Great Danes

Dracula star Claes Bang and The Killing’s Sofie Grabol discuss what it’s like to be Denmark’s hottest exports

Sofie Grabol, it could be said, was the person who kickstarted Britain’s love affair with all things Danish, with her character – Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lund, and her trademark jumper – in The Killing, which was first shown in the UK in 2011. There were three critically acclaimed series, and the drama sold all over the world, but was particularly embraced by the British.

Two years after it ended in 2012, Grabol, 51, made her English-language debut on stage for the National Theatre, as Margaret of Denmark in The James Plays. She was also the mayor in Fortitude, set in the Arctic, alongside Michael Gambon, Dennis Quaid and Stanley Tucci. Next year, she plays a Danish dentist (more enchanting than it sounds) in the BBC adaptation of David Nicholls’s Us.

Claes Bang became an international film star at the age of 50, when 2017’s The Square – in which he played the curator of a museum in Stockholm – won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. In the fifth and final season of US series The Affair, he plays the actor Sasha Mann, love interest to Helen (Maura Tierney). He was also in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, alongside Claire Foy.

But you are about to remake his acquaintance on New Year’s Day, when he stars in the three-part Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss adaptation of Dracula. Next year, Bang is in several films, including The Bay of Silence, alongside Brian Cox and Olga Kurylenko, The Burnt Orange Heresy with Donald Sutherland, Mick Jagger and Elizabeth Debicki, and Lyrebird with Guy Pearce.

Both Grabol and Bang have lived in London for work (both chose Notting Hill because it looked nice in the Richard Curtis film), but these days Denmark is home. Grabol has two teenage children; Bang has two adult stepchildren with his wife Liz (a friend of Grabol’s) and is about to become a step-grandfather for the second time. Unusually for Danish actors, they have never worked together, but to celebrate their British success, Radio Times brought Bang and Grabol together in Copenhagen, for a coffee and a chat about Dracula, drama and all things Danish.

SOFIE GRABOL Before we begin, I need to give you the opposite of advice: I “disadvise” you… No, I warn you about swearing, Claes. It’s complicated because obviously all Danes swear – it’s not a sin – but they have different rules for it in the UK. Nobody told me that you can’t swear until after 9pm on TV in Britain – did you know this?

CLAES BANG No, but I’m never going to listen – I’m going to swear as much as I want. If I ever do press, I tell them, “I swear a lot and I’m not going to change it. So, if you don’t want it, just don’t talk to me.” That’s just me. They say f*** all the time in Britain! And then I go on a panel and say it three times and Steven Moffat [co-writer of Dracula] gives me a look. I had a feeling I said it once or twice too many times…

SOFIE That is one of the advantages of being the visitor, the tourist, which we are – you get so much freedom, because everyone goes, “Oh, it’s the Danish way, how charming.” I always felt really embraced in the UK. All the traits that you would maybe be embarrassed about in Denmark – like our rudeness… What British people tell me is, “You’re very direct”. When I’ve been in the UK and I come back to Denmark, I miss the politeness.

CLAES Yes, me too. I feel really, really welcome in London. They have a much longer tradition of welcoming strangers into the country than we do because they’ve had these colonies. It’s so diverse. For me, Britain is the football, the music, the Queen, the pubs…

SOFIE The love of tradition is also something very British. In Denmark, we’re a bit embarrassed of taking pride in our traditions.

CLAES People are wary of looking too conservative.

SOFIE Yes, I love the way Britain celebrates this – they’ve got shows and plays that have been on for decades. Doctor Who…

CLAES Ab Fab! I want Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders to invite me on. I’ll come as Dracula – I’ll come any way they want. I’ll come naked if they want me to!

SOFIE Ab Fab was a huge institution in Denmark. My appearance on it [Grabol had a cameo in the 2011 Christmas episode] was surreal, because it was the very first thing I did in the UK. I remember just staring at Joanna and Jennifer. I’ve had so many moments in the UK where I’ve had to pinch myself and that was the very first one. I have been so lovingly received. Also, going to the UK to work came right after a whole year of cancer treatment, so to me it was almost like a rebirth – which sounds cheesy, but…

British drama is a piece of cake

SOFIE As an actor, and maybe as a Dane, we have always admired that understated British way of acting, like Olivia Colman in The Crown – I’ve fallen in love with her. That drama is like a beautiful cake, you almost don’t dare to eat it because it’s so beautiful. It’s the British way of telling stories, trusting the audience to be smart. You don’t have to spell everything out.

CLAES They allow room for the viewer’s fantasy. Colman in The Crown is a good example – that stiff upper lip thing. You can read so much into it.

SOFIE I think that’s one of the reasons why the Brits liked The Killing so much – the understated language of it. It was a success in many other countries, but nowhere like in the UK. And in the new drama I’m in on the BBC next year, Us, with Tom Hollander, you have these long, really great dialogues, which is rare on TV. It’s not plot-based, it’s all about character – like a British Woody Allen.

CLAES The thing that convinced me to do Dracula right away was the brilliant writing. I didn’t know anything about Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat until somebody told me they wrote Sherlock and then obviously I thought, “Oh my Lord,” but I was very sceptical when my agent said to me that they wanted to do Dracula, because there are so many amazing Draculas out there – does the world need one more? But what they have done with this Dracula is something new.

SOFIE Were you nervous because the role is so iconic and everyone has an image of what he should be – or was it thrilling?

CLAES It’s two different things – because it’s obviously thrilling. But before we started shooting, I was terrified, because it is very iconic. He’s got his own emoji! I remember the first read-through we did and there were at least 100 people there. And I’m thinking, “I don’t know what’s going on and I might get sacked if I don’t do this right.” I was scared out of my wits. It went quite well and people were laughing, but I was like, “I don’t dare take my eyes off the page…”

SOFIE I had the same experience on Fortitude – I felt like it was a meeting at the UN. There were so many people there – Michael Gambon, Stanley Tucci – I thought I was going to die! It’s not the same here in Denmark because it’s a small country and it’s more familiar – it’s like a family dinner, with often the same faces.

CLAES It is cut-throat in Britain. It’s just a feeling when you’re there that…

SOFIE You can be replaced.

CLAES Yes – just like this [snaps fingers].

SOFIE I was surprised, when I started working in London, to sense that, especially in the theatre, the competition to get a role – some actors were working for free! And then they have a job somewhere else where they make their money. You don’t find that in Denmark.

Danish craftmanship

CLAES There’s no one route into acting in Denmark, there are a whole lot of brilliant ways – like you, who never went through that drama school system.

SOFIE There isn’t one way. But we have three drama schools that are state-run.

CLAES All education in Denmark is free.

SOFIE You get paid, also, to get educated.

CLAES Because they want you to concentrate on your education, instead of working to get through it.

SOFIE In Denmark, obviously some come from more privileged backgrounds and some don’t…

CLAES But it is a more flat [social] structure.

SOFIE And we are now starting to have some really good, constructive focus on certain groups in society not being represented and how they should be more represented.

CLAES You are much more diverse in the UK.

Coming together for Christmas

SOFIE In Denmark we dance around the tree in the middle of our living rooms.

CLAES In the UK, you have your Christmas tree in the corner, so you can’t dance around it. So, here’s some advice to you Brits – put your tree in the middle of your room, and then you can hold each other’s hands and sing.

BOTH [Singing] Nu er det jul igen…

SOFIE The whole nation sings a song at new year, too. Everyone turns on their telly at midnight and watches our equivalent of Big Ben, the clock on Copenhagen Town Hall.

CLAES And at the last strike of the clock…

SOFIE We kiss everyone in the room!

BOTH [Singing] Vær velkommen, Herrens ar…

SOFIE Be welcome, the Lord’s new year!

Radio Times