Borgen is a Danish one-hour political drama TV series telling the story of a charismatic politician, Birgitte Nyborg, who unexpectedly becomes the first female Prime Minister of Denmark.

Birgitte Nyborg has been Denmark s Prime Minister for two years years that have taken their toll on her private life. She must now balance her role of PM with that of divorcée and single-mother. Politically, she has succeeded in earning the respect of both her political allies and enemies, but tensions between parties are mounting. Denmark s participation in international wars as well as certain central domestic policy issues are driving a wedge through the parliament and Birgitte is increasingly finding herself having to make shaky compromises.

Series 2 sees the return of journalist Katrine Fønsmark who, having moved to the Ekspres, finds herself being morally and ethically challenged by the ruthless editor-in-chief, Michael Laugesen. Meanwhile, Kasper Juul, who continues to work as Birgitte Nyborg's spin doctor, struggles to suppress his inner demons as his past threatens to intrude on his relationship with new girlfriend, Lotte.

Subtitled.

Awards for series

• Won BAFTA Award, Best International (2012)
• Won Prix Italia Award, TV Drama – Series and Serials (2010)
• Won Biarritz International Festival Golden FIPA Award, TV Series and Serials (2011)
• Won Monte-Carlo TV Festival Golden Nymph Award, Outstanding Actress – Drama Series, Sidse Babett Knudsen (2011)

Borgen TV Show Review
(For Seasons 1 & 2)

"For those of you not au fait with the affairs of our Danish cousins, the current Prime Minister of Denmark is a woman named Helle Thorning-Schmidt. When Borgen began in 2010, Thorning-Schmidt was already the leader of her party, but the country had yet to vote her into power… and so Borgen creator Adam Price decided to make that jump for her. He created Birgitte Nyborg, made her Prime Minister on TV screens across the land, and thus paved the way for real life.

Of course, just as with Martin Sheen‘s President Jed Bartlet in The West Wing (Borgen‘s glossy American cousin), the leader in question is idealised, charismatic and liberal; someone we not only identify with, but someone we would all love to know. Whether Thorning-Schmidt lives up to her television counterpart is a matter of opinion – we could not possibly comment – but one thing is for sure: while the real Prime Minister is the one who actually affects Danish lives, Nyborg is the one the people welcomed into their living rooms each week while the show was airing.

Which brings us to Borgen in Britain. An astonishing success on BBC4, the show followed in the footsteps of its sister-phenomenon The Killing to become a genuine Scandi-TV cult. And quite rightly so, too. Across the two seasons released..Borgen proves itself to be an addictive drama of magnificent proportions, taking in all the things you’d expect in a political story: sex scandals, backstabbing ministers, corruption and blackmail. But its core, which lies firmly in the hands of Sidse Babett Knudsen‘s com­pelling Prime Minister, focuses on the honest desire to do good.

Nyborg wants to change the world; she wants Denmark to stop feeling sorry for itself, to make big strides both at home (healthcare bills) and abroad (trying to negotiate peace in Africa). Naturally, no Prime Minister can walk into the job and make these things happen without having to fend off hyena-like packs of opposition ministers; nor can anybody take up such a position of power without it having an affect on their private life.

Consequently, Nyborg starts the series playful yet determined, gradually honing her skills to become a solid, unstoppable force, all with the help of her fascinating spin doctor Kasper Juul (Pilou Asbaek). The show’s most gratifying feature, perhaps, is the fact that Nyborg’s sex isn’t dealt with until the conclusion of season two, when she has to choose between her job and her family. The fact that she is a female Prime Minister isn’t the most important thing about her; what matters are her policies, who she is, and what this job will cost her as a human being, not merely as a woman. Progressive? Perhaps – this probably would not have happened on a British series (and the UK press release for this Blu-ray makes a point of calling her “sexy”, which is depressing). But it makes Birgitte Nyborg one of the great TV characters of our age… and Borgen simply unmissable.

Ultimately, Borgen is a cracking Danish treat that manages to combine hard politics with gripping human drama. Watch it for its wonderful Prime Minister, then fall in love with everything else along the way." Cult TV Times UK