The BEST DR1 shows of all time
Every DR1 show, ranked
We've compiled the average episode rating for every DR1 show to compile this list of best shows!
#1 - Matador
The series follows life in a Danish provincial town from 1929 to 1947. Mads Skjern arrives in Korsbæk in 1929 and opens a modern clothing store, which creates conflict with the town's old upper-class families, especially the Varnæs family. When the bank director Hans Christian Varnæs refuses to support Skjern to protect his friend, the clothing merchant Arnesen, Mads Skjern challenges the established hierarchy and takes over the market with his business methods. Set in the 1930s and 1940s, the series follows both the bourgeoisie and working class in Korsbæk, with characters like the pig trader Oluf Larsen, waiter Boldt, and the communist Lauritz "Røde" Jensen. We see how social ties, romance, and class struggles unfold in the town, and how the conditions of the working class, particularly in wartime Denmark, become a central part of the story.
View Episode Rankings#2 - Frank & Kastaniegaarden
Frank is a real hillbilly - and he's proud of it! Wearing rubber boots, ambitions and self-irony, he is involved in a sea of projects. The field must be harrowed with the horse, oats must be sown with an ancient machine and the old stable buildings must be renovated. And then the kitchen garden has to be arranged - because Frank delivers vegetables to the fine restaurants inside Aarhus. His favorite book is called "Handbook of self-sufficiency" and based on that, he tries to live in the old-fashioned way.
View Episode Rankings#3 - The Killing
Police detective Sarah Lund investigates difficult cases with personal and political consequences.
View Episode Rankings#4 - Unit One
Unit One (Danish title: Rejseholdet) is a Danish television crime series starring Charlotte Fich and Mads Mikkelsen. Produced by Danmarks Radio (DR), the program aired 32 episodes spanning four seasons from 2000 to 2004. Each episode revolved around an elite mobile police task force called "Unit One" that travels around Denmark helping local police solve crimes. Cases portrayed in the show were loosely based upon actual incidents of sensational crimes such as murders, kidnappings, cross-border sex traffic and child pornography.
View Episode Rankings#5 - Borgen
Borgen (The Government) is a drama series about the fight for political power – and about the personal sacrifices and consequences this has for those involved on and behind the political stage The central figure is the 40-year old political leader Birgitte Nyborg, who through her idealism and huge effort secures her party a landslide victory and thus faces the biggest challenge of her life: how most effectively to use the newly won seats, and how far she is willing to go in order to gain as much influence as possible. Privately, Birgitte leads a happy family life with her husband and two children. She is a woman with a burning commitment, a big heart and little time. Will she be able to be a successful and professional top politician and stay true to herself at the same time?
View Episode Rankings#6 - The Bridge (2011)
A body is found on the bridge from Malmö to Copenhagen causing a jurisdiction issue. Forced to work together, a Swedish and a Danish police detective are on the hunt for a killer.
View Episode Rankings#7 - Better Times
In 1949, the young Ida Nørregaard travels from Jutland to Copenhagen to enroll in a home economics school and an evening school programme. When she is told that she can't do both, she chooses the evening school. Her parents are unhappy with her choice, but Ida is decided upon making it on her own in the big city. She finds a job as a secretary at a radio factory, but when her boss's son Erik Nielsen has a crush on Ida, he causes her to lose her job. While Erik is trying to convince his father of the future of television, he also succeeds in attracting Ida's attention. Meanwhile, Erik's lively sister Søs Nielsen is engaged to a man she doesn't love. When he tries to rape her one night, she is helped by Palle From who is a working class university student and lives next door to Ida. When Søs finds him to thank him an attraction builds between them.
View Episode Rankings#8 - The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey
As international terrorism and organised crime become more and more intertwined, Western nations find themselves increasingly threatened by violence and lawlessness on an unimaginable scale. In Denmark, a special unit is set up to fight cross-border crime throughout Scandinavia and to establish operational links with similar teams around the world. In Copenhagen, charismatic detective Hallgrim Hallgrimsson (Jens Albinus) assembles a team of crime fighters equipped with the most advanced technology and high-tech weapons. Called "The Eagle" for his unerring intuition, Hallgrimsson exudes competence and self-assurance; but behind the dynamic facade is a tormented personality...
View Episode Rankings#9 - Cry Wolf (2020)
The intense and emotional story of a teenage girl who has written a vivid school essay detailing her stepfather’s violent behavior. The parents deny the accusations, but who is lying – and who is telling the truth? Social worker Lars has a few weeks to find out who is telling the truth in a family case about domestic violence.
View Episode Rankings#10 - Arvingerne
The death of a matriarch brings forgotten secrets out into the open and causes a prolonged battle for the family inheritance.
View Episode Rankings#11 - Ride Upon the Storm
The story follows a family of priests: Johannes, Elisabeth and their sons August and Christian. Johannes is God-like to his sons - he gives, loves, and punishes. His favouritism for August and his disappointment with Christian forces both into making desperate choices in order to either gain his love or break free from him.
View Episode Rankings#12 - The Protectors (2009)
The Danish national police branch PET is in charge of personal protection, mainly of politicians and royal family. That also involves preventive work concerning terrorism, stalking etcetera. Meanwhile several team members must keep op top of personal concerns, such as ethnic background-related concerns and relational troubles at home.
View Episode Rankings#13 - 1864
Danish drama series about the Second Schleswig War fought between the Kingdom of Denmark and the German Confederation.
View Episode Rankings#14 - When the Dust Settles
A father is fighting to keep his family together, an elderly man struggles to come to terms with his limitations and a female politician is making headlines with her latest initiative. The interweaved stories of 8 very different people during the days before and after a terrorist attack shocks Copenhagen, all fundamentally changed by the tragic incident.
View Episode Rankings#15 - Follow the money
Danish drama series set in the world of economic crime in the banks, on the stock exchanges, and in the boardrooms. It is the story of speculators, swindlers, corporate moguls and the crimes they commit in their hunt for wealth. It is the story of ambition that corrupts, and of the way organized criminals launder their ill-gotten gains. A story of our world the economic crisis almost overturned five years ago, and which is still holding its breath as it waits for the next bubble to burst and for the next economic tsunami to strike. And of course, it is the story of us human beings - the rich, the poor, the greedy, the fraudulent, the robbers who'll go to any lengths to build the lives of our dreams.
View Episode Rankings#16 - The Team
The series follows a number of national police agencies, working through the framework of EUROPOL, to attempt to solve a series of cross-border murders.
View Episode Rankings#17 - Huset
Sammi, Henrik, Miriam, and Gert are prison officers and colleagues in an old, worn-down Danish prison. Their work environment is raw and hostile, and their respective lives outside the prison walls are filled with conflict, secrets, and loneliness for very different reasons. Secrets, that will soon resurface and have great consequences not only for the four prison officers, but for everyone inside and outside the walls.
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