Sandscript

Nordic Noir, sub titles, why do some of us love them? Saturday nights 9 pm on BBC Four television have become a must for many Britons over the past years - or a must to record if you can drag yourself out to socialise. Perhaps it started with Lisbeth Salander and Wallander, but in my house it was 'The Killing'. A brilliant drama in it's own right, with the added bonus of new jumpers, new scenery and wonderful Scandinavian interiors. A country like our own, but different, their grey skies more dramatic than ours. Sub titles force you to concentrate, no knitting or glances at the crossword, keep with the plot. For those of us who speak only one language, other tongues sound so clever and we especially admire people like the Danes who slip so easily into English when British characters appear in the plot.
It is not just crime, we all loved 'Borgen',a political drama. We have returned to murder with 'The Bridge' - the title refers to the Oresund bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden. The last two episodes will be shown on Saturday. The series has been shot entirely in shades of grey and olive green, the impossibly long silver bridge snaking across the misty sea, but despite our own grey wet winter we still love it.
But subtitles take us to other countries. 'The Spiral' with its more evocative French title 'Engrenages' had us racing round the darker parts of Paris. Inspector Montalbano took us south to Sicily for a complete contrast to Nordic and Gallic Noir, here it was the humour that was dark and the scenery sunny and bright. The impossibly steep streets of Sicilian towns kept us entranced and Montalbano's wonderful house by the blue sea was an antidote to winter.
As a footnote, a while back, hidden late at night, we saw one series of an Icelandic half hour comedy about the night shift at a petrol station - we loved it!