Every year we wait with baited breath to see what international TV series the Scandinavian broadcasters will take a risk with. Who in 2012 will be the first to take the plunge with Game of Thrones, or will it become another Breaking Bad, the insanely popular US series that started in 2008 and still can’t find a taker.
And don’t forget Peep Show, the multi-award winning British sitcom that debuted in 2003 … what’s that, it’s making its debut after nearly ten years?! It’s particularly strange given that DR2 never stop showing the inferior sketch show of its co-stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb but have consistently turned a blind eye to a programme beloved in the UK for being so unashamedly honest, crude and, perhaps above all, middle class. Funnily enough, its ratings have never been that good (it’s a phenomenon on DVD though), and the first episode is probably the weakest of all seven series made so far, so please persevere.
No danger of anyone switching off during House of Saddam, a riotous BBC/HBO miniseries about Iraq’s premier family and their downfall that also gets a long-overdue bow this week. Really, it’s not a million miles away from Dallas – a feeling that the Times observed was served well by “the late-1970s/early-1980s tacky glam” – while the Independent likened it to “The Sopranos with Scud missiles”. Distance yourself from the reality it’s based on and it’s a fantastic black comedy.
Elsewhere, if you like the screenwriting of Alan Bleasdale (The Monocled Mutineer, Boys from the Blackstuff) don’t miss The Sinking of the Laconia (SV2, Sat 13:50), a 2010 wartime miniseries set in 1942 that is his first project since the 1990s; Case Histories (SV1, Thu 21:45) is a new crime series with Jason Isaacs that has divided the critics; Decade of Discovery (DR2, Fri 19:10) is a new nature series that will introduce you to species you didn’t know existed and neither did anyone until the 2000s; Arthur and the People’s Supermarket (DR2, Sun 20:00) is an interesting new series about a regular Joe who takes on Tesco with some help from his bros; and finally, Dickens’ Secret Lover (DR2, Thu 17:55) wasn’t HC Anderson, but a saucy actress – which kind of makes him the type of Victorian hypocrite he spent his whole career condemning.
Read the InOut section online for TV selected English TV listings.
