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Foreign language TV series thread (1 Viewer)

WaveCrest

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Thought I'd start a thread for foreign language TV series. Never watched any until Forbrydelsen (aka The Killing, the original Danish series which there is a US version of). Highly recommend it. The Arrow Films DVD set of the first series has been out for a while, with the second series (due to start soon on BBC Four in the UK) set being released in December.

Below is the DVD Talk review of the Arrow Films release of the first series (beware, it contains major spoilers):


Forbrydelsen (aka The Killing): Complete Series One - DVD Talk review


A couple of other series which I've not seen but heard great things about, are Wallander (not the Kenneth Branagh series) and Spiral. The first three series of Spiral are available on Region 2 from 2 Entertain. So far three Wallander boxsets have been released on Region 2 from Arrow Films:

Wallander Collected Films 1-7
Wallander Collected Films 8-13
Wallander Collected Films 14-20

with Wallander Collected Films 21-26 being released on Monday 7th November (source: Amazon UK).
 

gruagach

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Varg Veum - a Norwegian crime series. I own it, but haven't watched it yet.
 

WaveCrest

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Varg Veum might eventually make it to BBC Four or FX in the UK, as they've been showing a few foreign language crime/detective shows. May have read about it on the IMDb before. One of the latest series is Braquo (shown on FX).

At the moment Arrow Films are releasing the most recent Swedish Wallander TV series on DVD, starring Krister Henriksson. Before him, someone else played the role, Rolf Lassgard. These have yet to be released by Arrow Films.
 

Simon Massey

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Id recommend the Forbryldesen to anyone especially - really enjoyed that and I have heard good things about Season 2 as well.
Spiral is on my to watch list - would love to see some Bluray releases of these shows.
 

WaveCrest

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Front cover artwork for The Killing II (aka Forbrydelsen II) (source: Play.com), currently airing in the UK on BBC Four:


a72c9a81_21661129_500x500_1.jpeg
 

WaveCrest

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Braquo and Inspector Montalbano are being released on Region 2 (UK) on Monday 30th April, 2012 and Monday 5th March, 2012 respectively (source: Play.com).

Final front cover artwork for the Region 2 sets of Braquo: The Complete Season One, and Inspector Montalbano: Collection One (source: Play.com):


7aea086b_27277950_500x500_1.jpeg





24d7e075_27220323_500x500_1.jpeg
 

moviepas

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Sounds like a good idea. I collect foreign programs and have oodles at this time but there are lots more out there. The past year or two has seen a lot of German early TV become available in b&w or color. Trouble is that they do not have subtitles. However, as Australia has a foreign language TV network for over 25 years now, many local releases from series shown on that network have subtitles generated by the subtitlers employed by the network. In Australianese, Americans should have no trouble following them. Such series are Montalbano, Wallander and Inspector Rex(all series & extras). Rex first got DVD releases in Australia before anywhere else. A look at websites for Madman, Shock, and Umbrella.AV Channel will reveal many such gems. The quality of the older German material is extremely good.
 

Professor Echo

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In the 90's I read a review of an import soundtrack that had music from a 60's East German TV series about spies in Cuba. Unfortunately I forget the name of the series and have yet to be able to track it down anywhere. Does anyone have any idea what this series was called, when it aired and if it is available anywhere? With English subs, of course. LOL! How's that for a tall order?
 

WaveCrest

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The only German TV series I can think of is SOKO Leipzig. But based on it's IMDb full episode list, it has only been on the air since 2001 (it did a two-part crossover with another long running police/detective series, The Bill in 2008) and is a police/detective series.
 

WaveCrest

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Originally Posted by moviepas /t/315934/foreign-language-tv-series-thread#post_3878126
Sounds like a good idea. I collect foreign programs and have oodles at this time but there are lots more out there. The past year or two has seen a lot of German early TV become available in b&w or color. Trouble is that they do not have subtitles. However, as Australia has a foreign language TV network for over 25 years now, many local releases from series shown on that network have subtitles generated by the subtitlers employed by the network. In Australianese, Americans should have no trouble following them. Such series are Montalbano, Wallander and Inspector Rex(all series & extras). Rex first got DVD releases in Australia before anywhere else. A look at websites for Madman, Shock, and Umbrella.AV Channel will reveal many such gems. The quality of the older German material is extremely good.
Thought it was a good idea, because people here may not otherwise have heard of these series, and would discover some gems (Forbrydelsen is definitely one of them). Had heard of various series from the US and Austrailia (the earliest Austrailian series I remember watching was Prisoner Cell Block H), but nothing about European series until the last few years. The first I'd heard of was Wallander (hopefully the first era of this series will be released on DVD), and then in the last year or two UK television has been flooded by European detective and political shows. There is a new Danish political drama series starting on BBC Four in the New Year, called Borgen.

Haven't heard of Inspector Rex (already knew about Inspector Montalbano and Wallander), but will check out Madman's website for DVD sets (Umbrella or Madman released the Simon Dutton Saint TV series from the late 80's on Region 4, and Shock I have seen their logo of on the rear boxart for the UK DVD volume sets of Prisoner Cell Block H).


EDIT: Borgen's first series is being released on Region 2 (UK) in February 2012, which was shown on BBC Four in January 2012.
 

Simon Massey

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Near the end of The Killing II and its every bit as good as the last one, if not better due to the reduced number of episodes, which means events fly by.
To any US viewers I would also recommend the UK show Spooks (known as MI5 in the US) :)
 

WaveCrest

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It does seem like they've condensed it down with the second series of Forbrydelsen and got rid of any possible repetitiveness. Looking forward to the last double bill. Had read a few weeks ago that they filmed some of this series in Spain where some spaghetti westerns were made.

Could be another twelve months before the third and final series is shown on BBC Four, as the last I read about the third series (which was in the past month) it was still filming.
 

WaveCrest

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Borgen: The Complete First Season is being released on Region 2 in the UK on Monday 6th February, 2012. Final 3D front cover artwork for the DVD set is below (source of release date and 3D front cover artwork: Play.com):


fcff5937_25414836_500x500_1.jpeg
 

Simon Massey

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Forbrydelsen II is now over on BBC and it was every bit as good as last season if not better - third season next year as it is still being made but it will be the last one as it is planned as a trilogy - here's hoping Troels comes back from Season 1 and Buch from Season 2
It's all on DVD now too
 

WaveCrest

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Thought the last episode of the second series was more satisfying than the first series finale. Will probably be either late autumn next year or early 2013 when Forydelsen III will be shown on BBC Four (am hoping that they do a follow up special a few years down the line). Totally agree with who you'd like to see back for the third series. Will his female assistant be back for the third series as well, based on how the political side of the second series finished? Troels Hartmann was one of my favourite characters in the first series. Felt there was too much of the political storyline in the series compared to the detective case in the second series. In the first series they had the balance right.
 

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Update to post #3 - looks like the first Swedish TV incarnation of Wallander is making it's way to Region 2, with Arrow Films' release of Wallander: Collected Films 27-31. It has a UK release date of Monday 11th June (source: Amazon UK).

A new series called Those Who Kill, which stars Lars Mikkelsen (Troels Hartmann in the first series of Forbydelsen) is being shown on ITV3 soon, and a complete series DVD set is being released in the UK on Region 2 on Monday 2nd April (source of release date: Amazon UK)

The first series of The Bridge is yet to air on BBC Four, but has a Region 2 release date of Monday 21st May (source: Amazon UK).

The second series of Borgen will air on BBC Four, and the channel will be showing Norwegian drama series Lilyhammer, which stars The Sopranos' Steven Van Zandt (source: Digital Spy).

EDIT: Those Who Kill begins on ITV3 tonight with a two hour episode.
 

WaveCrest

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Front cover artwork for Those That Kill: The Complete Series, although it's not certain yet if there will be just one series or not (source: Play.com):




a4b4c7e5_27376939_500x500_1.jpeg





The Bridge is starting soon on BBC Four, and there will be a fourth series of Spiral soon (it's being released on Region 2 in the UK on Monday 23rd July (source: Play.com).
 

WaveCrest

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A Region 1 release of the original Swedish Wallander series, starring the second actor to play the role (the second series with Krister Henrikkson), is being released on Tuesday 29th May (source: TVShowsOnDVD news article, posted on their website yesterday).

The second series of Braquo starts in the UK on FX at the end of April, and is being released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 25th June (subject to change). The first series is also being released on Blu-ray on Monday 30th April (source: Amazon UK).

The Bridge starts on BBC Four next weekend.
 

WaveCrest

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Front cover artwork for The Bridge: The Complete Series One (Region 2) (source: Play.com):




a0c4b634_28766555_500x500_1.jpeg
 

WaveCrest

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The first incarnation of the original Swedish Wallander series gets a Region 2 release on Monday 11th June. Initially it was to be called 'Wallander: Collected Films 27-20', but now the front cover artwork has a new title, 'Original Films 1-6' (source: Amazon UK).
 

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