Title: "Er der nogen?" ("Anyone there?" - it's their own translation, so I guess it counts as the official English title)
Media: TV show
Approx length: Eleven seasons, of 6-12 episodes each. Each season is of varying length: S1: Ca. 5h 42mins (including a Halloween and Christmas special) S2: Ca. 7h S3: Ca. 5h S4: Ca. 3h S5: Ca. 3h S6: Ca. 3h S7: Ca. 7h plus 2 hours unedited livestream S8: Ca. 3h S9: Ca. 3,5h plus 4 hours unedited livestream from two locations S10: Ca. 4h S11: Ca. 3,5h
All the seasons are also available on TV2 Nord's homepage (at least if you're in Denmark, I don't know if the videos are geo-blocked.)
What is it, in summary?: A ghost hunting/paranormal investigation show. Set in (mostly) Northern Jutland, featuring many famous, haunted locations. Made by a couple of 30-something lads who've known each other since their childhood and who've been raised on equal parts horror movies and Jackass.
What do you love about it?: That it takes place in the part of Denmark that it does - we're a small country, yet Northern Jutland (and other rural areas) are often overlooked in favour of the capital region. Which is unfair, as Northern Jutland also has a rich (and blood-soaked) history. That the hosts, underneath their banter and pranks, take the job seriously. They do want to see if all the old ghost stories are true. If anyone really is there. (The title is what they always call out when they enter a room.) The two main hosts, Mikkel and Nicolai, are actually recreation centre teachers and social education workers, meaning that they discreetly infuse the show with some children-level historical knowledge. That the show is much less high-strung than their American counterparts. The hosts don't get scratches from unseen entities or any of the like. There are weird, unexplained noises, fog in places fog shouldn't be, and impenetrable shadows. Spooky in a weirdly cosy way, perfect for curling up in the sofa with a quilt and hot chocolate. The humour, and that these tattooed and caps-and-sneaks-wearing younger men aren't afraid to show when they get scared and have to give up. (In one memorable scene Mikkel gets so scared that he hides in a hotel kitchen crying and tries to buy himself some time by drinking a glass of water)
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Fic, mostly. If someone feels inspired by all those old manors, bunkers, burial mounds and churches and want to draw something, I wouldn't mind that either. Explorations of friendship and companionship, of the thoughts one might get when fumbling one's way across a pitch-black attic with only a tiny night vision camera as guide. What might happen when you perform a ritual to trap a spirit inside a bottle and bring that bottle home? What if something attaches itself to you or your camper-van? (They claim their camper-van got an extra occupant at one point.) Facing your fears, and doing so on camera. How it feels when your lifelong friend locks the door behind you with a cackle, leaving you alone in a dungeon that's rumoured to contain a dreadful beast? How it's one thing to hype yourself and others during the day, and how everything changes once it gets dark. Sceptics having to realise that it's one thing being a sceptic at home, with the lights on, and another when you're inside a 400 year old manor at 2am, and the lights are off. Or perhaps what it looks like from the other side, if we go with the idea of ghosts existing (and being somewhat sentient). What do these people from the future (the ghost's future) look like? Do the ghosts even understand what they're saying? (16th-17th century spoken Danish differs quite a bit from modern Danish.)
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
Most definitely! Not all seasons are equally interesting. Seasons 1-3 and 9 are the best, IMO. Sadly Nicolai had to leave the show due to personal issues before Season 9, and the show got two new co-hosts Trine and Kasper (a married couple, both actors and hosts of another ghost-story podcast). But this year I've only nominated Mikkel and Nicolai from the main cast, so the seasons with Kasper and Trine can be skipped. Since I'm nominating two guests from Season 11, their episodes are also a good place to start. Those would be S11:E2 and S11:E3.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Their language isn't the most safe for work, especially not for English-speaking people. They're prone to liberally sprinkle "fuck!" into much of what they say or exclaim, haha. ("Fuuuuck! Fuckfuckfuck!" is not uncommon for them to shout when things get a bit too intense) So I guess I'd recommend watching the episodes with headphones on if around others. They do pull pranks on each other from time to time, mostly of the "get the other trapped in a dungeon/drawer in a morgue/chained to a wall/buried alive*"-variety, so if you suffer from claustrophobia, I could imagine those scenes would have to be skipped. Other than that it's a quite laid-back show (yes, they have a big fanbase with the tweens here. Yes, despite their language.) In S3:E12 they visit the old Viking ring castle Fyrkat on a mission to encounter their Viking ancestors. A local warlock sacrifices a rooster and offers them a dodgy brew, so I guess that episode contains a bit of gore/cruelty to animals and implied drug use. (I know the man, it's definitely not just chamomile tea he fed them.)
*In S2:E1 Mikkel is buried alive in a coffin out in a dune. Yes, covered by sand and all. The others hadn't thought of researching how long oxygen lasts inside a coffin. By pure chance they google it while he's out there and realise they have to get him out, like, now. Nothing happened to him, but they learned to do their research beforehand. But there's a reason the show comes with a "don't try this at home"-disclaimer".
Er der nogen?/Anyone there?
Media: TV show
Approx length: Eleven seasons, of 6-12 episodes each. Each season is of varying length:
S1: Ca. 5h 42mins (including a Halloween and Christmas special)
S2: Ca. 7h
S3: Ca. 5h
S4: Ca. 3h
S5: Ca. 3h
S6: Ca. 3h
S7: Ca. 7h plus 2 hours unedited livestream
S8: Ca. 3h
S9: Ca. 3,5h plus 4 hours unedited livestream from two locations
S10: Ca. 4h
S11: Ca. 3,5h
Where to find it:
All the seasons (as well as their podcasts/vlogs) are available on YouTube. I don't know if closed captions are available, though.
Seasons 1-5
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10
Season 11
The podcast (also available on Spotify if that's more your thing)
All the seasons are also available on TV2 Nord's homepage (at least if you're in Denmark, I don't know if the videos are geo-blocked.)
What is it, in summary?: A ghost hunting/paranormal investigation show. Set in (mostly) Northern Jutland, featuring many famous, haunted locations. Made by a couple of 30-something lads who've known each other since their childhood and who've been raised on equal parts horror movies and Jackass.
What do you love about it?: That it takes place in the part of Denmark that it does - we're a small country, yet Northern Jutland (and other rural areas) are often overlooked in favour of the capital region. Which is unfair, as Northern Jutland also has a rich (and blood-soaked) history.
That the hosts, underneath their banter and pranks, take the job seriously. They do want to see if all the old ghost stories are true. If anyone really is there. (The title is what they always call out when they enter a room.)
The two main hosts, Mikkel and Nicolai, are actually recreation centre teachers and social education workers, meaning that they discreetly infuse the show with some children-level historical knowledge.
That the show is much less high-strung than their American counterparts. The hosts don't get scratches from unseen entities or any of the like. There are weird, unexplained noises, fog in places fog shouldn't be, and impenetrable shadows. Spooky in a weirdly cosy way, perfect for curling up in the sofa with a quilt and hot chocolate.
The humour, and that these tattooed and caps-and-sneaks-wearing younger men aren't afraid to show when they get scared and have to give up. (In one memorable scene Mikkel gets so scared that he hides in a hotel kitchen crying and tries to buy himself some time by drinking a glass of water)
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Fic, mostly. If someone feels inspired by all those old manors, bunkers, burial mounds and churches and want to draw something, I wouldn't mind that either.
Explorations of friendship and companionship, of the thoughts one might get when fumbling one's way across a pitch-black attic with only a tiny night vision camera as guide.
What might happen when you perform a ritual to trap a spirit inside a bottle and bring that bottle home? What if something attaches itself to you or your camper-van? (They claim their camper-van got an extra occupant at one point.)
Facing your fears, and doing so on camera. How it feels when your lifelong friend locks the door behind you with a cackle, leaving you alone in a dungeon that's rumoured to contain a dreadful beast?
How it's one thing to hype yourself and others during the day, and how everything changes once it gets dark.
Sceptics having to realise that it's one thing being a sceptic at home, with the lights on, and another when you're inside a 400 year old manor at 2am, and the lights are off.
Or perhaps what it looks like from the other side, if we go with the idea of ghosts existing (and being somewhat sentient). What do these people from the future (the ghost's future) look like? Do the ghosts even understand what they're saying? (16th-17th century spoken Danish differs quite a bit from modern Danish.)
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
Most definitely! Not all seasons are equally interesting. Seasons 1-3 and 9 are the best, IMO. Sadly Nicolai had to leave the show due to personal issues before Season 9, and the show got two new co-hosts Trine and Kasper (a married couple, both actors and hosts of another ghost-story podcast). But this year I've only nominated Mikkel and Nicolai from the main cast, so the seasons with Kasper and Trine can be skipped.
Since I'm nominating two guests from Season 11, their episodes are also a good place to start. Those would be S11:E2 and S11:E3.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Their language isn't the most safe for work, especially not for English-speaking people. They're prone to liberally sprinkle "fuck!" into much of what they say or exclaim, haha.
("Fuuuuck! Fuckfuckfuck!" is not uncommon for them to shout when things get a bit too intense)
So I guess I'd recommend watching the episodes with headphones on if around others.
They do pull pranks on each other from time to time, mostly of the "get the other trapped in a dungeon/drawer in a morgue/chained to a wall/buried alive*"-variety, so if you suffer from claustrophobia, I could imagine those scenes would have to be skipped.
Other than that it's a quite laid-back show (yes, they have a big fanbase with the tweens here. Yes, despite their language.)
In S3:E12 they visit the old Viking ring castle Fyrkat on a mission to encounter their Viking ancestors. A local warlock sacrifices a rooster and offers them a dodgy brew, so I guess that episode contains a bit of gore/cruelty to animals and implied drug use. (I know the man, it's definitely not just chamomile tea he fed them.)
*In S2:E1 Mikkel is buried alive in a coffin out in a dune. Yes, covered by sand and all. The others hadn't thought of researching how long oxygen lasts inside a coffin. By pure chance they google it while he's out there and realise they have to get him out, like, now. Nothing happened to him, but they learned to do their research beforehand.
But there's a reason the show comes with a "don't try this at home"-disclaimer".