The Protectors - Award-winning Police Drama from Denmark

The Protectors is a two-season 20 episode television show (each episode about 50 minutes) from Denmark.

The title refers to a team of folks, some with very particular skills (psychiatry/profiler, surveillance/bugging expert ) who work as a separate specialty unit of the Danish National Police in charge of the personal protection of various V.I.P.s, often visiting dignitaries, politicians, celebrities and others.

Each story line has a two episode arc, with character relationships and various situations developing and continuing throughout the various episodes. You’ll want to watch these two at a time as the first episode of each pair ends with a cliff-hanger type moment.

The series first aired in Denmark as Livagterne. It received an International Emmy Award for the best non-American television drama series. It was Created by Mai Brostrom and Peter Thorsboe who helmed previous series Unit One and The Eagle. The Protectors is set with the Danish police’s bodyguard unit (PET).

In the first episodes we meet some new recruits going through a tough series of mental and physical challenges before just a few of them are given an assignment and become the newest members of the unit that provides protection to important Danish politicians and the royal family, as well as visiting dignitaries and influential figures, writers, celebrities etcetera. Members of the team provide around the clock security and must keep their political opinions to themselves and make huge personal sacrifices in terms of social commitments and they must be prepared to take a bullet if necessary in order to protect the life and well-being of those they are signed to protect.

Some of their assignments take them to dangerous parts of the world, while others park them outside the hotel rooms and various residents of people who sometimes carry on affairs or engage in ‘bad behavior’. Naturally the Protectors are also sworn to secrecy regarding the private lives of those they protect.

We spend the most time with three new recruits to PET; Jasminia (Cecilie Stenspill) the lone woman among the team (who’s Muslim upbringing creates some political controversy), Jonas (Soren Vejby) and Ramus (Andre Babikian). Their first assignment involves protecting a government minister who is the target of a grieving father determined to assassinate him.

Some of the story arcs are ripped from current headlines, and many tackle sensitive subjects involving Danish law with one arc in particularly highly critical about the lack of ‘stalking’ laws in Denmark.

There are a few borderline cliché treatments regarding relationships and plot developments but over-all the series is extremely well-written and intelligent. The added interest for me was since it is in Danish (and subtitled) and set within the world of Danish politics behaviors and reactions of some of the characters are not as predictable as they would be if this were an American TV series.

The ensemble acting of all the series regulars and guest stars are uniformly excellent. The best episodes are the final four from Season 2. The worst is a slightly lighter and less tense story that happens in the middle of Season 1—but it’s still worthwhile.

The production is obviously at a much lower budget than American television series, but there are lots of locations. The action sequences are somewhat modest, but the characters and stories build a lot of suspense. The present state of Danish society and the country’s role with international affairs as well as how the media reports various incidents gives us an insight into both the similarities and differences of Danish life as compared to U.S.

There’s impressive direction and quite a bit of aerial photography that gives the program a big budget feel even if at times we notice some creative stretching of the budget limitations in some action sequences. There’s also some realistic and believable dark humor shared among the characters at various times and we really get to like all of the series regulars as we get to know them better.

Some may recognize The Bridge’s Ellen Hillingso who appears in an important recurring role and some of the cast members from previous European and Danish programs are here as well. My favorite supporting characters include a brilliant profiler /psychiatrist and the mostly level-headed unit chief who sometimes has to play politics and make compromises to accommodate the wishes of higher-ups and high-level politicians. But he also goes out into the field on missions at times as well.

At various times the series does seem to develop a bit of a formula but it avoids being overly predictable and sometimes offers some truly earned surprises.

Cast members who appear in 19 to 20 episodes of the series include: Cecilie Stenspil as Jasmina El-Murad Søren Vejby as Rasmus Poulsen, André Babikian as Jonas Goldschmidt , Thomas W. Gabrielsson as Leon Hartvig Jensen, Ditte Gråbøl as Diana Pedersen, Rasmus Bjerg as 'Lille Kurt' Birk, Ellen Hillingsø as Benedikte 'Tønne' Tønnesen, Tommy Kenter as Jørgen Boas, Michael Sand as Store Kurt, Benjamin Boe Rasmussen as Trikker and Kim Jansson as Fjordby.

Directors include: Mikkel Serup who directed 10 episodes in all, several in both seasons. Kasper Gaardsøe and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen each directed 2 episodes in the first season and Mads Kamp Thulstrup and Hans Fabian Wullenweber each directed 2 episodes in the 2ndseason.

If you are a fan of intelligently plotted police procedurals or action/drama series I can’t recommend The Protectors highly enough. It is unfortunate there are only 20 episodes of the series and they aren’t making them anymore.