This is the second season of ‘The Sommerdahl Murders', the enjoyable Danish thriller set in the port city of Elsinore (or Helsingør to give it its proper Danish name) located on the Øresund strait.
If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.
DCI Dan Sommerdahl is the lead character, played by Peter Mygind, who you might recognise from the fabulous ‘Borgen' television series from 2010 – extraordinary to think that started 15 years ago.
Sommerdahl has a complicated personal life that involves a love triangle between himself, his wife, Marianne (played by Laura Drasbæk, who was in the first season of ‘The Killing') and his colleague, Flemming Torp (André Babikian – who was also in ‘Borgen'). In the first episode of the second season, we witness Sommerdahl make a bit of a fool of himself in his attempt to win back Marianne’s affections.
In all honesty, the extra-marital goings-on are all a bit unnecessary and predictable – lots of gazing off into the distance as the various interested parties consider loves won and lost…
The main interest for me lies in the murders – and each episode offers us a stand-alone crime to sink our teeth into. They’re already up to Season 6 in Denmark for this series, so Elsinore sounds like the equivalent of Midsomer in terms of body count!
In this opening episode, a reformed local rock group is causing much excitement in town. But when their lead guitarist is found dead, Sommerdahl and his team are brought in to investigate.
It soon becomes clear that the ageing rock star and lothario had a number of people who would wish him harm – not least his band mates, including his brother, and various former lovers and jealous husbands. Therefore, it’s down to Sommerdahl and his team – his wife, Marianne, is the local pathologist, too, incidentally – to find out who actually did the dastardly deed.
This type of police procedural tale is standard fare in TV schedules. The storyline could have been plucked from an episode of ‘Vera' or the aforementioned ‘Midsomer Murders'. It’s a puzzle, basically – and it’s down to us as viewers to play along and eliminate the suspects before settling on the killer – like a game of ‘Cluedo'.
Each episode of ‘The Sommerdahl Murders' is a pleasant hour-long distraction. The acting is pretty strong, and the storylines are entertaining (if not particularly original). If I’m honest, I find the whole love triangle backstory annoying and distracting. In the opening episode, Sommerdahl is chasing after his wife like a love-struck puppy, whilst her desires are clearly elsewhere. But perhaps for some that human-interest element will be more of draw.
I mentioned both ‘Borgen' and ‘The Killing' earlier – this show can’t hold a candle to either of those fabulous series. But the fact that it is now on its sixth season is testament to the writing and acting, so clearly they’re doing something right.
Walter Presents: ‘The Sommerdahl Murders' Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Walter Presents via Channel 4 Streaming now.
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