Danish fiction author Dorthe Nors casts her eye across the North Sea towards Aberdeen - and across the centuries - to consider the wars fought and connections forged between the Scandinavian countries and Britain.

She reflects on the island mentality from a different perspective living as she does in Jutland, which shares its borders with Germany, but also being from a region with a strong island sensibility - "the continent" has always been something that Swedes, Norwegians and the rest of Denmark cross the water to get to, just like the British.

But it hasn't always been a comfortable relationship with Britain - the close cultural connection, perhaps most strongly felt in Norway, threatened to be severed by widespread protests at Margaret Thatcher's visit to Oslo.

Dorthe Nors is the acclaimed author of fiction including Minna Needs Rehearsal Space and the short story collection Karate Chop. Yes, she is a Danish writer with a darkness to her fiction but, in this programme, she considers how British Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle are the grandparents of Nordic noir.

With contributions from Øivind Bratberg, Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Oslo, and Magnus Englund, co-founder of the British retailer of Scandinavian design Skandium and Director of the Isokon Gallery Trust.

Across this series, five mainland Europeans give their take on Britain's historical relationship with their home country - the historical moments and popular culture that have created the image of the Brit in the mind of continental Europeans.

Producer: Katherine Godfrey
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4. Show less