much younger than I, and a different sense of humour.

It’s a pity Canadians aren’t watching Borgen

WWW.THEGLOBEANDMAIL.COM

The Danish phenomenon is the kind of television the CBC should be pursuing.
Denmark is an admirable country, but it has just 5.5 million people, smaller than Quebec’s population and roughly a fifth of Canada’s non-French-speaking population.

Editorial by JEFFREY SIMPSON

As Simpson says, "Borgen is not House of Cards, all dark and conspiratorial. Nor is it as sunny and uplifting as The West Wing. It’s about the complexities and choices politicians must make in high office – what leaps from its scripts are real-life, in-your-face dilemmas."

While some go to Netflicks, we cannot as we have a limited amount of bandwidth on our plan. Both Rogers and Bell, Canada's large providers, have been throttling internet speed, with monthly caps.  I wonder the impact of Netflicks on accessibility.

Borgen

Borgen is much the same theory as West Wing, looking at the political process and its spin doctors. Terry Fallis' book, The Best Laid Plans, was made into a fluffy series, partly filmed in the near-by town of Perth, but the humour was somewhat puerile. It was a cute read, but not something I liked watching, except to look for familiar sets from a local town.

There are subtitles, which are rather interesting, as sometimes they speak English when interacting with people from other countries, but it does give an interesting flavour to the shows. I loved listening to the language, while trying to match words in English.

I found out what Borgen means from a poorly titled:
Five Thing [sic] You Should Know About The Danish Drama

[01] About that title: it means “the Castle”

Borgen means “the Castle,” a nickname for Christiansborg Palace, which is the house of Denmark’s three powers: Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Supreme Court. Basically, it’s where most of the show’s drama unfolds.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

1. The politics of Denmark function within a framework of a parliamentary, representative democracy. The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch, currently Queen Margrethe II, is head of state.Wikipedia

The political system of Denmark is that of a multi-party structure, where several parties can be represented in Parliament at any one time. Danish governments are often characterised by minority administrations, aided with the help of one or more supporting parties. This means that Danish politics is based on consensus politics. Since 1909, no single party has had the majority in Parliament.

Why don't we have electronic voting?

First Danish Female PM

The show (premiered Sept. 26th, 2010) highlights the appointment of a female Prime Minister, there was one in 2011! Some of the plot involves the co-operation between Denmark, the US and Greenland. They have a welfare system, with social security. Their PMs have been from the Social Democrats, Liberals, Conservative Peoples Party.

Since 3 February 2014, the Government has consisted of the parties 'Socialdemokraterne' (The Social Democrats) and 'Radikale Venstre' (the Danish Social-Liberal Party), with Helle Thorning-Schmidt  (The Social Democrats) as Prime Minister. 

Welfare

The basic principle of the Danish welfare system is that all citizens have equal rights to social security.

1. Cast
   View 5+ more

   

   Sidse Babett Knudsen
   

   Birgitte Nyborg

   

   Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
   

   Katrine Fønsmark

   

   Johan Philip Asbæk
   

   Kasper Juul

   

   Mikael Birkkjær
   

   Philip Christensen

   

   Soren Malling
   

   Torben Friis