Review: Jordskott (S2 E2/8), Thursday 26th October, ITV Encore

Last week’s series two opener of Jordskott – the bonkers Swedish crime drama with supernatural overtones – gave us something darker and more disturbing in tone: we saw a zombiefied man emerge from the lake in Stockholm and some sort of human trafficking ring at work. In the middle of it all was Moa Gammel’s Eva Thörnblad, trying to make sense of it all. She wasn’t the only one.

Review: Jordskott (S2 E1/8), Thursday 19th October, ITV Encore

NB: SPOILERS INSIDE

So Jordskott’s back, then. Henrik Björn’s Nordic Noir with a supernatural twist was one of the most read-about shows on this site during its first run, which was surprising to me – even though it sometimes looked and felt like a Nordic Noir (you can discuss what makes a Nordic Noir, aside from the geographical settings, until the Svensk Fjällrasses come home) it did go into full bonkers territory – sometimes unintentionally laughable, dealing as it did with a woodland spirit kidnapping children, a not-so-subtle environmental back-story, characters like local police officer-cum-shady-organisation-worker Göran Wass and lady of the forest, Ylva, having parasites living inside them, black gunky liquid from the forest that gave its imbibers strange powers, and a telekinetic teen. It was all ridiculous and jolly good fun. So what does series two have in store?

ITV confirms transmission date for Jordskott II

I was asked to keep schtum about the return of series two of bonkers Swedish crime drama, Jordskott, by ITV when I was putting together our big autumn preview, because the network hadn’t fully dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s. But now the network has announced when the eight-part series coming back, and it’s very soon indeed.

SVT releases trailer for series two of Jordskott

Well, they come like buses. You don’t hear from any Scandinavian favourites for a while and then two come along in the same day. Earlier, there was The Bridge’s series four trailer earlier today, and now it’s Jordskott’s turn. The series, starring Moa Gammel, is back for its second run later this year, and now there’s a trailer.

Series two of Jordskott to premiere in Sweden in October

As long-time readers of the site will know, I was a fan of series one of Swedish environmental (or just mental) procedural, Jordskott, when it first hit UK screen in 2015. We’ve known for a while that series two is on its way and that filming had taken place earlier this year. Now we know when series two will premiere in its native Sweden.

SVT confirms second series of Jordskott; releases trailer

Although Swedish series Jordskott was broadcast here in the UK on ITV Encore, it did fantastically well internationally, and was sold and played out in 50 countries. It was an insane, bonkers series that told the story of Detective Inspector Eva Thörnblad (Moa Gammel), who returns to Silver Height seven years after her daughter Josefine disappeared by a lake in the woods. The body was never found and the girl was believed to have drowned. Then a boy vanished without a trace and Eva was intent on finding out if there was a link to her daughter’s disappearance. That was just the start of things: add in some ancestral weirdness with her dad, timber empire man Johan Thörnblad, witches, woodland folk and strange black liquid and Jordskott was like your traditional Scandi Noir mixed with a fairytale. Finally we have confirmation of a second series and a trailer to go with it.

Review: Jordskott (S1 E10/10), Wednesday 12th August, ITV Encore

A couple of our favourite shows have been finishing this week (True Detective on Monday, now this). The very fact Jordskott has become one of my favourite shows is a remarkable thing. At the end of episode one I was ready to move on and had almost decided that this was not for me, its supernatural elements a leap of faith and suspension of belief too far. But I stuck with it because I was intrigued and even though it has been silly and ridiculous in places, it has also been well acted, well plotted and paced and well… pretty addictive. So I came to the final episode of this series eager to find out what was going to happen to Eva, Wass and co. And whether we were going to meet Muns, the forest’s main man. As ever with reviews of finales, please don’t read if you haven’t seen it yet and are intending to do so – it’s a tad spoiler heavy after the jump.

Interview: Henrik Björn, Jordskott

If you’ve been joining me on my journey through Jordskott, you’ll know that I’ve been loving it. It has been something completely different – a Scandinavian crime drama with serious supernatural/horror overtones that is unlike anything that’s come out of the region for a long time. I’ve wanted to chat to the show’s creator, Henrik Björn, for a while now, and he graciously agreed to answer some of my questions (even though he was on holiday). As with a director/creator it’s a fascinating read, so do have a look after the jump.

Review: Jordskott (S1 E9/10), Wednesday 5th August, ITV Encore

This has been a funny old series. I’m not generally into the horror genre, nor, to a lesser extent, the supernatural genre, but this crime drama has been suffused with heavy influences from both. However ridiculous it has seemed – and it has – I now find myself utterly absorbed by it and slightly addicted to it. This is down to not only the acting and direction, but the fine writing, too, which has kept us guessing right up until the last episode. If you have all of those components in place and firing, you can make any sort of story seem like a winner. And now we’re into the penultimate episode, and I was stealing myself for big things to happen. I wasn’t disappointed.

Review: Jordskott (S1 E8/10), Wednesday 29th July, ITV Encore

If episode seven was anything to go by, we’re very definitely into the home straight of this strange, ridiculous, brilliant and addictive Swedish thriller. If that episode had more big reveals than you could shake a bottle of Essence Of Forest at, episode eight reverted back to something slightly less manic – it was a nice mix of simmering tension and slight cliffhanger. Now Eva Thörnblad is part of The Parasite Club, there are still plenty of questions remain, principally: when are we going to meet Muns, the King Of The Forest, and is he a character we know already?