The Protectors - The Complete Season One

Here is to another offering from Arrow’s Nordic Noir label, namely the Danish series The Protectors, which is new to the UK, but old hat on the continent, where it first was transmitted on TV stations in various European countries as far back as 2009. This, of course, would never happen with US crime dramas, which get an airing on British TV the minute a series is in the can!

The Protectors tells of P.E.T., the Danish national police force in charge of personal protection. Not folks like you and I, mind you – but high profile figures like politicians, royalty, VIP’s and visiting dignitaries.

While the main plots concern the P.E.T.’s work including managing preventative measures, dealing with potential terrorist threats, and keeping a close eye on stalkers etc, we also get to learn a little background history of the P.E.T.s individual members and their story - for example Jasmina El-Mourad (Cecilie Stenspil), the only female amongst the elite force. Bravely taking on her male colleagues in the force’s harsh boot camp training, she also has to prove herself to her Muslim family, in particular her conservative sister, who disapproves of Jasmina’s career choice. Pay at the P.E.T. can’t be very good then, or else Jasmina could perhaps afford her own place, bringing the quarrels with her sister to an end.

While the episodes don’t fall short on action and tense drama, there’s still plenty of emphasis given as far as the key characters go. With each episode, we learn a little more about the elite members of P.E.T., what makes them tick, and how they try to balance personal lives with work commitments.
The series won the international Emmy Award for ‘best non-American television drama series’ and it’s easy to see why.

The DVD set contains 3 discs, and language is Danish (with English subtitles).