Two episodes in the first season centrers around a man, who sexually assaults elderly women. Another episode focuses on children being sexually assaulted and abused by a group of men.
Several characters commit suicide in different ways. A man commits suicide in a prison by slitting his wrists. Another shoots himself in the head. Attempted suicide is also shown. One character attempts to jump off a building, and yet another attempts to steer a car in front of an oncoming truck.
A woman on the run with her criminal boyfriend has a pet rabbit with her. When rabbit droppings are later found in a car they abandoned, giving the police a lead on their whereabouts, the boyfriend kills the rabbit.
The series was supposed to stop at season 3, ending with the sad dispersion of the team of main characters, but ultimately hope for the future, as well as a wedding between two of the characters. Two final episodes were added though, ending the story with one of the married characters in a vegetative state after being shot, and one character wrongfully disgraced and exiled from the country.
A woman is shown fleeing from a fire, with her clothes partly charred and on fire. She runs into the water on a beach and extinguishes herself. Other characters die in a major fire. The deaths themselves and the bodies are never shown on screen; only body-bags. But characters react to the sight of the bodies, and are visibly distressed.
Two men (in separate episodes) commit suicide by cutting their wrists. A man also attempts to slit another's throat, and yet another character is stabbed.
Yes and no - the show is a crime cop show, and the police are undoubtedly the good guys here. However, it's clearly portrayed that they are not without flaws on a personal level of each officer, but also on a larger scale of the entire government system being corrupt at times. Keep in mind that the series takes place in Denmark, a country and police system that is vastly different to that seen in the US.
A main character is attempted strangled on two separate occasions, but is saved both times. Another minor character attempts to strangle another, but is stopped.
A young man known to be gay, and a drag queen, is murdered by a former abuser. The motive for the killing is not necessarily the victim's sexuality. Regardless, the killed character is still LGBT.
Guns are shown and used on several occasions. Some scenes feature people killed with guns, and people committing suicide with guns. Others show exchanges of gunfire between law enforcement and suspects.
It might be read between the lines that a character breaks a bone, but this is not mentioned. However, one main character sprains an ankle, after falling from a set of stairs.
Criminals and perpetrators having a difficult upbringing is a recurrent theme. The topic is sometimes addressed as a real psychological phenomenon, and other times met with scorn.
A man spills a beer over his crotch in his car, while trying to escape the police. When he's caught and patted down, one of the officers asks him if he wet himself.
A man stalks a main character in a hotel. Upon entering his own hotel room, several polaroid pictures of the stalked character are found in the room, which the stalker took.
One could also argue that police stake-outs are a form of stalking.
Several characters drink alcohol, some minor characters might even be considered alcoholics. But most notably, is the wife of a main character, who has a major alcohol problem. This is a major point of conflict. Eventually, the character receives treatment.
Drug abuse is mentioned in several episodes. In the series finale episodes, a main character is alluded to having used drugs as part of his undercover-act.
A murdered woman is discovered to have been pregnant, but it is unlikely that the pregnancy was a motive for the murder. Regardless, the character was known to be pregnant when the murder happened.
A man threatens to kidnap a teenage girl, if the family doesn't give him money. At the end of episode 29, a main character is also kidnapped while on a jog. The character is unharmed and returned at the beginning of the next episode.
A main character's husband suffers a stroke after a traumatic head injury, causing a massive brain bleed. One puts him in a coma, another secondary stroke kills him.
However, a man experiencing psychosis does describe seeing human body parts in the meat-cooler at the supermarket. This is almost certainly just a delusion.
The series is realistic, in the sense that there are no spirits or demons. However, one very religious man in a church explains his actions, as a devil entering him, in a fit of anger.