“UK
viewers can’t
get enough of Nordic
Noir; and following the overwhelming
response to the January release of Unit
One: Series One—
the compelling series
based on actual, real-life Danish crimes
occurring over the last two decades — Unit One: Series Two now makes its
equally well-received UK DVD debut...”
ONE OF THE HARDEST-HITTING of the Scandi-crime series — not least because
of its depiction of crimes based on real-life events — the International
Emmy Award-winning Unit One is the story of a mobile police force on
hand to assist local Police in solving some of the most complex high-profile
cases Denmark has ever seen.
Following on from the success of Series One, Unit One: Series Two stars
Mads Mikkelson (Hannibal; The Hunt; Casino Royale; Pusher)
as Allan Fischer. Mads won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
and he makes regular appearances in Nordic Noir. In Unit One, he is joined
by some of Denmark's brightest and best-loved actors, some of whom appear in
The Killing, Borgen, and Wallander.
“An exciting, addictive,
human series with
a painful stab of reality
that never glories in
violence...”
The
Unit One team, as always in Scandinavian thrillers, comprises of a mixed bunch
of characters whose personal lives can overspill onto their professional life.
Allan (Mads) is very hands-on; at the forefront of everything and given to following
his hunches.
Chief Inspector Ingrid Dahl (Charlotte Fich), Head of Homicide, has recently
been promoted. She has a son, Tobias (Sebastian Ottenstein) by her former husband
and a ward, Gry (Lykkesand Michelsen), who is her late partner's daughter. Ingrid
has become close to colleague Ulf Thomsen (Erik Wedersøe), the senior police
official under whom the unit operates.
The very capable Gabriella "Gabby" Levin (Trine Pallesen) is to become engaged
to former Danish soccer star Johnny Olsen (Lars Bom), a contract truck driver
who is responsible for getting the mobile unit to the crime scene, and Thomas
La Cour (Lars Brygmann ) has amazing intuition or psychic awareness.
With over 40 years' Police experience, Jens Peter "IP" Sorensen (Waage Sandø)
has split from his partner, actress Kirsten Jørgensen (Lisbet Lundquist), who
has had an affair with Ulf; and Jan Boysen (Michael Falch), a forensic pathologist
who works with the Danish Police, is attracted to Ingrid.
Described as "exhilarating and fast-paced", watching Unit One: Series Two
is to enter a fascinating and dangerous world as the team take on the Danish
underworld. With the same solidarity of the Three Musketeers and a similar gung-ho
attitude to the best in American cop series, the unit is sometimes faced with
horrifying and poignant crimes.
A member of this flying squad can expect to be away from home 230 days a year,
so can marriage and families survive their loved ones' chosen careers? And what
sort of team spirit do these special men and women possess in order to achieve
one of the highest success rates in the world? Indomitable is perhaps
the answer.
The first episode sees the team investigating the kidnapping of nine-year-old
Casper (Andreas Jessen) from the affluent area of Grønnegade, and who was last
seen getting into a black Nissan Pathfinder driven by a strange man.
His parents, Line (Mette Munk Plum) and Morten Bertelsen (Robert Reinhold),
are frantic; the team fears the worst, recently having dealt with the murder
of another boy who disappeared. The search covers a large area, including Shakespeare
country, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, not far from where Ulf is attending a
London Interpol conference and Kirsten turns up to meet him. It turns out that
this is not just a simple case of child abduction.
Another case involves a menacing stalker who is targeting and threatening lawyer
Hans Henrik Kirschner (Ole Lemmeke), his wife Anne (Michelle Bjørn-Andersen)
and daughter Cecilie (Nina Ingemann), entering their home and firing on them.
Kirschner may have upset someone by defending self-confessed murder Bjorn Englund,
who then retracted his statement.
Is it that someone wants retribution or could it be that bankrupt former builder
Poul Bachmann-Hansen (Asger Reher), who lost his house and land to the Kirshners,
has borne a festering grudge? This episode also features Morten Lorentzen as
Falcon.
Unit One is a mobile police task force that travels across Denmark helping area
Police to solve difficult and violent crimes — such as murders,
kidnappings, sex trafficking and child pornography — all based around
actual events.
Other investigations include the killing of a chocolate factory owner with a
penchant for women and kinky sex; the death of a woman in a house fire where
her eight-year-old daughter is critically injured; an apparent honour killing
where a young woman may need protecting from her father; and the murder of a
mystery ten-year-old boy is linked to an earlier crime but the suspect, who
had groomed a missing male prostitute, is found hanged. The unit's Thomas La
Cour has a psychic dream but is detained when his fingerprints are found at
the scene.
Unit One: Series Two features a tough female Police Commissioner, determined
to prove herself in a male-dominated world. As the new head of a Danish specialist
police unit she struggles to balance her demanding career with the needs of
her family. Unit One: Series Two is an exciting, addictive, human series
with a painful stab of reality but never glories in violence. In Denmark the
series was called Rejseholdet, ran for 32 episodes from 2000 to 2004,
and won the 2002 International Emmy Award for best drama series.
Starring Mads Mikkelsen alongside cast members from The Killing, Borgen
and Wallander, Unit One: Series Two also features: Benedikte Hansen
as Trine; Susanne Storm as Helene; Ghita Norby as Bibi; and Christine La Cour
as Ida.
Original Music is by Jacob Groth; Cinematography by Lars Vestergaard, Soren
Bay, Jørgen Johansson, Jan Richter-Fris, Morten Søborg and Bo Tengberg; Series
Writing Credits: Peter Thorsbøe, Rumie Hammerich, Mai Brostrøm, Kari Vidø, Iben
Gylling, Stig Thorsboe, Nikolai Scherfig, and Ola Saltin; Series Producer: Sven
Clausen; Series Directed by: Jørn Faurschou, Charlotte Sieling, Martin Schmidt,
Ole Christian Madsen, Niels Arden Oplev, Jannik Johansen, and Peter Flinth.
*
Arrow
Films' Nordic Noir is pleased to announce the UK DVD box set debut of Unit
One: Series Two on 22 July 2013. Language: Danish (English Subtitles) |
Running Time: 402 Minutes on 2 Discs | Catalogue Number: FCD803.
"Unit One: Series Two is an exciting, addictive, human series with a
painful stab of reality that never glories in violence"
—Maggie Woods
FOLLOWING THEIR SUCCESS with the very best in Scandinavian television —
including The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge, Arrow continues
to bring more of this ilk to UK viewers via the Nordic Noir label.
All three of the titles mentioned above aired on BBC4 prior to their box set
releases and Arrow is much praised for its passion for the genre and for bringing
these never-before-seen Nordic shows directly to UK living rooms via home entertainment.
In addition to Unit One: Series One, 2013 has already seen the Nordic
Noir label release Above The Street Below The Water, starring Sidse Babett
Knudsen, The Protectors and Van Veeteren, direct to UK fans via
DVD and Digital Download, all to a welcome reception.
“UK
viewers can’t
get enough of Nordic