ON SET WITH... Sidse Babett Knudsen.
Daily Mail 2/ 4/2012 ON SET WITH... Sidse Babett Knudsen Danish actress Sidse, 43, plays Denmark's first ever female Prime Minister, Birgitte Nyborg, in the hit BBC4 series Borgen, which has a double bill on TV tonight. Here, she opens her diary to give us a glimpse of life behind the scenes… 5 MONDAY The days on set are long and hard. We've built a complete replica of the interior of the Danish parliament buildings at a television studio in the centre of Copenhagen, and luckily it only takes me about ten minutes to get to work. But I'm always first in at around 6am. We shoot two episodes at a time over a six-week period, have a two-week break, then start again. My background is in films and theatre and this is my first big TV series, so it's a bit more like an office job, but instead of 9 to 5 it's more like 5 to 9! 6TUESDAY We're out on location a fifth of the time, and it's fun filming in and around the capital. But people do get very confused and start asking me questions about politics, forgetting I'm just an actress. We've got our own female Prime Minister now, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and I'd love to meet her and compare notes. We're not allowed to film in the real-life Borgen - the Danish parliament - for political reasons, which is a shame. But I did get to shoot an episode in Greenland. It was my first visit and it was absolutely stunning. 7 WEDNESDAY I almost got killed today! I was in a location house, standing under a huge chandelier, when the assistant director suddenly had a funny feeling and moved me out of the way just before the whole thing came crashing down. Truly scary. Denmark is colder than England. I always feel chilly on location, so moon boots and oversized coats are standard issue between takes (right). 8 THURSDAY Birgitte has an accident and cuts her eye open, so I spend two hours in make-up, making it look as bruised and bloody as possible. There's a real feeling of shock when I walk on set, and I have to go straight into an interview with TV presenter Katrine Fonsmark, played by Birgitte Hjort Sorensen. As soon as she sees me she bursts out laughing, so we have to start again. The person I usually laugh with is Lars Knutzon, who plays Finance Minister Bent Sejro. He sometimes forgets his lines and I tease him mercilessly. 9FRIDAY The last day of shooting and I've lost 7kg, which is part of the storyline. I put on around 5kg deliberately before filming started, which was easy, but losing it has been tougher: I've eaten a lot of cabbage! There have been intimate scenes between me and my husband Phillip, played by Mikael Birkkjaer. The directors always want you to take your clothes off, but we both agreed we're too old for that, and said no. Birgitte and Phillip's marriage is under strain and our last scenes are very emotional. I'm shattered. So although there's a wrap party, I have a quiet beer and go home early.