Jump to content

The Tunnel (British remake of Broen/The Bridge)


AncalagonTheBlack

Recommended Posts

Short Promo Trailer -


Sky Atlantic have struck up some entente cordiale with CANAL+ to co-produce new cross channel crime drama The Tunnel.The Tunnel will air on Sky Atlantic in 2013

Ben Richards (Spooks, Outcasts, Party Animals) has headed up the Anglo-French writing team behind the 10- part series, which will be primarily set in the coastal towns of Folkestone and Calais

Inspired by Scandinavian drama The Bridge, The Tunnel is set against the backdrop of Europe in crisis. When a prominent French politician is found dead on the border between the UK and France, detectives Karl Roebuck and Elise Wassermann are sent to investigate on behalf of their respective countries. However, the case takes a surreal turn when a shocking discovery is made at the crime scene, forcing the French and British police into an uneasy partnership.

As the serial killer uses ever more elaborate and ingenious methods to highlight the moral bankruptcy of modern society, Karl and Elise are drawn deeper into his increasingly personal agenda.

Sky Atlantic HD and CANAL + are delighted to announce that Stephen Dillane and Clémence Poésy are to head the Anglo-French cast of The Tunnel.

Dillane, best known to Sky Atlantic viewers as Game of Thrones' Stannis Baratheon, and Birdsong,Harry Potter star Poésy will play detectives Karl Roebuck and Elise Wassermann in the crime drama, which is based on Danish / Swedish collaboration The Bridge.

The series, which will be directed by Cesar Award winning filmmaker Dominik Moll, sees Detectives Roebuck and Wassermann sent to investigate on behalf of their respective countries when a prominent French politician is found dead on the border between the UK and France. However, the case takes a surreal turn when a shocking discovery is made at the crime scene, forcing the French and British police into an uneasy partnership. As the serial killer uses ever more elaborate and ingenious methods to highlight the moral bankruptcy of modern society, Karl and Elise are drawn deeper into his increasingly personal agenda.

Joining them are Joseph Mawle, who will play social worker Stephen Beaumont, and Tom Bateman as UK journalist Danny Hillier who unintentionally becomes caught in the serial killers web while Ashes To Ashes' Keeley Hawes and the venerable Liz Smith (The Royal Family) will join them from episode two.

Tobi Bakare, Jeanne Balibar, Thibault de Montalembert, Mathieu Carrirre, Angel Coulby, Jack Lowden will also star.


http://www.hypable.c...tephen-dillane/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Watched the first episode and really rather enjoyed it. I missed the Bridge so the plots all going to be new to me. I have heard it's pretty much exactly the same though.






Has this happened before? Two different countries producing two separate remakes from the same source?





I have heard that The Killing maybe getting Russian/Turkish/Indian remakes. An a few places have remade Law&Order.



Also Till death do us part has a German and US adaption.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Comedies seem to get this a lot, not sure about dramas. I watched the American one, that was pretty good. Now I want to watch this and the original just for the comparative analysis.



What other countries could potentially remake this? Is there an interesting North-South Korea border crossing somewhere? How about India-Pakistan, any bridges?


Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a great premise that works for any country with a bridge/tunnel connection. I think the vast difference between USA/Mexico works better than England/France or Denmark/Sweden which I think will be less pronounced.



I just hope the British version isn't really good as I'm pretty sure the US one will have spoiled the central plot and it will be a shame if I've wound up watching the worst version.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wondering what the heck they did in the Swedish/Danish one - the US/Mexico one had the economic gaps and disparity in the value of human life front and center (it lost it a bit but ended strong) - it seems like a stretch to do that between Sweden and Denmark. The differences in the immigration policies of France and the UK don't quite seem to fill that same niche here - they're already bringing in Colombian refugees to up the ante, for proper third-world misery drama porn, whereas US/Mexico was quite self contained, in the geopolitical sense.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sort of got the feeling it was heading toward a more left v right sort of focus. With a mention of austerity poltics, the suspicious rich French couple. The British policeman said that he was from a very working class background. I am not sure about the French policewoman but it did appear in the first epsiode she is a more affluent than the Brit.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wondering what the heck they did in the Swedish/Danish one - the US/Mexico one had the economic gaps and disparity in the value of human life front and center (it lost it a bit but ended strong) - it seems like a stretch to do that between Sweden and Denmark. The differences in the immigration policies of France and the UK don't quite seem to fill that same niche here - they're already bringing in Colombian refugees to up the ante, for proper third-world misery drama porn, whereas US/Mexico was quite self contained, in the geopolitical sense.

I don't know enough about Denmark but Sweden is often seen as a social haven in terms of benefits/education etc so I'd guess Sweden was the "richer" country.

I sort of got the feeling it was heading toward a more left v right sort of focus. With a mention of austerity poltics, the suspicious rich French couple. The British policeman said that he was from a very working class background. I am not sure about the French policewoman but it did appear in the first epsiode she is a more affluent than the Brit.

So the UK is "Mexico" and "france" is the USA, at a glance. It's a catch-22 situation because if it does play out differently (in terms of the murder case), I'd be interested in watching but I don't want to know what it is about at the same time. If someone who's seen the US version watches this and can confirm "it's a different plot" that might be best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wondering what the heck they did in the Swedish/Danish one - the US/Mexico one had the economic gaps and disparity in the value of human life front and center (it lost it a bit but ended strong) - it seems like a stretch to do that between Sweden and Denmark.

Watching the original series one might get the impression that there's indeed economic gaps and disparity in the value of human life between Sweden and Denmark too, at least in contrast to nice and efficient , multicultural Swedish police department we have a corrupt and racist Danish one which brings upon the immigrant riot, plus it also provides us with asshole Martin, the main super- villain and if i recall it right the Swedish police-pedophile also originally from there.When I heard about the US remake I actually thought they'll do it about US/Canada with enlightened Canada and cowboy American police department, still think it 'd be more entertaining.

ETA:They should an Israeli-Jordanian remake set on Allenby-Bridge, only instead of the Truth Terrorist we'll have a temporarily insane Uri Avneri running around thinking he is still in Etzel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ETA:They should an Israeli-Jordanian remake set on Allenby-Bridge, only instead of the Truth Terrorist we'll have a temporarily insane Uri Avneri running around thinking he is still in Etzel.

That was my first thought, and then I figured if you really wanted to make it fun, make it Israel-Syria, with the two detectives not being able to communicate at all, and all messages being relayed through an increasingly bewildered 19 year old UN peacekeeper from Ghana, who will be the real main character.

I recall reading somewhere that they did want to make it US-Canada, (cold,) but got talked out of it. US-Mexico seems thematically richer, though US-Canada might also have had potential. I must confess, while i'm sure Swedes are happy to see Danes as goofy third-world rednecks, y'all are pretty indistinguishable from here. Except hitchhiking in Denmark is strangely more difficult. :dunno:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sort of got the feeling it was heading toward a more left v right sort of focus. With a mention of austerity poltics, the suspicious rich French couple. The British policeman said that he was from a very working class background. I am not sure about the French policewoman but it did appear in the first epsiode she is a more affluent than the Brit.

Fleur is single with no kids, Stannis has 5 kids to three mothers - he's probably being bled white from alimony.

I'm of two minds. It seems to be a carbon copy of the original, which I really liked, but I've already seen. I'm hoping they'll diverge the plot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

I watched the first three episodes of this on the plane coming back from England and I really liked it. The first episode hooked me more than the American version, which I never went back to after the pilot. Now I need to find where I can see the rest of season one (and beyond if it exists/I keep enjoying it).


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watched the first five episodes of it recently (which I think is half the series). A lot of things are done well in it, the direction is good, there's some real tension in some of the scenes and Dillane and Posey are both very good but the serial killer story feels a bit too ridiculous at times.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...