Rita (TV series)

Rita is a Danish comedy-drama TV series on TV 2. It premiered in February 2012 and has run for three seasons, in Denmark and internationally on Netflix.

The series centers around Rita Madsen (Mille Dinesen), a headstrong and unconventional teacher and single mother. It received generally favorable response from critics, including Henrik Palle in Politiken who commented that the series "works really well with some characters who actually look like people". The series uses locations in and near the former school campus at the National Innovative Centre (SPF) in Islev, Rødovre. The theme song is "Speak Out Now" by the Danish musician Oh Land.

A spin-off of the series called Hjørdis debuted in May 2015. It was announced prior to, but aired after, Rita's third season The spin-off takes place in the same school as 'Rita', focusing on her colleague Hjordis' attempt to organize a school play. Mille Dinesen did not return for that series

Mille Dinesen received an award at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in the category Best Female Lead. At the festival, the series received a total of six nominations, including the producers Karoline Leth and Jesper Morthorst and the screenwriter Christian Torpe for Best International Producer and Best European producer of a TV drama series.

A US remake was planned with a pilot episode filmed in 2013, starring Anna Gunn, but it was not picked up as a series.

A Dutch remake called Tessa has been made and aired in November 2015 on NPO 1. It followed the storyline of Rita Season one, with only few changes. The lead role was played by Thekla Reuten. There won't be a second series.

Casting

Actor	Character	Notes
Mille Dinesen	Rita Madsen	School teacher
Carsten Bjørnlund	Rasmus	Headmaster
Ellen Hillingsø	Helle	Counsellor
Lise Baastrup	Hjørdis	School teacher
Nikolaj Groth	Jeppe Madsen	Rita's youngest son
Morten Vang Simonsen	Ricco Madsen	Rita's eldest son
Sara Hjort Ditlevsen	Molly Madsen	Rita's daughter
Lykke Sand Michelsen	Bitten Dyrehave	Ricco's spouse
Carsten Norgaard	Tom Dyrehave	Bitten's father
Lotte Andersen	Jette Dyrehave	Bitten's mother
Lea Maria Høyer Stensnaes	Rosa	Student
Lisbet Lundquist	Lillebeth Schmidt Kronborg	Rita's mother
Peter Gantzler	Niels Madsen	Father of Rita's children
Alexandre Willaume-Jantzen	Jonas	School teacher
Tommy Kenter	Erik	School teacher
Laura Bach	Gitte Nielsen	Rita's sister

Episodes

Season 1 (2012)

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Danish air date	Danish viewers (in millions)
1	1	"Idealisten" "The Idealist"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe	9 February 2012 (2012-02-09)	0.90
2	2	"Læreren" "The Teacher"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe	16 February 2012 (2012-02-16)	0.81
3	3	"Anarkisten" "The Anarchist"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe	23 February 2012 (2012-02-23)	0.88
4	4	"Hun-ulven" "The Whore"	Jannik Johansen	Christian Torpe	1 March 2012 (2012-03-01)	0.89
5	5	"Byskytteren" "The Protector"	Jannik Johansen	Marie Østerbye & Christian Torpe	8 March 2012 (2012-03-08)	0.85
6	6	"Hykleren" "The Hypocrite"	Jannik Johansen	Christian Torpe	15 March 2012 (2012-03-15)	0.79
7	7	"Prinsessen" "The Princess"	Lars Kaalund	Marie Østerbye & Christian Torpe	22 March 2012 (2012-03-22)	0.80
8	8	"Moderen" "The Mother"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe	29 March 2012 (2012-03-29)	0.80

Season 2 (2013)

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Danish air date	Danish viewers (in millions)
9	1	"Den voskne" "The Adult"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe	11 September 2013 (2013-09-11)	0.65
10	2	"Haven" "The Garden"	Lars Kaalund	Thomas Levin & Christian Torpe & Christina Sederqvist	18 September 2013 (2013-09-18)	0.75
11	3	"Far, mor og børn" "Father, Mother and Child"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe & Marie Østerbye	25 September 2013 (2013-09-25)	0.72
12	4	"Teamplayer" "Team Player"	Kathrine Windfeld	Mette Heeno	2 October 2013 (2013-10-02)	N/A
13	5	"Jeg elsker dig" "I Love You"	Kathrine Windfeld	Marie Østerbye	9 October 2013 (2013-10-09)	N/A
14	6	"Den første kærlighed" "The First Love"	Kathrine Windfeld	Marie Østerbye	16 October 2013 (2013-10-16)	N/A
15	7	"Rollemodellen" "The Role Model"	Lars Kaalund	Stefan Jaworski & Christoffer Örnfelt	23 October 2013 (2013-10-23)	N/A
16	8	"Ukrudt" "The Weeds"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe & Marie Østerbye	30 October 2013 (2013-10-30)	N/A

Season 3 (2015)

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Danish air date	Danish viewers (in millions)
17	1	"Kandidaten" "The Candidate"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe & Marie Østerbye	23 March 2015 (2015-03-23)	0.80
18	2	"Kælderen" "The Basement"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe & Marie Østerbye	23 March 2015 (2015-03-23)	0.87
19	3	"Sponsorbarnet" "The Sponsor Child"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe & Marie Østerbye & Simon Odid Weil	30 March 2015 (2015-03-30)	0.70
20	4	"Aftenskole" "Evening School"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe & Marie Østerbye	6 April 2015 (2015-04-06)	0.77
21	5	"Lus" "Lice"	Lars Kaalund	Christian Torpe & Simon Odid Weil	13 April 2015 (2015-04-13)	0.76
22	6	"Frit fald" "Freefall"	Mogens Hagedorn	Christian Torpe & Jenny Lund Madsen	20 April 2015 (2015-04-20)	0.76
23	7	"Lederen" "The Head"	Mogens Hagedorn	Christian Torpe & Marie Østerbye	27 April 2015 (2015-04-27)	0.72
24	8	"Testen" "The Test"	Mogens Hagedorn	Christian Torpe	11 May 2015 (2015-05-11)	N/A

External links

• Rita at IMDb
• Rita at TV 2

• Oh Land & Lily Pads, Popservations, February 9, 2012
• http://deadline.com/2013/07/bravos-pilot-rita-gets-a-pass-549857/