NRK’s cult series Skam season 4 wins Best drama series and DR’s Ditte & Louise Best comedy series at the 2nd Nordic drama festival held in Oslo (September 20-21).

The awards were handed out last night by a jury consisting of nine established critics from Denmark, Norway and Sweden in charge of selecting the best drama and comedy shows in their respective territories. Skam (Shame) season 4 beat SVT’s crime show Innan vi dör (Before We Die) season 1 and DR’s family drama Arvingerne  (The Legacy) season 3, while Ditte & Louise season 2 was preferred to SVT’s Bonusfamiljen (The Bonus Family) season 1 and NRK’s Side om Side (Side by Side) season 4.

This is the second drama award in a row at Nordiske Seriedager (The Nordic Drama series Days) for NRK’s hit youth series Skam created by Julie Andem. Ditte & Louise created by local comedians Ditte Hansen and Louise Mieritz won a Robert 2017 for Best Short TV drama.

Co-organised by NRK, TV2, the Norwegian Film Institute and Aftenposten, the drama series festival for the Nordic industry and Norwegian audience, had a two-day packed programme of masterclasses, debates, sneak previews of the latest Nordic shows and face to face interviews with some of the regions most established and rising talents.

Sneak previews included NRK’s crime show Monster, TV2’s satirical drama Roeng by Lilyhammer co-creators Anne Bjørnstad and Ellif Skovdin, and thriller Grenseland starring Tobias Santelmann (Homeland). Dag creators Kristopher Schau and Øystein Karlsen did a live feed from the set of their latest dating comedy One Night, creator Johan Fasting presented clips of NRK’s football comedy Home Ground and director Geir Henning Hopland the work in progress of Viaplay’s Swedish suspense thriller The Lawyer, co-created by Jens Lapidus, Michael Hjorth, and Hans Rosenfeldt (The Bridge). The latter took centre stage to discuss Nordic noir and show clips from the fourth and final season of the Swedish/Danish crime show starring Sofia Helin set to air on January 1st 2018.

US vs Nordic drama creation were discussed at separate panels by Breaking Bad showrunner Vince Gilligan, in conversation with Valkyrien creator Thomas Seeberg Torjussen, as well as by Mammon director Cecilie Mosli, who worked in Hollywood on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

This year’s Shooting Stars were Swedish actor Adam Pålsson (Before we Die), soon to be seen on the silver screen as Ted Gärdestad in the film Ted-Show Me Love, and actress/writer Iben Akerlie (Mammon, Dag).