History Series / Riget

''Riget'' (''The Kingdom'' in English, although it also translates to ''The Realm'') is a Danish TV series created and co-directed by Creator/LarsVonTrier, who also co-write the script with Niels Vørsel. While it acts as a MedicalDrama on the surface, it also contains copious amounts of {{surreal|Horror}} and {{religious horror}}, supernatural events, and [[BlackComedy a dark, wry sense of humor]], up to and including a GreekChorus [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext of dishwashers with Down syndrome]]. Entirely filmed on location with handheld cameras and a grimy, sepia-tinted color scheme, it has been described by critics as "''Series/TwinPeaks'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Series/{{MASH}}''" (with Trier crediting the former as an influence).

''Riget'' (''The Kingdom'' in English, although it also translates to ''The Realm'') is a Danish TV series created and co-directed by Creator/LarsVonTrier. While it acts as a MedicalDrama on the surface, it also contains copious amounts of {{surreal|Horror}} and {{religious horror}}, supernatural events, and [[BlackComedy a dark, wry sense of humor]], up to and including a GreekChorus [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext of dishwashers with Down syndrome]]. Entirely filmed on location with handheld cameras and a grimy, sepia-tinted color scheme, it has been described by critics as "''Series/TwinPeaks'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Series/{{MASH}}''" (with Trier crediting the former as an influence).

* AmoralAttorney: Dr. Helmer's Swedish lawyer is about as diabolical and disdainful towards the Danes as the "good" doctor himself, and his legal advice to Helmer, regarding the pending malpractice suit against him, essentially boils to telling him to keep the case from getting to court for as long as possible, because it will make the persecutor's job more difficult, as time tends to render evidence unavailable and make witnesses forgetting details of their accounts. He also urges Helmer to avoid the court clerk who has been send out with a subpoena for him at all costs, because a subpoena doesn't count until he has received it.

* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: After one particularity chaotic evening at the hospital, [[spoiler:where Rigmor shot Helmer in the leg, Krogshøj turned out to be OnlyMostlyDead and has returned to work, and the hospital priest was very brutally and messily killed by something unseen]], Moesgaard resolves to only mention all these events with a short comment each during the morning meeting and then immediately follows up by telling everyone present that he doesn't want to discuss any of these events in any kind of detail, and either should they.

* LetsUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: After one particularity chaotic evening at the hospital, [[spoiler:where Rigmor shot Helmer in the leg, Krogshøj turned out to be OnlyMostlyDead and has returned to work, and the hospital priest was very brutally and messily killed by something unseen]], Moesgaard resolves to only mention all these events with a short comment each during the morning meeting and then immediately follows up by telling everyone present that he doesn't want to discuss any of these events in any kind of detail, and either should they.

* LetsUsEverSpeakOfThisAgain: After one particularity chaotic evening at the hospital, [[spoiler:where Rigmor shot Helmer in the leg, Krogshøj turned out to be OnlyMostlyDead and has returned to work, and the hospital priest was very brutally and messily killed by something unseen]], Moesgaard resolves to only mention all these events with a short comment each during the morning meeting and then immediately follows up by telling everyone present that he doesn't want to discuss any of these events in any kind of detail, and either should they.

The series ran for two seasons, respectively in 1994 and 1997. It was never officially cancelled, but the deaths of the actors playing three significant characters prevented any continuation. In December 2020, however, Trier made the surprise announcement that he was going to make a third season consisting of five episodes, titled ''Riget Exodus'', which will act as the GrandFinale to the show. Trier expects to start filming the new season in 2021, and for the finished product to be released at some point in 2022. Trier has said that while ''Exodus'' will continue and provide resolution to the story, it is also supposed to be a semi-independent installment and welcoming to newcomers, and as such familiarly with the two original seasons won't be strictly mandatory to enjoy the new series.

* NearDeathExperience

* LittleOldLadyInvestigates: Mrs. Drusse takes upon herself to investigate the supernatural events and stories behind the ghosts at the hospital, effectively combining this trope with OccultDetective. Von Trier directly compares her to Literature/MissMarple in one of his closing monologues.

* PsychoPsychologist: Ole

* AlmightyJanitor: Krogshøj might be a low ranking doctor, but he is also the hospital's resident KnowledgeBroker who knows every dirty secret worth knowing, giving him quite a bit of political weight to throw around as he can call favors from pretty everyone.

* NonResidentialResidence: Dr. Krogshøj doesn't own a home; instead he lives in a quartered off storage space at the hospital, and lives off of surplus food from the hospital cafeteria. While this is strictly speaking not legal, he gets away with due to having "[[{{Blackmail}} a special agreement]]" with the senior hospital staff.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: The second series ends with several of these. In the [=DVD=] commentaries, the makers mentioned that it might be just as well that ActorExistenceFailure prevents them from making a third series, seeing as how they had written themselves into a corner.

* SignificantNameShift: [[spoiler:In ''Exodus'', Lillebror (Little Brother) has changed his name to "Storebror" (Big Brother), and looks like a more normally proportioned, if still slightly creepy human.]]

* WombHorror: Across the first season, Dr. Petersen undergoes an eerily fast pregnancy, with the fetus growing more than three times as fast as it is supposed to. At the end of the season, [[spoiler:she attempts to have an abortion, only for it to fail to terminate the by-now supernaturally oversized fetus, it instead ends kickstarting her giving birth giving birth to ''something'' that has the head of an adult man]].

* SorryToInterrupt: Taken to hilarious heights with the Minister of Health's visit to the neurosurgical ward, which ends coinciding with the climaxes of several running plot-lines. [[spoiler:The Minister and his delegation first manages to inadvertently bump into Mrs. Drusse, Bulder, and Dr. Krogshøj's exorcism of Mary in the hospital basement. They walk in on Dr. Bondo's liver transplantation, just as the drug-addled Bondo starts raving about how he doesn't want to have his diseased liver removed. They then happen upon Dr. Petersen laying in labor with spread legs on an examination table as she attempts to have her supernaturally large baby aborted. Finally, they enter the sleep laboratory right as Camilla is in mid-coitus with Mogge.]]

* SorryToInterrupt: Taken to hilarious heights with the Minister of Health's visit to the neurosurgical ward, which ends coinciding with the climaxes of several running plot-lines. [[spoiler:The Minister and his delegation first manages to inadvertently bump into Mrs. Drusse, Bulder, and Dr. Krogshøj's exorcism of Mary in the hospital basement. They walk in on Dr. Bondo's liver transplantation, just as the drug-addled Bondo starts raving about how he doesn't want to have his diseased liver removed. They then happen upon Dr. Petersen laying in labor with spread legs on an examination table as she attempts to have her supernaturally large baby aborted. Finally, they enter the sleep laboratory right as Camilla is in mid-coitus with Mogge.]]

* SorryToInterupt: Taken to hilarious heights with the Minister of Health's visit to the neurosurgical ward, which ends coinciding with the climaxes of several running plot-lines. [[spoiler:The Minister and his delegation first manages to inadvertently bump into Mrs. Drusse, Bulder, and Dr. Krogshøj's exorcism of Mary in the hospital basement. They walk in on Dr. Bondo's liver transplantation, just as the drug-addled Bondo starts raving about how he doesn't want to have his diseased liver removed. They then happen upon Dr. Petersen laying in labor with spread legs on an examination table as she attempts to have her supernaturally large baby aborted. Finally, they enter the sleep laboratory right as Camilla is in mid-coitus with Mogge.]]

* SorryToInterupt: Taking to hilarious heights with the Minister of Health's visit to the neurosurgical ward, which ends coinciding with the climaxes of several running plot-lines. [[spoiler:The Minister and his delegation first manages to inadvertently bump into Mrs. Drusse, Bulder, and Dr. Krogshøj's exorcism of Mary in the hospital basement. They walk in on Dr. Bondo's liver transplantation, just as the drug-addled Bondo starts raving about how he doesn't want to have his diseased liver removed. They then happen upon Dr. Petersen laying in labor with spread legs on an examination table as she attempts to have her supernaturally large baby aborted. Finally, they enter the sleep laboratory right as Camilla is in mid-coitus with Mogge.]]

--> "You may be wondering what I'm doing here. And do you know, I don't know either? I can't explain at all!"

* LukeIAmYourFather

->''Should you wish to spend more time with us here at TV Tropes, you'd better be prepared to take the Good with the Bad.''

* {{Blackmail}}: Krogshøj's speciality. Helmer and Mogge both get to experience it.
* BlindDriving - in an ambulance, no less.
* BodyHorror

* DrFeelgood: Krogshøj extracts cocaine from surplus local anaesthetics and sells it to the other doctors.

* OminousLatinChanting: The intros have lots of it. ''Obscene'' OminousLatinChanting, if you listen closely. With a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N7iUGqcXLo&feature=related funky dance routine]]. Within the story, [[spoiler: the death of the chaplain in the second series.]]

** Udo Kier was also redubbed. He just delivered his lines in phonetical Danish and was dubbed over afterwards. This was done for both of his roles, but they did have different dubbers for both.

* LittleOldLadyInvestigates: Mrs. Drusse takes upon herself to investigate the supernatural events and stories behind the ghosts at the hospital, effectively combining this trope with OccultDetective.