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 With the same actors and producers as the Scandinavian Noir
dramas that were watched by millions around the world, Danish
state-funded broadcaster DR says '1864' keeps the same recipe of
character development and melancholy to get viewers hooked.
The series, the first episode of which aired on Sunday, follows
the childhood friendship of two brothers and a girl, which turns
into an emotional love triangle as they grow up in the years
leading up to the 1864 war with Germany.
Denmark suffered a humiliating defeat in what is known as the
Second Schleswig War, for which the brothers volunteer.
DR's Head of Drama Piv Bernth said the show has already been
signed to air in Britain on BBC4 and although moving into period
drama, traditionally a BBC forte, was a departure she hoped
others could relate to.
"1864 is a tale about the birth of a nation and about how
Denmark rises after the loss of land to Germany, and I believe
that many other countries can relate to that, as all European
countries more or less were at war in the 19th century," Bernth
told Reuters on the phone while in Cannes.
Bernth, who was also the producer of The Killing, says despite
the BBC and other contracts, DR has always stayed loyal to its
main audience.
"We make television for Danes, being a Danish public service
station. You cannot design something just to go abroad ... But
sometimes you just hit the right note and it becomes relatable
outside the country's borders," she said.
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 Nevertheless, viewers outside of Denmark will recognize some
of the faces of '1864' such as Borgen's prime minister Sidse
Babett-Knudsen, Borgen spin doctor Pilou Asbaek and The
Killing's superintendent Soren Malling.
The director, Ole Bornedal, wrote and directed 90s thriller
Nightwatch, starring Ewan McGregor and Patricia Arquette in the
English version and the then unknown Game of Thrones actor
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the Danish version.
In the Danish media, the series has had a mixed reception -- but
so did The Killing and Borgen.
Critics have called the war drama with its slow dialogue, frosty
Nordic lights shimmering through beech forests and mud-splattered
soldiers, everything from amazing to boring.
But soon viewers in Britain, Sweden and 1864 victor Germany, which
have also signed broadcasting agreements, can make their own
judgment. American broadcasters will be approached later.
"It is about human dilemmas and being in a situation under pressure,
not just about war, and that is universal," Bernth said.
(Editing by Sabina Zawadzki and Hugh Lawson)
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