User Reviews

Great storyline and even greater camera and editing work. The viewer gets a real sense of being locked up as a prison guard with a bunch of violent criminals. Who can you trust? Who will get jumped?

The claustrophobic feeling is so central, you even see it in the guard's private sphere. This is best represented by the guard Henrik who is living with his family in a damp caravan because his house is infested. Phenomenal symbolism!

I don't give much for the critics saying it's not a representation of real prison life. It's not a documentary - but a great fiction drama.

Season one's ending does however go a bit over the top. And things like the constant rain for dramatic effect does become a bit annoying.

I am a retired UK prison officer and hardly ever watch prison drama's, but watched this because I thought it would be interesting to see how another European country, Denmark, runs their jails, albeit in a work of fiction.

The story concentrates on four officers and their interactions with the prisoners and to a lesser extent with their families. The prison appears to be an old establishment, not too dissimilar to the one I worked in. All the usual ingredients of prison dramas are included, violence, drugs, staff corruption and trafficking. Sophie Grabal plays the mature officer who has problems with her druggie son, David Dencik is the officer who turns a blind eye to the drug culture to have a quiet life, Youssef Wayne Hvidtfeldt is the naive rookie and Charlotte Fitch is in charge of the wing who has to oversee the clampdown on discipline to please the prison inspectors who are threatening to close the prison down.

One thing I found odd is that all the staff had the same rank insignia, including Fitch who was the boss.

Anyway, despite the usual cliches in this sort of drama, I found it an enjoyable series and at just six episodes never drags.

I have no idea if this is a realistic depiction of a Danish Jail, but certainly many of the procedures would not be permitted in a UK establishment. All the actors were good, particularly David Dencic as the unlikable Henrik.

A slightly grim, but entertaining series.

A powerful series that is brilliant in its twists and turns and the level of sustained tension right through. Actors are fantastic in that even the lack of expression on the faces of the main characters, portrays a lot of emotion. I read one review that said there's no understanding of what prison is about, but thats not the point for me. I see it as the writer and director using free license of a prison setting, to portray a powerful story of us as humans, and how even those with the best of morals or intentions, have vulnerabilities or weak spots that can be exploited or manipulated. It is honest, daring, and punchy. I loved it!

A dark tale of people going down, because conditions, because they are trapped in a fight they can't win, a game where everyone loose. Where there is only bad choices and you are doomed no matter what you do. Where humanity and good is always seen as weakens and punished.

There are small clues on how to escape, that the house must be torn down, but it seems a little bit out of context.

But does it work then. Well, yes and no. I have problems with credibility. I don't really think that everyone in that world act that stupid. I don't believe that Danish prisons are like that.

I have a problem with the scenography. It seems too ordinary, too much like every day. It does not set a scene in which the events seems likely. The characters seems to much like you and me, to act like they do. Maybe a slight touch of darkness and some background noise could do it.

It is probably a educated choice of the creators, to make the events happen in a recognizable world. But the distance, verfremdungseffekt, that could make me believe in the story and the characters are missing.

But still, it is a good series, it is worth watching. Well done.

The great Sofie Grabol is one of an ensembl cast in 'Prisoner', a Danish drama that explores the nightmare of the prison system, mostly from the perspective of the guards. Grabol is good as expected, but the whole cast play their roles nicely, although it was probably guilding the lilly a bit to have all three of the major characters compromised (albeit in different ways) by their relationships to prisoners. In spite of this, the individual elements of the story have a grimly plausible feel, and reminds one of how unwilling we are as a society to take the custody and rehabilition of criminals with the seriousness it deserves.

"Prisoner" as this has been renamed for the showing in the UK, is a dark & difficult but thoroughly engrossing viewing. There's been plenty enough prison series over the years, but this one takes a different take, mostly concentrating on the dramas of the four key prison wardens rather than the prisoners themselves.

As this follows in the tradition of prision dramas, you know some of the obvious events that will occur, but the truth is that its emphasis on the prison wardens is an interesting departure that makes a big difference in what we encounter. From the mother with the drug addicted son, the new warden who finds his friend behind bars and so on. This all leads to a major collision, as sins & crimes are covered-up with more sins & crimes, and it all gets out of hand. Hanging over the heads of the wardens, is the threat of the possible closure of the prison with the the head warden under pressure from the inspectors.

This series is for me one of the best Scandi Noir series. Generally, I've not been as impressed as others with Scandi Noir but this is an exception. A dark, nasty and very intelligent bit of drama that makes you question morality in these worlds.

I don't want to give anything away, although some things are well sign-posted from early on but that doesn't devalue the series in any way.

I'd recommend this very highly to everyone.

The entire theme of this six-episode series was about choices and how to make a bad one every time. Betray your mate by having an affair? No problem. Work for drug dealers instead of going to the cops? Absolutely. Fall for a violent, dangerous prisoner while working as a guard? Bingo.

The welter of scenarios just wasn't real as were the decisions taken. Added to this was a portrayal of prison life where drug barons rule and the screws and governors let them that I doubt exists in reality in Denmark. It seemed more like an American prison with clearly racially-differentiated gangs.

I watched till the end but there was no real tension engendered. I wasn't dying to get to the next episode to find out what would happen next.

There is scope for a further season. I'll watch it if it happens but in the hopes that it's better than this one.

Drama about prison life without any understanding of prison life. Characters and lines that only serve one purpose, abuse of actors: making actors look like bad actors. In effect a major dump into the soul of the nation. A nation home alone, not a grown up in sight to set us straight. I would prefer the bed bugs of Paris. If I give you a little bit of my blood, Fupz, if I let you live in my mattress and bite me in the legs at night, would you let them do the writing? You have the whole country in the palm of your hand it seems, please put us down instead of squeezing. You are hurting us, please stop!