Næturvaktin

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Television series
Original title Næturvaktin
Country of production Iceland
original language Icelandic
year 2007
Production
company		 Saga movie
length 25 minutes
Episodes 12 in 1 season
genre Comedy
Theme music Kyrrlátt kvöld
Director Ragnar Bragason
script Jóhann Ævar Grímsson , Jón Gnarr , Jörundur Ragnarsson , Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon , Ragnar Bragason
First broadcast September 16, 2007 on Stöð 2
occupation

Main actor:

Supporting cast:

Næturvaktin ( The night shift ) is an Icelandic comedy - television series . It represents the first part of a trilogy that was continued with the series Dagvaktin and Fangavaktin . The series was first broadcast on Stöð 2 in 2007. In the same year she won the Icelandic Edda Prize in the category Best TV Series .

The trilogy ended in 2009 with the feature film Bjarnfreðarson , which was very successful in Iceland and was named "Film of the Year" by the Eddas .

background

Næturvaktin describes the lives of three employees at a petrol station on Laugavegur in Reykjavík . The main character is Georg Bjarnfreðarson ( Jón Gnarr ), the eccentric communist supervisor of the night shift. Ólafur Ragnar ( Pétur Jóhann Sigfússson ) is a simple employee of a benevolent nature. Daníel ( Jörundur Ragnarsson ), who dropped out of medical school , starts work at the gas station at the beginning of the series.

Under the thumb of the power-hungry Georg, Ólafur and Daníel feel compelled to engage in unusual, nonsensical and sometimes dangerous activities. For example, in one episode, Georg staged a raid on the gas station as an exercise, in which Ólafur had to take on the role of the attacker. Georg sprays antifreeze in his eyes and wrestles him to the ground. When the gas station area manager appears at that moment, Georg comes up with his typical excuse, “That was just a misunderstanding”.

characters

Georg Bjarnfreðarson

Georg Bjarnfreðarson is the eccentric manager of the night shift at the Shell petrol station on Laugavegur. He is a power-hungry communist who idealizes the Soviet Union , but still lives with his mother. Georg's enthusiasm for Sweden and Swedish culture is also striking . Allegedly he has five academic degrees, which he likes to list: in psychology , sociology , pedagogy , political science , as well as a teaching diploma . He loves bureaucracy and enjoys straining the nerves of his subordinates with immense efforts in dealing with trivial matters, for example by staging a secret ballot to decide how to use the vacation fund. He insists on communicating via walkie-talkies and uses it to address Ólafur and Daníel as “employees in the square”, another of his signature phrases. He cannot accept defeat under any circumstances, not even in the stupidest of situations. Georg has an overweight eleven-year-old son, Flemming Geir, whom he neglects and who steals chocolate in the storage room of the gas station.

Ólafur Ragnar Hannesson

Ólafur Ragnar Hannesson is the gas station's longest-serving employee. He would like to be a band manager and tries again and again to organize gigs for his friends from the band Sólin ("The Sun"). However, the band got quickly enough of his organizational ineptitude and his total lack of knowledge of the music industry that they let him down as a manager. He becomes the target of Georg's ridicule when he pursues his musical ambitions by taking part in a casting show . Willing but gullible, Ólafur often gets into trouble, for example as the victim of an advance payment fraudster from Nigeria or when he takes a Chinese dietary supplement that is supposed to build his muscles but leads to lactation . He is submissive and obeys Georg's instructions without contradiction, no matter how unusual they are.

Daníel Sævarsson

Daníel Sævarsson has dropped out of medical school and starts working at the gas station at the beginning of the series. He's shy, introverted and doesn't quite know what to do with his life. Daníel suffers from anxiety and depression and has severed all ties to his family. In contrast to Ólafur, he recognizes the absurdity of Georg's decisions and often contradicts him when something seems unfair to him. His ex-girlfriend and family members appear on the series several times trying to convince him to go back to college and become a doctor like his father and grandfather. He is intelligent and often able to shame Georg, for example when he realizes that a customer attacked by Georg as a drunk is in reality the victim of a stroke . To Georg's annoyance, Daníel is also a much better chess player. Daníel suffers from mood swings and tends to storm out of the room when Georg has made him angry. The young Ylfa Dís, who works at the kiosk next to the gas station, seems to be interested in him, but Daníel remains cautious at first.

music

The title track is the song Kyrrlátt kvöld ("Quiet Evening") by the Icelandic punk band Utangarðsmenn . The song Jón pönkari ("Jón the Punk") by Bubbi Morthens (a former member of Utangarðsmenn) closes each episode and is used in all series of the trilogy, while Kyrrlátt kvöld can only be heard in the first series.

International broadcast and adaptations

In 2011 Næturvaktin was broadcast on the British broadcaster BBC Four as part of its series Wonders of Iceland under the title The Night Shift . A remake of the series with Norwegian actors was produced in Norway in 2012 under the title Nattskiftet . In 2010 there were also plans for a US remake that would have been the first US adaptation of an Icelandic series, but has not yet been realized.

Since July 31, 2018, the German series Tanken - more than Super , which is heavily based on Næturvaktin, has been running on ZDFneo .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edduverðlaunin 2007 ( Icelandic ) Íslenska kvikmynda- og sjónvarpsakademían. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  2. ↑ Stuart Heritage: A real blockbuster ... in Iceland ( English ) In: The Guardian . February 9, 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ Edduverðlaunin 2010 ( Icelandic ) Íslenska kvikmynda- og sjónvarpsakademían. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  4. ^ The Night Shift ( English ) BBC Four. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  5. ↑ Nattskiftet ( Norwegian ) In: film front . Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  6. ↑ Icelandic Hit TV Series Americanized - Iceland Review Online. July 16, 2011, accessed May 19, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Jana Bärenwaldt: "Refueling - more than super": ZDFneo sitcom is more than super-bad. In: fernsehserien.de. Accessed July 31, 2018 (German).