Georg (Jon Gnárr - now mayor of Reykjavik!), Ólafur (Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon) and Daniel (Jörundur Ragnarsson) all work the night shift at a Shell garage in the Icelandic capital. Georg, the boss, has bizarre facial hair, a tendency to wear socks and sandals, and is very proud of his 5 degrees. He's also a bit of a fascist, railing against Ólafur's misguided desires to manage a pop group, or getting angry at a drunken customer, who has actually had a stroke. Ólafur is picked on constantly by Georg, but doesn't stand up for himself. He's a sad figure sometimes, eternally optimistic but forever broke - he believes the Nigerian email scam, especially when the supposed prince turns up at the petrol station! Daniel, the newest employee, is rather quiet and has run away from uni in Sweden, shuns his girlfriend and family and instead chooses to take photographs of dead birds and work the night shift.Aside from the comedy, which is often squirm inducing stuff, there is a real dark vein, a pathos running through Night Shift as these 3 lost souls try to find comfort where they can, and disfunction spectacularly together. There is some commentary of Icelandic politics along the way, and Georg happily reminisces about his time in a commune in Sweden, and wants to go back there with the holiday fund that he makes the others pay into. By turns gentle, gross-out (when Ólafur starts lactating after taking protein shakes) and pointed, the humour in Night Shift always comes from a real place and never feels forced. Georg is as quick to anger and jump to the wrong conclusion as Basil Fawlty, and Ólafur is a good Manuel-like suffering sidekick. The fact it's from Iceland just adds something extra for my tastes. I really hope that BBC4 decides to show the sequels, Day Shift and Prison Shift, and the 2009 movie spin off that beat Avatar at the Icelandic boxoffice!
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