Lark Rise to Reykjavik

I was a bit surprised to turn on the TV that first evening in Reykjavik and find they were showing the latest series of 'Lark Rise to Candleford,' in English but with Icelandic subtitles.  Ah, the power of a good old BBC costume drama obviously transcends both borders and language very easily (says the woman who NEVER watches a costume drama as they drive me totally nuts - although I did make an exception with 'The Crimson Petal and The White,' which was stunningly good.)  

 
One of the things we both wanted to buy whilst we were in Iceland were the DVDs of 'The Night Shift' (an Icelandic comendy recently shown on BBC4 - bloody hilarious, I urge anyone to watch it if they repeat it,) and it's follow-on series 'The Day Shift' and 'The Prison Shift.'  After much searching in various DVD shops we eventually tracked all three down, although the feature film 'Mr Barnfredason' was sold out everywhere we asked.  The series star, Jon Gnarr, who is, apparently, an erstwhile punk and a stand-up comedian, was last year voted Mayor of Reykjavik.  As an English-language newspaper recently reported, he's a comedian who has become a politician, unlike Boris Johnson who has done the complete opposite!!

During our extensive searches through various DVD outlets, I was surprised by how many Icelandic films and TV series are on DVD (for such a small nation they seem to be remarkably creative and prolific.)  But I wasn't in the least surprised to find shelf after shelf of American imports - that's the same the world over  - although it did make me snigger to find a DVD of 'Life on Mars' for approx. £5.00 (much cheaper than I paid last year) on sale at the local supermarket.  One does wonder how some of Gene Hunt's more infamous lines ('It's 1973, almost dinner time, I'm 'avin hoops' - 'You're surrounded by armed bastards'  - 'Don't be such a jessie') translate into Icelandic.

Anyway, P and I have already made great inroads into 'The Day Shift' which, I'm happy to report, is just as laugh-out-loud funny as 'The Night Shift.'  Excellent, excellent stuff.

Comments

[A Thrifty Mrs]

I totally love that show. You've inspired me to hunt down the DVD.

[Reykjavik]

Love it.