''Those Who Kill'' ( da, Den som dræber) is a Danish crime TV series from 2011, which follows a fictitious unit within Copenhagen Police which specialises in investigating serial murders. The series was aired as five two-part stories in Denmark (i.e. ten episodes in total), but has aired as five feature-length episodes in most other countries. A separate 92 minutes feature film, ''Fortidens skygge'', which forms a continuation and ending of the series, premiered in Danish cinemas on 15 March 2012,
and is being aired as the final episode or episodes of the series in many other countries, such as the UK and Germany.
The series is created and written by
Elsebeth Egholm
Elsebeth Egholm (born 17 September 1960) is a Danish journalist and best-selling author who writes mainly crime fiction novels. She is known internationally as the creator of the television series ''Those Who Kill''.
Early life
Born in Nyborg on t ...
and Stefan Jaworski, with various other screenwriters helping out as episode writers, among them Siv Rajendram, Rikke De Fine Licht and Morten Dragsted. Directors have been Birger Larsen, Niels Nørløv and
Kasper Barfoed
Kasper Barfoed (born 1972) is a Danish film director.
Barfoed was born in 1972, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from the University of Copenhagen.
Selected filmography (as director)
*'' The Lost Treas ...
. The series is a Danish-German-Swedish-Norwegian co-production.
Although originally planned to run for several seasons, Danish TV2 announced in October 2011 that there would be no further seasons made, due to falling viewer shares after the first few episodes. TV2 programming manager Keld Reinicke stated that, "We have no plans to continue the series as it never gave us the audience share we expected in Denmark".
Announced in April 2018, ''Those Who Kill'' returned to the screens in 2019 on the Viaplay streaming service and the TV3 network across Scandinavia, with a
new separate season which starred Kenneth M Christensen and
Natalie Madueño.
Cast
Episodes
Broadcast
''Those Who Kill'' has been sold to broadcasters in more than 25 countries. In Germany 3.8 million viewers watched the final episode on channel
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
. In the United Kingdom, the series has been shown by commercial channel
ITV3
ITV3 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9pm, replacing Plus (Granada). ITV3 is the sixth-largest UK television channel by ...
, and by the
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...
.
Remakes
American remake
In January 2012, the
A&E television channel announced that it had bought the rights to develop a
US version of the series. A
pilot episode
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
began filming in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
in December 2012, produced by
Fox 21 and written by
Glen Morgan
Glen Morgan (born July 12, 1961) is an American television producer, writer and director. He is best known for co-writing episodes of the Fox science fiction supernatural drama series ''The X-Files'' with his partner, James Wong. He served as ...
. The pilot starred
Chloë Sevigny as police detective Catherine Jensen, and
James D'Arcy
James D'Arcy (born Simon Richard D'Arcy; 24 August 1975) is an English actor and film director. He is known for his portrayals of Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series '' Agent Carter'' and the ...
as forensic profiler Thomas Schaeffer. In April 2013, A&E announced that it had
greenlit
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
a 10-episode first season of the series, which would begin production in Pittsburgh in late 2013. The series premiered on A&E on 3 March 2014.
Although the series received poor critical reviews, it got positive viewer reviews.
A&E pulled the series after poor opening ratings plunged even more for the second episode, then moved it to
Lifetime Movie Network
LMN (also known previously as Lifetime Movies, and an initialism for Lifetime Movie Network) is an American pay television network owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and t ...
(LMN), where it was not renewed for a second season.
Dutch remake
In 2016 A Dutch remake was launched called 'De Jacht' (the hunt). Only six episodes were made and actress Loes Haverkort, who played inspector Lea Smit was nominated for a 'Golden Calf' award in the section 'best actress TV-drama.
References
External links
Darkness: Those Who Kill (2019) at BBC ProgrammesBlinded: Those Who Kill (2021) at BBC Programmes*
* {{IMDb title, 9466596, title=Darkness: Those Who Kill (2019)
2011 Danish television series debuts
Danish crime television series
Danish drama television series
2010s Danish television series
2011 Danish television series endings
Television shows set in Denmark
Detective television series
Danish-language television shows
TV 2 (Denmark) original programming