Lost: Those Who Kill confirmed by BBC Four

Nordic Noir: Walter Presents confirms All The Sins return

NORDIC NOIR: Danish TV announces ‘journalistic crime drama’

NORDIC NOIR: First trailer for Detektiven från Beledweyne drops

SERIES REVIEW: Copenhagen Cowboy

Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest confoundingly flawed masterpiece.

NORDIC NOIR Finnish series Poromafia to debut on C More

Those in the Nordic territory will get a new Finnish crime series very soon.

Poromafia (Reindeer Mafia) is set to start on the Nordic streaming service on 16th February.

The series begins when Brita Nelihanka, the great arctic matriarch, is about to lose her fight against cancer. Her wealth is to be divided evenly between the members of her family, and the ill-gotten lands are to be returned to their original owners. The family is torn apart when her will is revealed at the funeral, and many past secrets are finally revealed.

It stars Samuli Edelmann, Anna-Maija Tuokko and former Beck star Mikael Persbrandt.

Here’s a trailer…

NORDIC NOIR Walter Presents confirms transmission date for Helsinki Crimes

A new Nordic Noir is coming our way, thanks to Walter Presents, this time based in Finland.

Helsinki Crimes features Police Sergeant Timo Harjunpää from Helsinki Murder Squad, who would love to spend his summer holiday in peace and quiet with his family, but his relentless job follows him everywhere. 

With his partner Onerva Nykänen, Harjupää faces the whole spectrum of humanity, from the darkest pits of organized crime to the saddest cases of human life, including men brainwashed by incel-ideology, hackers sabotaging the society’s infrastructure, youth criminals hardened by their home lives, and sadistic prostitutes.  The beautiful, summery Helsinki looks very different in the eyes of the Crime Squad Sergeants: no one is safe, and anything can happen – anywhere and anytime. 

Look out for it on More4 from Friday 17th February.

NORDIC NOIR Danish series Grow snapped up by Walter Presents

Walter Presents has hit the ground running in 2023, and has announced another new series – Danish thriller, Grow.

When newly graduated stockbroker Adam learns that his dad has died, he runs from his anxiety-ridden every day back to his childhood neighbourhood. Upon his return, Adam finds himself captivated by the thrills of Danish biker life in which his late father’s roots lay. It does not take long before Adam’s integration into the grey norms of everyday society is compromised as he finds passion in a new purpose.

Adam’s long structural life is mixed with personal ambitions, in desperation for power and fast recognition in the Danish drug market, where his cousin Simon has already set roots. Together they face obstacles on their journey to form a new drug cartel including immigration gangs, bikers, police, politicians – and finally Adam’s own brother, Jakob, who is a recent recruit of the police anti-drug division. It is up to Adam and Simon to remove all obstacles in their persecution to become Denmark’s biggest kingpins. 

Look out for Lars Mikkelsen and Sebastian Jessen.

Grow: From 20th January, All4/Walter Presents

SERIES REVIEW Agatha Christie’s Hjerson

Much was made of this Swedish series, based as it is on a fictional character within a fictional story written by the evergreen, late, great Agatha Christie. It’s a strange, perhaps obscure reference point for non-Christie fans, so for their benefit, here’s who Sven Hjerson is. Or was. Or now is.

Hercule Poirot had a mystery novelist friend called Ariadne Oliver, who appeared in six Poirot novels. Just as the real-life novelist had Poirot, Christie also gave Oliver a fictional detective to write about. That detective was called Sven Hjerson.

Such is Christie’s popularity through the ages, it seems any kind of link or character is riper for adaptation.

It is only after you have watched a whole episode that the link with Agatha Christie becomes apparent, but aficionados will definitely make the connection, and should also be able to appreciate how this celebrates the art of her writing – albeit in a rather bizarre manner.

Without spoilers, this series concerns a dysfunctional Swedish reluctant mother (Klara, played by Hanna Alström), who is the main source of new ideas for a ridiculous (although in these days maybe not so ridiculous) reality TV show. She eschews the ‘traditional’ ideas of dragging in children to sell the show, and hits on the idea of making a real-life detective series using the most brilliant (but disgraced and excommunicated) detective to effectively bring Cluedo to life. This is, of course, is Sven Hjerson (Johan Rheborg), who has a lot of skeletons in his closet.

The remainder of the series revolves around Klara enticing Hjerson to join her in investigating seemingly open-and-shut cases, but also explores the early life and idiosyncrasies of both Hjerson and Klara. Klara has an ultra-intelligent daughter who seems destined to be permanently babysat by Klara’s other half, himself an over-the-top megalomaniac obsessed by her need to escape all the maternal duties.

The series is laugh-out-loud funny in parts, particularly the interaction between the two main protagonists, and Klara’s infrequent returns to her former fellow reality show boss to ensure they are still engaged with her ‘project’. The final episode is one of the most brilliantly written denouements I have seen, and will pull your emotions in directions you were not even aware existed.

This really was a surprise hit from the Walter Presents stable. From rather obscure and scant reference material, this has been transformed into a wonderful romp with bizarre stories, and equally bizarre characters.

Brian Parker

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Agatha Christie’s Hjerson is available to stream on All4 in the UK

READ MORE: ALL OUR AGATHA CHRISTIE NEWS AND REVIEWS

NORDIC NOIR New Beck will premiere in Sweden on Christmas Day

Swedish crime drama fans are getting a Christmas Day treat this year – a brand new Beck film will premiere on 25th December itself on C More.

The Death Trap tells the story of Vilhelm Beck – Martin’s grandson – a police officer and on his first internship in the real world.

He and his supervisor Trine (Maria Sundbom Lörelius) are routinely called to a burglary. At the crime scene, Vilhelm is the one who discovers a dead 17-year-old boy and the mission goes directly to the Beck group.

Vilhelm feels deeply affected by the situation. He wants to contribute to the investigation more than what his supervisor says is ok, which leads to unforeseen consequences. The dead boy’s father is distraught and has no idea what his son may have been involved in. Martin Beck (Peter Haber) wants to be involved in the case, but Vilhelm asks his grandfather to take a step back.

Alex (Jennie Silfverhjelm) is also committed to Vilhelm and wants to support him. Jenny (Anna Asp) is a new mother and struggles with both her relationship and parental role. Both Martin and Oskar (Måns Nathanaelson) want to do everything to support her when she makes a fatal mistake that turns out to have really serious consequences.

Hopefully it will come to the UK next year.

READ MORE: FOR ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF BECK