Nordisk Film Production and TV2 Denmark prepare mega series about N.F.S. Grundtvig

NOTE: This article is a republication- Source: Nordisk Film & TV Fond (by Annika Pham).

The event series in development, is based on a screenplay by Maya Ilsøe, credited for Margrethe-Queen of the North and the multi-awarded series The Legacy.

One of Denmark’s most influential figures in Danish history, N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783–1872) was a theologian, historian, writer, as important at home as his contemporaries - writer Hans Christian Andersen and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard - although not as well-known internationally.

His educational writings in particular led to the ground-breaking folk high-school movement, whose influence and legacy extended far beyond national borders.

The series -planned as a 12x57’ multi-season show - is based on extensive research from Ilsøe, whose earlier exploration of the illustrious Dane for her 2009 Christmas calendar series Pagten (The Pact), earned her the N.F.S. Grundtvig Prize.

The story is set in 1801, when Copenhagen was a city of 100,000 inhabitants, with rampant poverty and social inequality. "The majority of Danes were considered uneducated, lazy and bordering on stupid. But Grundtvig was aware that the peasantry - sizeable at the time - had great potential”, explains Ilsøe for whom Grundtvig is “the story of the man who gave the people a voice.”

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