Below the Surface ( Danish tv series ) - wikipedia Below the Surface ( Danish tv series ) Below the Surface Also known as Gidseltagningen Countdown Copenhagen Genre Nordic Noir Created by Kasper Barfoed Written by Per Daumiller Michael W. Horsten Astrid Øye Directed by Christian E. Christiansen Roni Ezra Kasper Barfoed Starring Johannes Lassen Paprika Steen Sara Hjort Ditlevsen Henning Jensen Alba August Sus Wilkins Tommy Kenter Anders Nyborg Allan Hyde Alexandre Willaume Composer ( s ) Jeppe Kaas Country of origin Denmark Original language ( s ) Danish No. of seasons No. of episodes 8 ( list of episodes ) Production Executive producer ( s ) Nina Bisgaard Søren Sveistrup Adam Price Meta Foldager Sørensen Producer ( s ) Morten Kjems Juhl Cinematography Niels A. Hansen Ian Hansen Editor ( s ) Benjamin Binderup Morten Egholm Running time 44 min Production company ( s ) SAM Productions Distributor StudioCanal Release Original network Kanal 5 ( Denmark ) Picture format 16 : 9 ( 1080i ) Audio format Stereo Original release April 2 ( 2017 - 04 - 02 ) -- May 14, 2017 ( 2017 - 05 - 14 ) Below the Surface ( Danish : Gidseltagningen ) a Danish nordic noir drama series, written and directed by Kasper Barfoed, that was based upon an idea of Adam Price and Søren Sveistrup. The eight - part series focuses on an act of terrorism committed on the Copenhagen Metro, where fifteen people are taken hostage. Former soldier Philip Nørgaard ( Johannes Lassen ), who is head of the PET Terror Task Force, tries to save the hostages with help from members of his elite team. The basis for the series was adapted from a series of conversations between Barfoed and Danish photographer Daniel Rye, who lived as a hostage within the terrorist organisation of Islamic State in Syria for more than a year. In Germany and the Netherlands, the series is also known as Countdown Copenhagen. On 2 April 2017, the series premiered in Denmark on Kanal 5, and was released on DVD in Germany on 19 October 2017. In the United Kingdom, BBC4 broadcast the first four episodes during March 2018. The BBC pulled the series from their schedule for 24 March only following the terrorist attack in Carcassonne and continued on 31 March. Contents 1 Cast 1.1 PET Terror Task Force 1.2 Civilians 1.3 Hostages 1.4 Criminals 2 Episodes 3 Filming 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Cast PET Terror Task Force Johannes Lassen as Philip Nørgaard Sara Hjort Ditlevsen as Louise Falck Alexandre Willaume as SP Flemming Enevold as Hans Hejndorf Esben Dalgaard Andersen as Esben Garnov Peder Thomas Pedersen as Simon Clausen Kenneth M. Christensen as Daniel Cramer Kasper Leisner as Ebbe Moller Civilians Paprika Steen as Naja Toft Jesper Hyldegaard as Aksel Bendix Henning Jensen as Henning Nørgaard Cecilie Stenspil as Anne Gornstein Henrik Prip as Palle Wulff Hostages Alba August as Marie Bendix Sus Wilkins as Denise Hansen Dar Salim as Adel Rasul Lane Lind as Bodil Pedersen Michael Asmussen as Joachim Anders Nyborg as Ricco Tommy Kenter as Leon Criminals Jakob Oftebro as Alpha Adnan Hasković as Bravo Muhamed Hadzovic as Charlie Jacob Lohmann as Jonas Allan Hyde as Silas Jensen Hadi Ka - Koush as Ahmed Mahmoud Episodes Episode Title Directed by Written by Viewers Original Denmark airdate BBC4 UK airdate BBC4 Viewers `` Episode 1 '' Kasper Barfoed Kasper Barfoed 211,000 2 April 2017 ( 2017 - 04 - 02 ) 10 March 2018 In Copenhagen, a Metro train is hijacked by three armed men wearing balaclavas, and fifteen passengers on board are taken hostage. Philip Nørgaard, head of the PET Terror Task Force, is assigned to the case. The attackers demand € 4m in ransom money for the fifteen hostages to be freed. They agree for one of the hostages, Marie Bendix, to take part in a live television interview with journalist Naja Toft. `` Episode 2 '' Kasper Barfoed Astrid Øye 211,000 2 April 2017 ( 2017 - 04 - 02 ) 10 March 2018 Naja is fired by the network, but the attackers are keen to keep her as their sole line of communication to the outside world. They set up a second live interview, this time on Naja 's recently established blog. Philip raises a concern that the interview may in fact be a smokescreen for a live execution, and makes preparations to declare the area a ' dead zone ' in order to block all transmissions signals, if necessary. `` Episode 3 '' Christian E. Christiansen Lars Kristian Andersen 166,000 9 April 2017 ( 2017 - 04 - 09 ) 17 March 2018 The attackers try to arrange another interview with Naja, but when Leon, one of the hostages, is taken ill, they are forced to call for help. Philip seizes the chance to organise a raid and sends in two teams, each containing a sharpshooter, on opposing sides of the tunnel. However, little do they realise that the tunnel has been booby trapped, and in the ensuing firefight, one of the hostages is shot by the police. `` Episode 4 '' Christian E. Christiansen Per Daumiller 157,000 16 April 2017 ( 2017 - 04 - 16 ) 17 March 2018 Silas provides the team with information that suggests that one of the attackers may have a military connection. Relations between the attackers turn sour when one of the hostages is sexually assaulted. SP goes in search of the gang who reportedly sold the guns to the attackers. Naja finds an ally in Leon 's son, unaware that he is secretly working for the attackers. Philip opens up to Louise about his ordeal. 5 `` Episode 5 '' Christian E. Christiansen Michael W. Horsten 134,000 23 April 2017 ( 2017 - 04 - 23 ) 31 March 2018 Philip is left stunned when the team uncover a lockup garage connected with the attackers which has pictures of him plastered all over the wall. Naja agrees to another interview, which she agrees to let Philip sit in on, but is shocked to discover that Leon 's son is not who he claims to be. Joachim decides to hatch a plan to free himself and the other hostages, but the plan goes disastorously wrong. 6 `` Episode 6 '' Roni Ezra Per Daumiller 151,000 30 April 2017 ( 2017 - 04 - 30 ) 31 March 2018 In an attempt to force the attackers ' hand, Philip decides to cut power to the tunnel. After a surge in donations to the fundrasier following Bodil 's death, Naja alerts Louise that she is in danger, and Jonas is arrested and brought in for questioning. The death of his brother in a military strike provides the team with a new line of investigation, and Louise 's voice analysis of samples taken from his platoon, K7, reveals a possible identity for one of the attackers. 7 `` Episode 7 '' Roni Ezra Michael W. Horsten 145,000 7 May 2017 ( 2017 - 05 - 07 ) 7 April 2018 8 `` Episode 8 '' Roni Ezra Per Daumiller 142,000 14 May 2017 ( 2017 - 05 - 14 ) 7 April 2018 Filming The filming team of Below the Surface at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival The team responsible for filming the series attended the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, where the series was promoted prior to the broadcast of the first episode. See also List of Danish television series References Jump up ^ Terroren rammer i metroen i ny dansk TV - serie Jump up ^ http://www.discoverynetworks.dk/foraar2017/gidseltagningen Jump up ^ https://www.amazon.de/Countdown-Copenhagen-komplette-Staffel-DVDs/dp/B0753F3QLB/ Jump up ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/below-the-surface Jump up ^ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/25/memorial-service-held-for-french-supermarket-seige-victims-carcassonne External links Below the Surface on IMDb Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Below_the_Surface_(Danish_TV_series)&oldid=839740391 '' Categories : 2017 Danish television series debuts 2017 Danish television series endings 2010s Danish television series Danish drama television series 2018 British television programme debuts 2018 British television programme endings Hidden categories : Pages using infobox television with editor parameter Articles containing Danish - language text Talk Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Deutsch Français עברית Edit links This page was last edited on 5 May 2018, at 10 : 08. 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Question: how many episodes of beneath the surface are there
Answer: 8