Series
The Danish Woman
Danska konan
Newly retired from the Danish Secret Service, Ditte Jensen settles into a small apartment building in Reykjavík and finds her instincts as an elite operative impossible to switch off. Possessed of an incandescent sense of justice, she begins inserting herself into her neighbours' lives — blurring the line between heroism and intrusion, between genuine help and trained interference. Erlingsson's signature tone runs throughout: the absurd, the political and the quietly furious all at once, played in a register of Nordic black comedy. Selected for Series Mania 2025 in both Panorama and the Buyers Upfront Competition.
About
Benedikt Erlingsson's The Danish Woman is the Icelandic director's first scripted television series, after a feature filmography that includes Of Horses and Men (2013) and Woman at War (2018) — the latter winning the Lux Prize at the European Parliament in 2018. The series was developed for the Danish broadcaster TV 2 and was selected for the official competition at Series Mania in Lille in 2025, the most significant European television industry event.
The lead is the Danish actress Trine Dyrholm, one of Scandinavia's most accomplished screen performers — Dyrholm won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlinale 2016 for The Commune and has worked extensively with Thomas Vinterberg, Lone Scherfig and Susanne Bier. The supporting cast pairs Dyrholm with Icelandic actors Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Hilmir Snær Guðnason and Sigurður Sigurjónsson, several of whom had previously appeared in Erlingsson's feature work.
The series was shot in Reykjavík and Copenhagen across spring 2024 with cinematography by Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson, Erlingsson's longtime collaborator from his earlier features. Erlingsson has been outspoken in interviews about the challenges of moving between feature direction and serialised television; the production deliberately retains a feature-film visual register, with the eight forty-minute episodes shot largely in long takes and on location rather than in the more cost-efficient studio mode preferred by most Nordic broadcasters. International distribution rights were acquired by All3Media International ahead of the show's premiere.
Top Cast
Trine Dyrholm
Ditte Jensen / The Danish Woman
Hilmar Guðjónsson
Thorir
Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir
Soffía
Besir Zeciri
Kasper
Jens Albinus
Jens Jørgensen
Awards, Festivals & Mentions
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Winner — Selected — Series Mania