Danish series on Netflix (and how to learn from them)

The Danish Netflix series most worth watching are The Chestnut Man, The Rain, Borgen – Power & Glory, Secrets We Keep, Baby Fever and, at Christmas, Elves. Below you get a short guide to each, how hard the Danish is, and a simple way to learn real Danish from them. One warning first: Netflix often starts these series dubbed into English. Switch the audio to Danish, or you hear none of it.

Which Danish series are on Netflix?

These are Danish series made for or shown on Netflix. The catalogue changes from country to country, so search for the title in your own Netflix before you plan a weekend around it. I have added the Danish title where it is different, because that is the one Danes use when you talk about it.

The Chestnut Man (Kastanjemanden)

Crime in Copenhagen, built on Søren Sveistrup’s novel: a killer leaves small figures made of chestnuts at the crime scenes. Dark, fast and very bingeable, and a second season has followed. The Danish: police talk, short questions, a lot of mumbling in bad light. Hard for beginners, good from the middle level.

The Rain

Netflix’s first Danish original series, three seasons from 2018 to 2020. A virus in the rain wipes out most of Scandinavia, and two siblings come out of a bunker years later. The Danish: young people talking, short lines and many repeated phrases. One of the easier ones to follow with Danish subtitles.

Borgen – Power & Glory

The new season of the political drama Borgen (the original ran from 2010 to 2013), made with the Danish broadcaster DR. Birgitte Nyborg is now foreign minister, and the story is about oil in Greenland. The Danish: the hardest on this list. Politicians and journalists talk fast and in long sentences. Watch it when the other series feel easy.

Secrets We Keep (Reservatet)

A six-part crime drama from 2025. A Filipino au pair disappears from a rich neighbourhood north of Copenhagen, and her neighbour starts asking questions. The Danish: clear, middle-class Danish in kitchens and living rooms, with some English. Good for hearing how Danes talk at home.

Baby Fever (Skruk)

A comedy drama about a fertility doctor who, after a drunken night, inseminates herself with her ex-boyfriend’s sperm. Two seasons. The Danish: everyday Copenhagen speech, jokes and quick replies. Hard to follow at first, but very close to what you hear at work and at parties.

Elves (Nisser)

A six-episode Christmas horror series from 2021. A family on holiday on a small island finds out that the local nisser are not the friendly Christmas elves from the shop windows. The Danish: family conversation and a lot of whispering. Short, so a good first series to watch in Danish in December.

Also Danish

• Equinox (2020): a mystery about a school class that disappeared in 1999. One season.
• Chosen (2022): a science fiction mystery in a small town hit by a meteor. Six episodes.
• Copenhagen Cowboy (2023): by Nicolas Winding Refn. Slow, stylish and with very little dialogue, so not much use for learning.

How hard is the Danish? A quick overview

This is my own judgement as a Danish teacher, not an official level. What makes a series hard is not the words, it is the speed and the mumbling. Danish swallows sounds, so even fluent speakers of other Nordic languages switch on subtitles.

How to learn Danish from Netflix series

Watching a whole season with English subtitles is nice, but you will not learn much from it. This works better, and it takes ten extra minutes per episode:

1. Danish audio, always. Open the audio and subtitles menu and choose Danish as the audio. Netflix often picks the English dub by default.
2. Episode one with English subtitles. Get the story and the names. You cannot learn from something you do not follow.
3. Then Danish subtitles, if your Netflix offers them. Now you hear and read the same words, and you start to see how much Danes leave out when they speak.
4. Pick one short scene and repeat it. Two minutes. Pause after each line and say it out loud, at the same speed. This is called shadowing, and it is the part that trains your mouth, not just your ears.
5. Write down five phrases per episode. Not single words: whole small sentences you could use tomorrow.

Phrases you will hear in every Danish crime series

Crime series repeat the same short lines again and again, which makes them good listening practice. Tap to hear them:

• Hvor var du i går aftes?Where were you last night?
• Det ved jeg ikke.I don’t know.
• Jeg har ikke gjort noget.I haven’t done anything.
• Hvad laver du her?What are you doing here?
• Hvad sker der?What’s going on?
• Vi skal tale sammen.We need to talk.
• Kom nu!Come on!

Notice how short det ved jeg ikke sounds in the series: often just “de ve-j ik”. That is normal spoken Danish, and the pronunciation guide explains why sounds disappear.

Questions people ask

What is the new Danish series on Netflix?

New Danish titles arrive several times a year, and this page will not always have the newest. In Netflix, search for “Danish” and sort by new, or look at Netflix’s own Top 10 page for Denmark, which shows what Danes are watching this week.

What are the top 10 Danish series on Netflix right now?

That list changes every week. Netflix publishes the Top 10 for each country on its Tudum site, and the Denmark list shows the most watched series there, Danish and foreign.

What are some of the best Danish TV series?

On Netflix: The Chestnut Man, Borgen and Secrets We Keep. Outside Netflix, Danes would add The Killing (Forbrydelsen) and The Bridge (Broen), the series that made Danish crime TV famous abroad.

Can you learn Danish just by watching TV?

Not on its own. Series train your ear and give you phrases, but you also need to speak and get feedback. Use series as the fun part, next to a course and real conversations.