Smash hit TV drama ’Borgen’ is back 10 years on

"Borgen" is back. The Danish political drama about a charismatic woman who becomes prime minister took the world by storm and morphed into one of Scandinavia's biggest television exports returns a decade on.

On Feb. 13, the fourth series will air on Danish TV ahead of its much-anticipated international debut on Netflix in the spring.
Viewers last saw former Danish prime minister Birgitte Nyborg the day after her brand-new political party scored a sensational win in elections. Ten years on, she is foreign minister in a government headed by a woman 10 years her junior.

"Since we said goodbye to Birgitte, a lot of things have changed," said Henriette Marienlund, head of drama at Danish public broadcaster DR which developed the series.

"She's older, her life is different, her children have grown up and the world is different," Marienlund told AFP.

As Denmark's top diplomat, a job she was eyeing at the end of season three, Nyborg now finds herself dealing with the discovery of oil in Greenland, Denmark's autonomous territory, believing it holds the key to its independence.

For the fourth season, "Borgen -- The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory," series creator Adam Price wanted a whole new storyline, explained Marienlund. Many of the original actors are back, however, including Sidse Babett Knudsen as Nyborg.

Except this time, she has a very different role.

Denmark's new fictional prime minister, Signe Kragh, has no intention of getting her toes stepped on, and the same goes for Greenland's foreign minister Hans Eliassen.

"Even though this season is more international than the previous ones, it is still a very Danish series where you see a lot of the Danish lifestyle," said Marienlund.

It was this...