Rita

Rita is a Danish comedy-drama TV series created by Christian Torpe for TV 2. This series originally premiered in February 2012, then, later on, seasons 3, 4, and 5 were co-produced by Netflix and became available for streaming on the platform. The fifth season is the final season of the series.^[2]

Summary[]

"Independent, outspoken and adored by her students, schoolteacher Rita fares less well with adults in this comedy-drama from Denmark."

—Official Netflix synopsis

Cast and Characters[]

Mille Dinesen as Rita Madsen
- Tessa Hoder as Teen Rita
Nikolaj Groth as Jeppe Madsen
Vang Morten as Ricco Madsen
Sara Hjort Ditlevsen as Molly Madsen
Lise Baastrup as Hjørdis
Ellen Hillingsø as Helle
Carsten Bjørnlund as Rasmus
Kristoffer Fabricius as Uffe

Lykke Sand Michelsen as Bitten Dyrehave
Carsten Nørgaard as Tom Dyrehave
Lotte Andersen as Jette Dyrehave
Lea Maria Høyer Stensnaes
Ferdinand Glad Bach as David
Peter Gantzler as Niels Madse
Alexandre Willaume as Jonas Poulsen
Tommy Kenter as Erik
Zaki Youssef as Said

Belal Faiz as Karim
Frederik Winther Rasmussen as Niklas Verner
Charlotte Fich as Alice Verner
Ole Lemmeke as Bjarne
Charlotte Munck as Lea
- Sofie Juul as Teen Lea
Christine Exner as Susanne
Kurt Ravn as Rostrup
William Friis Nelausen as Reinulf
Søs Egelind as Gerd
Ari Alexander as Ole

Lisbet Lundquist as Lillebeth Schmidt Kronborg
Line Kruse as Gitte Nielsen (Season 1)
- Laura Bach as Gitte Nielsen (Season 2)
Kristian Halken as Flemming
Nikolaj Dencker Schmidt as Alex
Lisbeth Dahl as Gudrun

Episodes[]

Season One

The Idealist
The Teacher
The Anarchist
The Whore
The Protector
The Hypocrite
The Princess
The Mother

Season Two

The Grown Up
The Garden
And Baby Makes Three
Team Player
I Love You
First Love
The Role Model
Weeds

Season Three

The Candidate
The Basement
The Sponsor Kid
Evening Classes
Lice
Free Fall
The Leader
The Test

Season Four

Past/Present
You Are What You Eat
Sudden Thaw
True Friends
You and I
Childhood Street
Family
Home

Season Five

Fake News
Hullabaloo House
The Outing
Do You Speak English?
Hot Flash
Boundaries
The Lake
Chaos

Filming locations[]

Islev, Rødovre, "Statens Pædagogiske Forsøgscenter" (near Copenhagen). The school building meanwhile was removed. The name "Islevgård Skole" was just made up for the show^[3]. This building was used in the Season 1 - Season 3.
In Season 4 Rita is teacher at "Bavnegårdsskolen" in Lundsager - also a fictitious name made up for the show.

Notes[]

Christian Torpe created similar shows for the Netherlands with "Tessa" (Mini-Series, 2015) and for France with "Sam" (2016 - 2021).
"Hjørdis" is also the name of a Mini-Series with 4 episodes from 2015 and set at the same school which is seen in the Season 1 to Season 3 of "Rita." It's also available on Netflix.
Viewers, who also watched "The Last Kingdom," probably will recognize Peter Gantzler and Alexandre Willaume, who both had roles as "Danes" in that series.