I watched the first couple of episodes of a political drama called Borgen last night, which was made and based in Denmark. It revolves around the leader of a centrist political party called the Moderates which is running in a general election. Something you have to keep in mind in European political affairs is the importance of coalitions, which are unheard of in the US and uncommon even in the UK, although the UK does have an 'odd couple' coalition at the moment between the centre right conservatives and the centre left Liberal Democrats.

It is another product of DR (Danmarks Radio, the state broadcaster in Denmark) who also produced the internationally famous crime thriller, The Killing.

While Borgen does not contain any strange sweaters (actually I remember one) , it does have a lot of political wheeling and dealing and some great acting and quirky humour.

I was suprised to find that the show has already been shown in America, as I would have thought it would have been shown in the UK first but after watching the first two episodes of the series, I was really impressed.

Sidse Babett Knudsen gives a wonderful performance as Birgitte Nyborg Christensen, the mother of two fighting for political power in the Danish parliament, which gives the show its name as Borgen is the nickname of Christiansborg Palace, the home of the Danish parliament, supreme court and the Prime Minister's office.

Bent Sejrø is also played well by Lars Knutzon and he appears to be a very important helper to Birgitte, who is not used to taking on the powerhouses in parliament as her party are generally well down the pecking order.

If you get to see this show at some point, you should give this a try as it is a great little programme.

BBC Four are showing this in a two hour block from 9-11pm every Saturday at the moment if you're in the UK.

Apparently two complete series have been shown in Denmark with a third on the way this year. The first series has been shown in the US and a remake is apparently on the way too.