The Killing and the Loss of Innocence: The European Long-form Dead Girl Show

Today, the Danish TV serial Forbrydelsen (The Killing, 2007-12) is regarded a game-changer on the European and the global TV market. Especially since the broadcast of the first season on BBC4 in 2011, the series‘ aesthetic influence has been observable in many guises across the world, including various European TV traditions. Today, several series produced for global TV institutions tap into the stylistics and narrative devices instigated in The Killing, while Nordic Noir as a stylistic expression has become one among many international aesthetic variations on the global TV market. The most conspicuous plot-device employed by producers influenced by The Killing has been 'the dead girl show‘, a trope sometimes also referred to as 'the missing children topos‘ that revolves around the investigation of missing and murdered children and teenagers (cf. Bolin 2018, Wilson 2003). This chapter outlines how The Killing has influenced European and global TV aesthetics and how the result may be regarded as a shared transcultural trend in TV storytelling.