Innovative crime drama aims to 'bring Europe together'

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s largest alliance of public service broadcasters, will launch a new cross-border TV crime series at the end of February, in a move designed to help "bring together" a divided continent - The Team is a €10 million television crime series, part funded by the EU’s Creative Europe Media programme, that crosses national borders.

In The Team,  a 'Joint Intelligence Team' is brought together to solve the murders of three young women in Belgium, Denmark and Germany. The series also attempts to tackle the linguistic complexity of Europe: each character uses their native language when in his or her own context, for example, Flemish in Antwerp, German in Berlin and Danish in Copenhagen.

The show is also subtitled in English and, when the characters have scenes together, they speak to each other in English.

Based on the work of Europol, the law enforcement agency of the EU, the series is the brainchild of the EBU, the alliance of public broadcasters that produces the Eurovision Song Contest, and assisted by those who put together the hit Danish political drama Borgen.

A two-episodes pre-screening took place in Brussels, the capital of the EU, which, according to the EBU, is no coincidence. It will be shown in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden, the six broadcasters involved in the production.

The EBU says the series' launch comes against a backdrop of important policy developments at EU level which will "shape the future" of Europe's audiovisual sector. Co-produced by eight media organizations from six member states and shot on locations across the continent, the series' script is directly inspired by Europol working methods.

EBU Media Director Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser said: "This exciting new crime series shows that television, like the Eurovision Song Contest, can help bring Europeans together.

"Series like Borgen brought global acclaim and showed that language is no barrier to the international success of 'Made in Europe' fiction and The Team adds something new to the mix. It is the first genuine 'European' series of its kind."

Frankenhaeuser added: “There is a solid history of co-production in the genre, but this is the first time European expertise has been shared to such an extent. The broadcasters started out with an audacious experiment which shows we can expect more great pan-European co-productions in the future.”

EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre said: "It is an ambitious,collaborative project and the success of a series like The Team shows that when public service media and Eurovision come together, they can produce something fantastic."

Click here to watch EU Reporter's launch video of The Team.

Share this article: