Pick of the week
The Promised Land
The Danish title, Bastarden (The Bastard), gives a flavour of the class conflict embedded in this fierce, fact-inspired period drama. Mads Mikkelsen plays self-made army captain Ludwig Kahlen, who has a scheme to turn 18th-century Jutland’s wild heath into viable arable land. Despite the king’s blessing, he faces violent opposition from sadistic local noble Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), who uses his power and wealth to destroy the upstart. It’s basically a western, with Kahlen an archetype along the lines of Gary Cooper and Clint Eastwood: principled and stubborn but softened by Romany orphan Anmai Mus (Melina Hagberg) and Amanda Collin’s runaway servant Ann Barbara.
Saturday 24 August, 9pm, BBC Four
