This is my favorite TV series ever, a Danish series called Matador.

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In the center of the narrative are two families. In the image above you can see one of them, the Varnas family. (Sorry, I can't reproduce the special Danish spelling of that name.) This family, consisting of Hans Christian, Maud, Ulrik and Regitze, is the finest, richest family of the smallish Danish town where they live. Hans Christian's family has owned the bank of the town for generations. (By the way, this series takes place between the 1920s and the 1940s.)

Into this small town comes a young and almost penniless widower, Mads Andersen, to seek his fortune for himself and for his young son.

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Mads rents a room for himself and his son from the "pig dealer" of the town. This man is kind and charming but utterly childish, and you expect him to crack jokes about farting pigs at any time.

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The pig dealer is rich, and his daughter falls in love with Mads. They marry, and suddenly Mads has access to a lot of money. He starts various businesses in the town, eventually opening his own bank, challenging the Varnas family for the position as the finest and richest family in town.

Mads, who now calls himself Mads Skjern, and Hans Christian Varnas become bitter rivals. Hans Christian is an old-fashioned, laidback, mild, somewhat spoilt aristocratic sort of person, while Mads is a hungry, eager, slightly ruthless go-getter.

To me, the best thing about this series is the fact that Mads has a brother, Kristen, and Hans Christian has a sister-in-law, Elisabeth, and Kristen and Elisabeth fall in love with each other. They have so much in common. They love music, they both play an instrument, they love to go to concerts (well, violin concerts and the like wink ), they love to read, and they take an interest in politics. None of them has ever met another person who has shared so many of their interests. But, alas, their families are bitter enemies! And Kristen is emotionally as well as financially dependent on his brother, and Elisabeth is emotionally as well as financially dependent on her sister. (And Elisabeth is five years older than Kristen, too...)

Watching these two middle-aged "Romeo and Juliet" characters fight for their love over a period of about twenty years was just totally gripping.

Elisabeth and Kristen rule!!!

Ann