The Killing

I've just read an article in The Independent  cheering The Hour to the rafters and revelling in it being recommissioned. If you've read any of my blogs on The Hour you'll know I've found it frustrating on many levels. What the article suggests is that the only thing wrong with the series was its length - it wasn't long enough. Hmmm.

There's certainly a comparison to be made between short British series and longer American runs. For me it comes down to one simple question; how much story do you have?

The Hour had six hours to tell its story, it had nice costumes and sets, good actors but to my mind it was muddled and confused and the payoff was a damp squib. I was surprised when I heard it had been recommissioned. Would it have been better as a ten parter, a twelve parter?


The Wire had sixty episodes to tell its story and it made perfect sense. Some of the dialogue was often impenetrable (it was supposed to be) but it made you work hard, it pulled you along, it never tried to push the plot at you. Would it have worked as six hours? No.

I'm currently engrossed in the Danish Thriller 'The Killing' - BBC 4 is showing the twenty part series one part at a time over almost every night. I missed it first time around but boy am I glad I've caught the repeat. There is so much to admire here. Plot points come down to a look, a glance. Nothing is pushed at you, it moves at a slow sure pace. It knows where it is going and how it wants to get there.

Like the Wire the characters are drawn from different spheres - the victim's family, the police, a candidate in the mayoral elections, teachers, friends. At the point at which we meet the main detective, Sarah Lund, she's about to leave Denmark with her son and and set up home in Sweden with her new man. The fact that she's about to go and leave the investigation adds so much tension to the early episodes. Alongside side her drive to find the killer is her desire to join her man. But she's as hooked into finding her man as we are.

But what I Iike is the ripple effect the killing of a young woman has. Waves go out and collide with the wider society. If ever there was an argument to slow the pace of your story this and Mad Men and the Wire shows the way. Each episode can be totally compelling, move the story on - unlike say, Lost - and head towards a series climax befitting of everything that's gone before. As I said before length is determined by how much story you have and the writers behind The Killing have bags.

Twenty episodes will not be enough of this series.