Watched on Monday February 15 by 67% of Danes who had their TV sets turned on and a total of 1,623,000 people, the finale of Badehotellet created by Hanna Lundblad and Stig Thorsboe for SF Production has become the most successful episode of a fiction series on TV2 since 1997’s Strisser på Samsø. On average 1.527.000 Danes followed the 8-part TV show that has entered the closed club of TV dramas able to gather entire families in from of a small screen.

Danes have also given the show an exceptional high quality rating of 4.54 (on a scale of 6), higher for instance than The Bridge Season 3 (4.3).

“For the past three years we’ve aired Badehotellet every January-February and it’s become a tradition on TV2. While viewers on linear TV in general are decreasing, the audience for Badehotellet on the contrary has remained steady and even increased on our on-demand service TV2 Play” told TV2’s Head of Drama Katrine Vogelsang to nordiskfilmogtvfond.com. “This is excellent news for TV drama that has shown that it can compete with sports [handball was TV2 viewers’ top choice in 2015 with Badehotellet]. “

Due to popular demand, a fourth season of the nostalgic hotel show has been greenlit and a fifth season will follow. The success of Badehotellet has also enabled TV2’s Drama department to increase its level of drama commissioning to independent Danish producers, to 4-5 shows a year, including two long running serials. This has meant also finding alternative ways to produce, with new players -such as Netflix for Rita Season 3, or on tighter budgets.

Splitting up Together, TV2’s comedy drama that starts airing on Monday evening is the first TV drama produced on a low budget, commissioned to Happy End Film. The show about family life, love, sex and happy divorce was produced in the ‘Dogma way’ with a very small crew, led by head writer Mette Heeno and experienced comedy director Hella Joof.

The two first episodes shown at Berlin’s Special Series were warmly received by professionals and according to Vogelsang, several festivals and international buyers are considering both the original and a potential remake. DR Sales handles world sales. 

Other TV2 drama shows in the making include the crime series Dicte Season 3 produced by Miso Film.  

Written by Annika Pham