Matador (TV series)

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Matador

Genre	Drama
Creator(s)	Lise Nørgaard (idea) Erik Balling (director)
Starring	Jørgen Buckhøj Ghita Nørby Holger Juul Hansen Malene Schwartz Buster Larsen
Country of origin	Denmark
No. of episodes	24
Production
Running time	between 0:41 and 1:26 per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	Danmarks Radio
Original run	November 11, 1978 – January 2, 1982

Matador is a Danish TV series produced between 1978 and 1981. It is named after the Danish word for a business magnate.

Directed by Erik Balling and written by Lise Nørgaard along with Karen Smith, Jens Louis Petersen and Paul Hammerich, the series is one of the most well-known and popular examples of Danish television, not least because of its accurate portrayal of Denmark in the 1930s and during Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark in World War II. The distinctive theme tune of the series was composed by Bent Fabricius-Bjerre.

The series is set in the fictional Danish town of Korsbæk between 1929 and 1947. The story follows the life of various characters in the town, but is primarily focused around the struggle between the families of - respectively - businessman Mads (Andersen-)Skjern; who arrives in the town in 1929, and banker Hans Christian Varnæs, one of the town's most prominent citizens.

Matador originally aired on DR between November 1978 and January 1982, but has been repeated in 1984-85, 1989-90, 1997-98 and 2006-07. Additionally, the series has been released on VHS, and in 2001 on DVD. The DVD edition surpassed 1 million sold copies in 2005 [1] (in a country of 5.3 million people).

The series has been broadcast in more than 20 countries.[2]

1 List of Matador episodes
2 List of characters
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] List of Matador episodes

1. "Den rejsende" (1978)
2. "Genboen" (1978)
3. "Skiftedag" (1978)
4. "Skyggetanten" (1978)
5. "Den enes død" (1978)
6. "Opmarch" (1978)
7. "Fødselsdagen" (1979)
8. "Komme fremmede" (1979)
9. "Hen til kommoden" (1979)
10. "I disse tider" (1979)
11. "I klemme" (1979)
12. "I lyst og nød" (1979)
13. "Et nyt liv" (1980)
14. "Brikkerne" (1980)
15. "At tænke og tro" (1980)
16. "Lauras store dag" (1980)
17. "De voksnes rækker" (1980)
18. "Hr. Stein" (1980)
19. "Handel og vandel" (1981)
20. "Den 11. time" (1981)
21. "Vi vil fred her til lands" (1981)
22. "Det går jo godt" (1981)
23. "Mellem brødre" (1981)
24. "New Look" (1981)

[edit] List of characters

Mads Andersen-Skjern — Jørgen Buckhøj- (born 1897) A stranger who comes to Korsbæk with his son Daniel in search of work in 1929. Seeing that the local clothing shop caters only to the interests of the well-to-do, he decides to start his own business, Skjern's Magasin, to provide clothing for the common people.

Personality: Industrious; almost ruthless businessman who does not "forgive and forget"; a stern and overbearing father who expects much of his son Daniel, but keeps a blind eye on Ellen; as his business grows, Mads is corrupted by his growing power and occasionally engages in questionable business practices. It is hinted that he comes from a religious upbringing. He is a firm opponent of abortion, then illegal in Denmark.

Ingeborg Skjern — Ghita Nørby- (born c. 1901) Wife of Mads Andersen-Skjern and daughter of Olaf and Katrine Larsen. She is also the mother of Ellen from a previous marriage. She and Mads eventually have a child named Erik.

Personality: Kind, loving; unlike Mads, she is far kinder to Daniel and manages to overlook most of his short-comings; still, she, too, turns a blind eye on Ellen as she grows older.

Kristen Andersen-Skjern — Jesper Langberg - (born c.1899) The younger brother of Mads Andersen-Skjern and the elder Anna Skjern. Kristen arrives in Korsbæk about a year after Mads, and eventually becomes director of Omegns Bank, a bank for the lower-class denizens of Korsbæk. When the Nazis occupy Denmark, he becomes active in the Danish resistance movement along with Dr. Louis Hansen.

Personality: An honest man; unlike his brother, he is willing to overlook class differences. He has an on-and-off relationship with Elisabeth Friis, sister-in-law of Hans Christian Varnæs, but after one falling-out between them marries Iben Skjold-Hansen.

Hans Christian Varnæs — Holger Juul Hansen- (born c.1894) The director of Korsbæk Bank and husband of Maude (formerly Friis) Varnæs, and the father of three children, Ulrik, Regitze, and Helle. He is the elder brother of Jørgen Varnæs.

Personality: For the most part, a competent bank director although his bank tends to look down its nose at those who are not members of high society; though usually a devoted husband, he once had an affair with his much-younger secretary Ulla Jacobsen.

Maude Varnæs — Malene Schwartz

Jørgen Varnæs — Bent Mejding Younger brother of Hans Christian Varnæs. He is a slick lawyer living in the fast lane. His wife leaves him when she learns about his affair with Gitte Graae and eventually his life takes a turn for the worse not least due to his alcoholism.

Elisabeth Friis — Helle Virkner
Olaf Larsen — Buster Larsen
Katrine Larsen — Lily Broberg
Mrs. Fernando Møhge — Karen Berg
Misse Møhge — Karin Nellemose
Louis Hansen, MD — Ove Sprogøe
Fede — Benny Hansen

Røde — Kurt Ravn Communist rail road worker. He has political ambitions, but during World War II he is forced to flee to Sweden, when the Nazis start arresting Danish communists. He marries Agnes Jensen, but he disapproves of her entrepreneurship.

Waiter Boldt — Per Pallesen Background character who serves mostly as comic relief.

Agnes Jensen — Kirsten Olesen

Laura Sørensen — Elin Reimar Faithful servant of the Varnæs family through many years.

Daniel Skjern — Jacob Dalgård (child), Niels Martin Carlsen (adult) The son of Mads Skjern and his first wife. His father wants him to join the family business, but he displays poor academic skills and can't live up to his father's expectations. Instead he wants to be a designer; a field where he later enjoys a certain success. Daniel is a homosexual, which is hard for his father to accept.

Ellen Skjern — Helle Nielsen (child), Benedikte Dahl (adult)
Erik Skjern — Jens Christian Milbart
Ulrik Varnæs — Søren Bruun (child), Jens Arentzen (adult)
Helle Varnæs — Ditte Maria Norup
Regitze Varnæs — Camilla Hammerich
Iben Skjold-Hansen — Ulla Henningsen

Viggo Skjold-Hansen — Axel Strøbye Flamboyant local lawyer who finds his way into local high society, where his blunt hell raising style is met with disapproval - not least by the Varnæs family. He is married to Musse Skjold-Hansen (the mother of his daughter Iben Skjold-Hansen).

Musse Skjold-Hansen — Birthe Backhausen

Colonel Hackel — Bjørn Watt Boolsen Pompous and gruff army officer who is rarely seen out of uniform. He belongs to local high society and is the father of Vicki Hackel.