Danish producer/film editor Miriam Nørgaard of Fridthjof Film has teamed up with Norwegian writer Christopher Grøndahl (Nokas, Børning) to develop the eco-thriller series Mayday. 

The series to be pitched at the TV Drama Festival Series Series in Fontainebleau (June 29-July 1st) focuses on an offshore oil rig that is taking water and on the verge of capsizing. The question is whether to decommission it and bring it back to the nearest harbour or sink it, a solution favoured by the oil industry. Measures are taken to tow the oil rig and bring it to shore but the towing operation is caught in a storm and the rig starts drifting dangerously close to Denmark’s finest beaches and a World heritage site, catches fire, men’s lives are suddenly at stake.

Miriam Nørgaard who came up with the idea and brought it to Grøndahl, says she wants Mayday to be ‘a strong Danish/Norwegian collaboration from the outset and is negotiating with a Norwegian co-producer. The project has received development support from Viaplay/TV3 and the Danish Film Institute’s Public Service Fund. 

Fridthjof Film is also in late development with the character-driven crime series The Specialists (8X44’) written by Jesper Fink (Shit Happens) and Lasse Kyed Rasmussen (Acquitted). The project received development support from Discovery Networks Denmark/Kanal5 and the DFI’s Public Service Fund.