Disconnected TV Heroines

Through analysis of Bron-Broen-The Bridge and its adaptations, this cultural study introduces the disconnected TV heroine—a female representational type whose significance is forged in exile and renewed through border-crossing. Structured around four discourses, it advances a transnational feminist epistemology for contemporary television studies.

Disconnected TV Heroines: Transnational Nordic Noir and Global Femininities is a feminist study of contemporary television that develops a transnational approach to television studies through analysis of Bron|Broen / The Bridge, its international adaptations, and the related German/Austrian series Der Pass.

At its centre is the “disconnected TV heroine”: a female protagonist shaped by borders, displacement, and global circulation. Through production analysis, close textual reading, and feminist media theory, Janet McCabe's book examines how characters such as Saga Norén become both radical feminist figures and internationally marketable television icons.

Exploring questions of gendered space, justice, adaptation, and cultural exchange, McCabe argues that Nordic noir has played a crucial role in shaping global television femininities in the twenty-first century. Combining industrial and textual analysis, the book advances a new transcultural feminist framework for television studies.