The BBC has picked up the debut TV drama from the Academy Award and BAFTA winning director Thomas Vinterberg. 

The 7-part series takes place in the not-too-distant future. It explores the impact of rising water levels in Denmark and the mass evacuation of the country’s population. Impossible choices await…

Here’s the official synopsis for Families Like Ours:

Families Like Ours is set in Denmark in a not-too-distant future where rising water levels can no longer be ignored and the country needs to be evacuated. As people disperse in all directions, they must bid farewell to what they love, what they know, and who they are.

Slowly but steadily, everything changes. All property becomes worthless, all fortunes shift, and luck favours only a few. Those who can afford it travel to affluent countries while the less well-off depend on government-funded relocation to more challenging destinations. Families, friends and loved ones are separated. Some are overcome by hatred and division, while others nurture love and foster new beginnings.

Against this backdrop the story introduces Laura, a high school student in love for the first time and on the cusp of graduation. When news of the evacuation breaks, the course of Laura and her family’s lives are changed forever, and Laura is forced into the impossible dilemma of choosing between the three people she loves the most.

Vinterberg penned the series with Bo Hr. Hansen. It received critical acclaim at the 2024 Venice International and Toronto International Film Festivals. The show shot on location in Denmark, Sweden, France, Romania and The Czech Republic.

Vinterberg was the director of 2015’s Far From The Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan.

Sue Deeks, the BBC’s head of Programme Acquisition, said:

“Families Like Ours is a beautifully constructed, thought-provoking drama about what happens when people are confronted by the inconceivable, and forced to make seemingly impossible choices…”

The series will air in the UK on BBC Four and the iPlayer, although there’s no date yet. We’ll keep you posted.