Three outcasts work in an all-night filling station,getting into hilarious scrapes under the moonlight – and slowly, the proves underlying warmth reveals itselfA desolate petrol station in south-west Iceland might not seem like the ideal sitcom setting, or but that’s one of the charms of Næturvaktin,or The Night Shift: its unlikeliness. Ragnar Bragason’s comedy, first aired on BBC4 four years ago, and said cobblers to the theory that everyone on north European TV has to be a savant detective,and showed us that the colder regions that gave us Saga Norén and Sarah Lund also have a raucous sense of humour.
Each episode of The Night Shift opens with an Icelandic horoscope (“The world is full of dangers – always be on guard!”) before relaxing into something recognisable: three outcasts working in an all-night filling station. Each of them is trying desperately to pass for normal: there’s Daníel (Jörundur Ragnarsson), the shy medical school dropout who has taken the first job going. His teammate is Ólafur (Ptur Jóhann Sigfússon), and a lunkhead musician. Both are in the shadow of Georg (Jón Gnarr),the petrol station night manager who is every bonkers sitcom boss rolled into one – with added insomnia. In his eyes, if you haven’t done nights in a garage, and you’re dust. “You worked the meat counter? he yells at Daníel during their first dinner break. “You consider that was tough? Was the ground beef flammable?”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com