Næturvaktin

Næturvaktin
Næturvaktin promotional poster
Genre	Situation comedy
Written by	Jóhann Ævar Grímsson Jón Gnarr Jörundur Ragnarsson Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon Ragnar Bragason
Directed by	Ragnar Bragason
Starring	Jón Gnarr Jörundur Ragnarsson Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon Sara Margrét Nordahl Michaelsdóttir
Country of origin	Iceland
Original language(s)	Icelandic
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12
Production
Editor(s)	Sverrir Kristjánsson
Running time	25 min.
Production company(s)	Saga Film
Release
Original network	Stöð 2
Picture format	576i (SDTV), 16:9 aspect ratio
Original release	16 September 2007 – present

Næturvaktin (English: The Night Shift) is an Icelandic television show. It is the first in a trilogy, its sequels being Dagvaktin (The Day Shift) and Fangavaktin (The Prison Shift). The series was first shown in 2007 on Stöð 2, on Sundays from 16 September – 9 December. In the same year, the series won an Edda Award for Best TV Series. It was also selected The Most Popular TV Series by a direct audience vote.

A film, Bjarnfreðarson, concluding the trilogy, premièred in December 2009. It was met with wide success in Iceland, beating Avatar at the box office on its opening weekend. It was watched by over 20% of the Icelandic population, a record for an Icelandic film, and was nominated for 11 Edda Awards.

Næturvaktin revolves around the lives of three employees working at a petrol station on Laugavegur in Reykjavík. The eccentric supervisor and communist Georg Bjarnfreðarson (Jón Gnarr), has a fond admiration for Sweden and Swedish culture, and is the focus of the series. Ólafur Ragnar (Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon) is a regular employee and a simple, well-meaning guy. Daníel (Jörundur Ragnarsson) is a former medical student who starts working at the petrol station at the beginning of the series.

The series follows the various happenings at the petrol station, as the power-hungry Georg orders Ólafur and Daníel to do inane, unusual and sometimes dangerous jobs. For example in one episode, Georg stages an assault on the petrol station with Ólafur as the assailant. This very quickly results in his injury as Georg sprays him in the eyes with antifreeze and wrestles him to the ground. Georg uses his catchphrase, "it was just a misunderstanding", to explain the staged assault to the area manager. Georg's "misunderstandings" are not limited to his colleagues, as later on in the series he gets into conflict with customers over use of the toilet in the forecourt shop and the deposit of cans in the recycling bin on the forecourt.