(continental) european cop shows

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
been a big fan of Spiral since BBC Four (pretty much the only channel worth watching these days) showed the first season a few years ago but it seems these have really taken off over here since the popularity of The Killing (which I haven't seen) and the subsequent remake.

anyway if you like these kind of shows, besides Spiral, I would also recommend Braquo. In short, it is to The Shield what Spiral is to The Wire.

gonna watch Borgen while it's on iplayer. Anyone else into these programmes (I know it's lazy to group them all together lol) and got other recommendations? I've been told The Bridge is decent.
 
slackk

slackk

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Yeah, The Bridge was really good. Got slightly ridiculous towards the end but very entertaining, dark as well.

The Killing was great but haven't got into the second series properly yet. Watched a little bit of the remake and it was just terrible.

Is Borgen the one where he's the criminal psychologist/profiler? The first one of those was good but the second one was ridiculous.

Need to watch Spiral, if it's that good.
 
R

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
i liked the killing but there was something about how it concluded that didnt seem quite as profound as everyone seemed to make out. tried to see the 2nd series but kept missing them so gave up. ive not watched any other european cop show so feel out the loop. might give the bridge a go. for some reason i keep wanting to watch the american killing, maybe just cos everyone says it shouldnt be remade, which makes me want to watch it even more.
 
Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
slackk said:
Yeah, The Bridge was really good. Got slightly ridiculous towards the end but very entertaining, dark as well.

The Killing was great but haven't got into the second series properly yet. Watched a little bit of the remake and it was just terrible.

Is Borgen the one where he's the criminal psychologist/profiler? The first one of those was good but the second one was ridiculous.

Need to watch Spiral, if it's that good.
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yh spiral is really good, the interplay between the grittier criminal elements and sinister establishment figures is handled really well. it *seems* realistic to me although I don't really know much about the french judicial system lol.

borgen's a danish political drama. on iplayer atm as well.

braquo opens with the french cop from taken beating a suspect and continues from there. lots of shotguns, balaclavas and moustachio'd, disgruntled police.
 
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Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
my series 2 dvd just arrived. turns out braquo's written by the same ppl who did 'Mesrine' and 'Un Prophet'

2yllfzo.gif
 
slackk

slackk

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Need to watch that Braquo, will have to find some download links somewhere.

Spiral's really good. It's turned into a sunday afternoon hangover ritual on iplayer and is far better than I thought it'd be to be honest.

Couldn't really get into Borgen.

What else is good.
 
Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
slackk said:
Need to watch that Braquo, will have to find some download links somewhere.

Spiral's really good. It's turned into a sunday afternoon hangover ritual on iplayer and is far better than I thought it'd be to be honest.

Couldn't really get into Borgen.

What else is good.
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lol weird coincidence I just came into this thread to say I've been watching borgen and although I think it's interesting and quite well written, I don't really have any urge to find out what happens as the series develops. the main interesting/enigmatic character (her PR guy) is being revealed far too slowly.

if you can deal with very moody slow pacing then the swedish (rather than the english) version of wallander is pretty good.

beyond that I don't know of too many other series but I suggest watching he film Jar City
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
The Killing was great but the second series was pants - far too many lazy twists and, being half the length of series 1, they all arrive thick and fast in the last few eps.

Saw a couple of Braquo and didn't get into it (think The Shield comparison is pretty valid, but a) it's not as good b) I wasn't that into The Shield anyway).

Spiral is the bollocks, as is The Bridge.

Anyone here watch stuff like Inspector Monatlbano (sp?)?

Moving the goalposts a bit, but on the subject of foreign cop shows, y'll need to see Justified on Channel 5's US channel. Proper Deep South pigfucking drug-guzzling backwoodsman shit with Shane from The Shield as ex-Aryan Nation gangster and Timothy Ollyphant as the obligatory maverick cop. Series 3 just finished.
 
Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
crackerjack said:
The Killing was great but the second series was pants - far too many lazy twists and, being half the length of series 1, they all arrive thick and fast in the last few eps.

Saw a couple of Braquo and didn't get into it (think The Shield comparison is pretty valid, but a) it's not as good b) I wasn't that into The Shield anyway).

Spiral is the bollocks, as is The Bridge.

Anyone here watch stuff like Inspector Monatlbano (sp?)?

Moving the goalposts a bit, but on the subject of foreign cop shows, y'll need to see Justified on Channel 5's US channel. Proper Deep South pigfucking drug-guzzling backwoodsman shit with Shane from The Shield as ex-Aryan Nation gangster and Timothy Ollyphant as the obligatory maverick cop. Series 3 just finished.
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tried to but found it too gentle and basically uninteresting.

been told about justified but haven't checked it out yet, sounds like my kind of show though. the shield was excellent and I feel is generally underrated because it's not as obviously humanistic as the wire.
 
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