Rita is a Danish comedy-drama television series created by Christian Torpe for TV 2. It premiered in Denmark on 9 February 2012, and concluded on 20 July 2020, with 40 episodes broadcast over five seasons. Produced by SF Studios, the series was filmed in Rødovre, Zealand, and executive-produced by Keld Reinicke, Karoline Leth, Lars Bjørn Hansen, Birdie Bjerregaard, Christian Rank, Jennifer Green, and Torpe, who also served as head writer. All episodes are available internationally on streaming service Netflix , who partnered with TV 2 to produce the later three seasons, becoming a Netflix Original.
Mille Dinesen portrays the lead role of Rita Madsen, a headstrong and unconventional teacher and single mother who protects and helps her students but struggles to manage her own personal life.
A spin-off titled Hjørdis, centered on Rita's friend and colleague Hjørdis, (Lise Baastrup), was broadcast for one season between 18 May and 8 June 2015, consisting of four episodes.
Upon airing, Rita received generally favorable response from critics.
Rita Madsen, a compulsive smoker, is an unconventional secondary education teacher who, according to her, chose this profession "to protect students from their parents". While she goes out of her way to advise and help her pupils, Rita's personal and family life seems to need the same kind of assistance. Her youngest son, Jeppe, is discovering his sexuality, while the older ones, Ricco and Molly, are experiencing the mishaps of adulthood. Other main characters include Hjørdis, a naive teacher who becomes Rita's best friend; Rasmus, the school headmaster with whom Rita has an on-again, off-again relationship; Helle, school counselor and Rita's former rival; Uffe, Hjørdis' husband; and Jonas, a former school headmaster who is a self-assured teacher at Rita's school.
Henrik Palle wrote for Politiken that the series "works really well with some characters who actually look like people".
Hjørdis follows the eponymous teacher as she tries to put together a school play about bullying. It was broadcast between 18 May and 8 June 2015, consisting of four episodes.
A US remake was planned with a pilot episode filmed in 2013, starring Anna Gunn, but it was not picked up as a series. In 2019, American premium cable network Showtime commissioned a pilot order for a remake starring Lena Headey. The series was to be a joint production between Showtime Networks and Platform One Media, with Torpe serving as showrunner and writing the pilot episode and Headey also acting as executive producer. This pilot was not picked up for a full series either.
A Dutch remake, Tessa, which began airing in November 2015 on NPO 1, lasted only one season. The lead role was played by Thekla Reuten, following the storyline of Rita Season one, with only a few changes. The series was remade in France by TF1 as Sam, starring Mathilde Seigner in the title role for the first season. The second season of Sam entered production in 2017 with Natacha Lindinger replacing Seigner in the title role. The show has aired seven seasons to date.