Your five favourite foreign language shows

[...]

Matrioshki - Belgian drama about people trafficking for the sex trade (2 series and hopefully continuing)

Gomorrah - Italian drama about in-fighting in the mafia (2 series and hopefully continuing)

Spiral (Engranages) - Fantastic French cop show (5 series and continuing)

The Legacy - Addictive Swedish drama about a family torn apart by a will (two series and done)

Prisoners of War - The Israeli show that begat Homeland (two series and done)

Was tempted to put Rake on the basis that everyone in it speaks broad 'Strine but thought that would be cheating

[Polishgirl]

The Bridge, especially the most recent series

The Killing, the 1st series

The Disappearance- currently on BBC4 - it's excellent!

Borgen- the 1st series in particular. I do lose a bit of interest once she becomes PM.

Wallander - the series with Krister Henriksson - probably my favourite of all the series.

[Phil T]

Dukes Of Hazzard

Rab C. Nesbitt

Eastenders

When The Boat Comes In

The Water Margin (one for the nostalgia fans there)

[pcqgod]

Bienvenidos
Operacion Ja Ja
Sabado Gigante
El Chapulin Colorado

[clive gash]

Die Leerlaufrennen - Superlative German political drama focusing on the travails of three families swept up in the tide of post-WW2 history. Henning Wehn is astonishing as Helmut Schmidt.

Le Déménagement - When an infamous ex-con holidays in rural France he finds his cynical worldview challenged by the locals and his sexuality challenged by a flirtatious hog (voiced by Mathieu Amalric). Delightfully un-PC.

Orquestra de la Llum Elèctrica - A low-key Catalan comedy/drama based on a short-story by Quim Monzó. This policeman's lot is not a happy one

Guiden - Controversial Danish six-parter that takes "The Diceman" for a gruelling 21st Century spin. Irreverent and erotic, a real three-tissue-er.

Wilburys In Viaggio - Not a whodunit, rather a who-a-didn't-do-it in this adaptation of a long-running Italian theatrical blockbuster. A group of friends personalities are switched after a visit to a fortune teller. Marco Pirroni provides an eerie surf-guitar soundtrack.

[...]

And four or five more to watch out for...

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radi ... n-tv-drama

[Fonz]

The Killing
Spiral
Braquo
The Bridge
Borgen

[ConnyOlivetti]

Endeavour
Brilliant! Just love it!

[Geezee]

Guiden - Controversial Danish six-parter that takes "The Diceman" for a gruelling 21st Century spin. Irreverent and erotic, a real three-tissue-er.

Is that the name of it for sure? Don't see any trace of it. Or are all these made...?

[...]

Guiden - Controversial Danish six-parter that takes "The Diceman" for a gruelling 21st Century spin. Irreverent and erotic, a real three-tissue-er.

Is that the name of it for sure? Don't see any trace of it. Or are all these made...?

I think he's attempting to pull our collective leg...

[Neige]

... well, all five of them made me laugh out loud.

[Geezee]

I've just got off the phone with Lars Mikkelsen who is furious that he has not been offered a part in it. "I've done Borgen, The Killing, Those Who Kill, and 1864 - what more do I have to prove?"

[never/ever]

Tatort- the mother of German krimi.

Il Etait Une Fois (Once Upon A Time)- long running French cartoon series depicting the history of the world, using the same characters for continuity)

La Piovra (The Octopus)- Italian series about a police unit hunting the Mafia

Dekalog- Kieslowski's depiction of the Ten Commandments.

Klimbim- stupid German humour and Ingrid Steeger's tits.

[...]

Tatort- the mother of German krimi.

There's also Heimat

The Walter Presents section on the All 4 website has some great foreign series up for anyone who's interested

[Spec]

The Walter Presents section on the All 4 website has some great foreign series up for anyone who's interested

Yes!

From Walter Presents I think Magnifica 70 (from Brazil) is excellent and I'm enjoying Locked Up (from Spain) a lot.

Previously from WP I also liked Kabul Kitchen.

There's a new Polish drama on Channel 4 tonight which looks good (but I assume it will be cancelled on Friday if "leave" wins)

Away from WP I liked Dag (Norwegian comedy) and Trapped (Iceland)

[never/ever]

Ach...just read that my favorite Tatort-Kommisar Schimanski (Götz George) has passed away. Certainly an interesting character, far removed from the coldblooded, intelligent sleuth but an emotional hothead blessed with good colleagues and a ton of luck.

[the masked man]

The Killing (Denmark) - first series in paricular; painstakingly detailed police procedural, exploring the emotional effects of a crime on a community. Acting, direction and production values all of the highest quality

Dekalog (Poland) - Krzysztof Kieślowski's greatest work, a secular adaptation of The Ten Commandments, focusing on the inhabitants of a tower block in Warsaw. There are moments that have reduced me to tears.

Spiral (France) - brilliantly bleak Parisian crime drama, that is finely nuanced. Every character is flawed , everyone is compromised to some degree, and this results in a fantastically gritty drama. Proper TV for grown-ups. The red-haired lawyer with no moral compass is my favourite anti-hero.

Trapped (Iceland) - this chilly whodunit initially seemed to have too many disparate strands, but neatly tied them altogether into a fable about corporate greed. Scenes of extreme weather plus a dour and soulful lead character mean this is a just the sort of thing I love.

Borgen (Denmark) - a drama about the minutiae of Danish parliamentary politics might not seem like an enticing prospect, but this is nonetheless compelling television with a range of fascinating characters. Kasper, the devilishly clever spin doctor, is my second favourite anti-hero.