Albert & Herberts julkalender

Albert and Herbert, father and son, both cantankerous and cranky, both lovable. Herbert ("Hebbe lille" - little Hebbe) can't leave his father, an old junkyard proprietor. Their little house is gray and gloomy, few women have put their feet inside during the different series made.

This comedy is warm, the love between father and son shines through even during the most outrageous moments. I think it was in this last series they split their home in two equal parts with a white demarcation line, each forbidden to cross into the other's side. This has been done in many American movies/shows, but this is the one _I_ will regard as the original, because it was the first I saw on film.

Thomas von Brömssen is still one of the great actors of Sweden and Scandinavia, too bad he never made it internationally as Stellan Skarsgård did. The late Cederhök was a big old lovable dad in these series, and the dynamics between the two actors will surely never be seen again in Scandinavian comedies.

For a frame of reference for international audiences the comedy is on par with the "Odd Couple", the same dynamics.

The quaint atmosphere of the village/town/city where the scrapheap is situated seems to be a '50 postwar Oslo, though it is Swedish through and trough.

If you ever get the chance to catch it, do.

Bo Hermansson, the director has done a string of pretty successful television comedies in Scandinavia.