Borgen: Sidse Babett Knudsen interview Knudsen returns to play the Danish politician Birgitte Nyborg in Borgen. Today, there's something of the rock chick about Knudsen. Her hair is longer and wilder, and she is dressed all in black - jumper, jeans, high-heeled knee-length boots, all designed to hug her body. And there is an earthy quality to Knudsen that is immediately apparent: she roars with laughter and claps delightedly when I absent-mindedly walk into shot. When she is through she picks up a pair of bright red gloves (her only non-black apparel) and we stroll across a bridge over a canal to a quiet cafe. Passers-by, being approached by one of the most famous actresses in their country, simply smile at her, almost shyly. Knudsen smiles right back at them. 'I don't get harassed here," she says. I ride around Copenhagen on my bike. The press are worse than they were 10 years ago, but I don't get paparazzi. That is nice for her, but there is an odd disconnect between the nonchalance with which Danes accept her moving among them and the extraordinary worldwide reception for Borgen. The series has been sold to TV in more than 70 countries; audiences and critics from Sydney to Paris, New York to London, rave about it. Knudsen won a TV Bafta and an Emmy nomination last year. Prominent politicians in several countries are avid fans: Hillary Clinton sent the producers a warm message about the show, while the French President François Hollande is an addict; Saturday nights are reportedly Borgen nights for Ed Miliband and Justine Thornton. It never occurred to me that this series would travel abroad," Knudsen says. 'I mean, it's about Danish coalition politics. She shrugs disbelievingly. But travel it did, and in Britain the 20 hours of its first two seasons have been eagerly devoured. Viewing figures grew and grew, finally rising above the one million mark - unheard of for its channel, BBC Four. And for those who missed its original broadcasts, it has become a hot box-set item for binge-viewing in the manner of American series such as Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Wire. Hopes for the third series are runnning sky-high. And the reason for this astounding success? Knudsen thinks it must be the way Borgen blends the personal and the political. In the beginning, Birgitte Nyborg becomes the leader of the centrist Moderate Party and a key player in the coalition government because of her common-sense niceness: she seems liberal, humane, decent, with a conciliatory manner and a lovely, handsome family. But on becoming prime minister, she must make irritating compromises with other parties to stay in power. There were thorny work-life balance problems: her gentle, understanding husband, Philip (Mikael Birkkjær), grew tired of her absences from home and long working hours and gradually drifted apart from her into an affair; her teenage daughter, Laura (Freja Riemann), felt neglected and fell victim to anxiety and depression. And all the while Birgitte was keeping the coalition afloat against the odds. Knudsen with Mikael Birkkjær who plays her former husband, Philip. To keep all these plates spinning at home and in her workplace, she had to change and assume the mantle of her considerable power. She started to wear her hair back in a bun; her body language became more rigid. I imagined her wearing a corset and tightening it a little," Knudsen says. I wanted her to lose weight and be less fluffy, have a more defined contour. So did she lose weight? Seven kilos. That's very disciplined. I was going for 20!" she says, laughing and slapping the table with her palm. Indeed, playing Birgitte Nyborg has come as a revelation to her. Knudsen, who turned 45 this week, has said in the past that before Borgen she often played 'girlie women trying to find themselves. My image was romantic comedies. I haven't played that many grown-ups. Well, that has certainly changed, I tell her. And about time," she says. 'This has been a long engagement and it didn't resemble any of the work I'd been doing before. It made me feel like I'm still an actress, but I've been much closer to the producers and writers than I'd normally be. It was a collaboration. Knudsen as Nyborg in the third and final season of Borgen. Knudsen was born into a creative, middle-class Copenhagen family, with a photographer father and schoolteacher mother. On leaving school at 18 she took herself off to Paris, 'Just for a year, to be bohemian. I thought I'd reinvent myself. While there she was accepted into a theatre school. I had no plans to become a French actress," she says. But thought I might as well have the experience. She stayed in Paris for six years, landing small parts. But I struggled professionally. She took odd jobs to survive, working at one point in a bureau de change. She regards her French adventure as crucial to her career. 'I'm grateful for that detour. There was something healthy about being a foreigner. People think you're odd, but I could blame it all on being Danish. On returning home, where her acting peers found her odd, she shrugged and said she had trained in France. Still, she stood out. Knudsen took theatre roles in Denmark, and made her film debut at the age of 28 in a comedy called Let's Get Lost. It was completely improvised, so I had to create my own character and dialogue," she recalls. To widespread surprise, it became a big hit and she won two domestic acting awards. Her career was launched. Denmark's leading film directors took an interest and she appeared in two films by Susanne Bier, the second of which, After the Wedding (2006), was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film. Knudsen also shot an experimental video short for Lars von Trier, Dogville: The Pilot, acted out on a bare stage marked out by chalk lines. She took the lead role, which went to Nicole Kidman when von Trier expanded the story to feature film length. Knudsen with Mads Mikkelsen in After the Wedding (2006). Then, in 2010, came the prospect of Borgen. Knudsen had largely left TV work behind in favour of films. 'There was a snobbery about TV [drama], a feeling it wasn't much good," she says now. But the Danish state broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) changed that perception at a stroke, having created an internationally acclaimed series, The Killing, three years earlier. Knudsen admired it and noted that her actress friend Sofie Gråbøl had flourished in the lead role as the police detective Sarah Lund. Word soon spread around Copenhagen's acting community that Borgen's Birgitte Nyborg was the next plum role. Adam Price, the creator and writer of Borgen, confirms, 'She needed to be played by an established actress around the age of 40, and we went through all the best actresses in Denmark in that range. Sidse was primarily a film actress, best known for comedy. In the end she got the part because she can play Birgitte as competent and strong, but there's also a fragile edge about her. That made her a spectacular choice for us. We wanted a Birgitte who viewers would be afraid for: as prime minister, would she succeed or fail? Having landed the role, Knudsen played her part in shaping Birgitte's character. Each script for a Borgen episode goes through six, seven, eight drafts," Price says. 'I would show Sidse the third draft, which wasn't fixed, to get her opinion. She didn't interfere with the main plot and she trusted the writers to get the politics right. But she fought to defend Birgitte to the very end to get her right. In discussing Birgitte with Price and his co-writers, Knudsen says, 'I wanted her professionalism emphasised, and also her complexity. I didn't want her moping around because she felt overwhelmed. This is a career politician. Also, I wanted Birgitte to have faults. Traditionally, while we can accept that a male character can be flawed, we prefer a heroine to be more straightforward. 'But she's human. I think it's interesting with a female character like this that you have to risk the fact that she'll go places where people might not like her. But we have to see those things, or we won't believe in her. Similarly, there are different levels to Knudsen herself. Socially adept, a good listener and engaging company, she's also very funny. When we discuss her Danish identity, she launches into a routine about how the Swedes present themselves to the world more skilfully. We Danes have an inferiority complex about them. They have [her voice goes up a register to convey enthusiasm] Björn Borg. And Ikea. They even have the Swedish chef on The Muppet Show! Everyone loves them! And then there's us..." [her voice drops into a doleful drone] 'We're Danes. We don't care if you like us. Yet she's a proud Dane and just because she is good fun it doesn't make her a pushover. She draws the line at intrusions on her privacy. I did my first interview in 1995 and was asked about my private life. I said, "Why would I tell you? I don't see the logic in anyone knowing that about me. For whose sake? Nobody wins."" It has been reported that she has a son now aged about 10, but will not confirm that, nor even whether she has a partner. 'You can ask me but I won't answer," she says coolly. One sees where the steely side of Birgitte comes from. Borgen could easily have ended after its second season, having achieved success beyond its creators" wildest dreams. Those two series constituted a perfect rise-and-fall story arc in Birgitte Nyborg's life, and included other incidental pleasures, such as the off-on romance between the PM's spin doctor, Kasper (Pilou Asbæk), and the TV presenter, Katrine (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen). Knudsen as Nyborg with Pilou Asbæk who plays her political adviser, Kasper Juul. In this country, it was a high-water mark in our surprising fascination with all things Danish. The series could even claim to be ahead of the curve in real-life terms: Helle Thorning-Schmidt became Denmark's first woman prime minister in 2011, after the fictional Birgitte Nyborg had been sworn in. Knudsen deliberately avoided studying Thorning-Schmidt's body language on TV, just as she has always refused to air her own political opinions. Still, a third season is upon us, but that will be the last. The plans are for no fourth season," Knudsen confirms. I look on the third as a kind of "bonus round." The writers were told they could do anything they wanted, so it was just too good a chance not to jump on it. She is coy about giving away details, but admits there has been a time gap of some two and a half years since season two. 'I think we can say Birgitte's been away from politics," she says. 'Let's see if she gets back, shall we? Might she become leader of the Moderate Party again? Oooh! Not necessarily. She does offer a slight hint. 'This time, for Birgitte, the problem is herself: not her family, not her daughter, but what she's going to do with her life. Things have moved on: Katrine and Kasper now have a baby, though they are no longer a couple. Birgitte has been travelling the world, lecturing to business groups, sitting on boards. And she has a new love interest: Jeremy Welsh, an English architect played by the Scottish actor Alastair Mackenzie, 43, who was the young laird Archie MacDonald in the TV series Monarch of the Glen. Very sweet and a gentleman," Knudsen says of Mackenzie. Post-Borgen, Knudsen is keeping an open mind. She has completed her first English-language film, called the Duke of Burgundy, for the British director Peter Strickland. It was shot in Hungary, and she loved working there. You feel all new again. The plot is under wraps, but it seems to be largely a two-hander with her and the UK-based actress Chiara D'Anna. A dark melodrama," Knudsen calls it, with perhaps deliberate vagueness. At this point, one imagines she could easily forge an impressive international acting career on the back of her success with Borgen. She smiles and shrugs and says nothing. But it was also nice to play a character for three years," she says finally. 'I wouldn't mind doing that again. Especially if it's a character who really develops. And she picks up her red gloves from the table and heads off towards her bike. Borgen continues on BBC Four at 9pm tonight. The box set is released on December 16 (Arrow Films)