While it tends to take the Danish police over 20 years to catch a serial killer, according to its makers, the detective and forensic psychiatrist central characters in Danish TV drama series ‘Den som dræber’ (Those Who Kill) “possess a deep psychological understanding” that guarantees a quick result – usually within one episode.
Maybe that’s why an American company has snapped up the rights to make an English-language version, although it probably has more to do with the success of ‘The Killing’, which was adapted and shown Stateside last year, and ‘Borgen’, of which an English version is in pre-production.
Rights buyer, US media company A+E Networks, which is partly owned by ABC and NBC subsidiaries, has appointed Imagine Television and Fox 21 to co-produce, and Glen Morgan – the screenwriter of numerous TV series and films, including ‘Final Destination’ – has already been signed up to write the pilot and be an executive producer.
‘Den som dræber’ is based on the novels of Elsebeth Egholm, whose career hasn’t looked back since the success of her 2006 novel ‘Nærmeste pårørende’ (Next of Kin), the first of her novels to be translated into multiple languages.
