10 Best European Shows If You're Tired of Hollywood Cliches
Are you ready to travel around Europe?
It seems that American shows have taken over the serial culture – new projects are released every month on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, and MAX. In the maelstrom of Hollywood shows, you may not notice a huge number of truly unique European shows.
If you are already bored with the gray fall life, lack of travel and lack of thrills, this list is especially for you.
1. Pagan Peak – Austria & Germany
Pagan Peak is similar to the cult Danish-Swedish The Bridge, only this time a corpse, neatly cut in half, is found on the border between Germany and Austria. The trademark duo of investigators is also present – the gloomy Gedeon and the positive blonde Ellie.
One of the unusual features here is the occultism: the madman stages each murder as a terrible pagan ritual, with signs, symbols and references to ancient customs everywhere. So, unlike the numerous rip-offs of the Scandinavian hit, Pagan Peak looks great and in no way secondary, as the classic formula of The Bridge becomes even more mysterious and sinister.
2. Hooked – Finland
What do you know about Finnish TV shows? If nothing at all, then the crime series Hooked is for you.
It is a masterfully conceived psychological drama about a drug squad policeman who, after many years, is reunited with his former drug-addicted girlfriend, who offers to become his informant in order to catch a drug dealer. Everything would be fine if not for one thing – the woman is the mother of the main character's child.
3. Look What You've Done – Spain
Drama written and performed by the comedian Berto Romero, popular in his native Spain. A rather short show (only six twenty-minute episodes in three seasons), but very event-filled – like any new parent's life.
Berto and Sandra experience all the joys and horrors of fatherhood and motherhood: from pregnancy and birth to breastfeeding and endless diaper changes. All of this is played out with irony, so even those who profess to be completely childfree will not be bored.
4. Devils – Italy
An Italian show set mainly in London, with one of the main characters played by American Patrick Dempsey. He is one of the "devils" – bankers involved in major financial frauds that threaten the global economic crisis.
One day, a talented broker, an employee of Dempsey's character's bank, finds out about the fraud. Now he must decide whether to fight with his powerful boss for the sake of the country's interests or make a choice in favor of the bank's interests.
5. Valeria – Spain
Four friends go to parties, share their secrets, and sense a midlife crisis approaching. At the center of the plot is a woman named Valeria who is desperate to write a book. However, she begins to doubt her talent and her own marriage.
During this difficult time, Valeria is surrounded by her friends Lola, Carmen and Nerea, each of whom is experiencing her own personal drama. Valeria can be called Sex and the City in Spanish, which of course has its own author and its own Mr. Big, and instead of noisy New York, there is sunny Madrid.
6. Ragnarok – Norway
Teenagers Magne and Laurits and their mother arrive in a picturesque town in Norway. Their family left many years ago after the death of their father, and now they have to settle down in their old place again.
Very soon, mysterious things start to happen: Magne discovers that he has a superpower, and one of the rich families hides many secrets. The fantasy show attracts not only by its breathtaking landscapes, but also by its modern interpretation of Scandinavian mythology.
7. The Returned – France
One of the most unusual French shows that didn't get the attention it deserved. Strange events begin to occur in a small French town: on the same day, people of different ages return to their homes, unaware that they died a year ago.
Relatives will have to feel the familiar grief again. The Returned is not frightening because people rise from their graves. Fear is caused by the horror that lurks within family relationships.
8. The Valhalla Murders – Iceland
The Valhalla Murders is the first Icelandic show from Netflix. The plot is based on a real case from the 1940s. A detective returns to Iceland after years of working in Norway to help solve the country's first serial killer case. During the investigation it turns out that the madman is connected to a monstrous crime that occurred 35 years ago in an orphanage for boys called Valhalla.
This story, set in the cool colors of the Reykjavik landscape, will appeal to those who are tired of clichéd detective stories and want to see something completely new.
9. The Rain – Denmark
A post-apocalyptic show in which the end of the world is caused by raindrops, which contain the deadly virus that killed almost everyone on Earth. However, an employee of a corporation managed to hide his children in a bunker while he decided to stay on the surface and save all of humanity.
Six years later, the brother and sister decide to get out, and find their father. Unlike other similar apocalypse shows, the survivors we follow are ordinary teenagers. Trying to stay alive, they grow up, discover new feelings and learn about a new world.
10. Ad Vitam – France
The show from director and screenwriter Thomas Cailley is a fantasy about the foreseeable future, when humanity has finally learned the secret of eternal life and called it Regeneration.
As the world celebrates the 169th birthday of the world's oldest woman, a group of teenagers commit suicide. This is not an isolated case, so 120-year-old detective Darius Asram, with the help of a teenage girl, tries to solve the mysterious case.