Agatha Christie’s Sven Hjerson, Furia selected for MIPDrama

The 12 hand-picked series will compete for the ‘Coup de Coeur’ to be handed out April 16, on the closing day of Digital MIPTV (April 12-16).

The Swedish crime drama Agatha Christie’s Sven Hjerson and Norwegian political thriller Furia (Fury) are both produced with top European partners, and reunite some of the best Nordic talents on both sides of the camera.

Agatha Christie’s Sven Hjerson is created and co-written by BR-F’s Patrik Gyllström, with Björn Paqualin (Blue Eyes, Hassel), Jakob Beckman (I am Zlatan) and Martin Luuk (Four Shades of Brown). The acclaimed UK/Swedish Lisa James Larsson (Britannia, Victoria, Ego) is concept director.

The modern, playful whodunnit with a twinkle in the eye, is the first Agatha Christie inspired murder mystery set outside the UK. The show consists of eight episodes, revolving around four murder mysteries, with an overall arc spreading throughout the series.

The meta character Sven Hjerson, inspired by the fictional Finnish detective of Agatha Christie’s own fictional author Ariadne Oliver is played by Johan Rheborg (Partisan, Solsidan), His side-kick is the female TV producer Klara Sandberg, played by Hanna Alström (Kingsman-The Secret Service, Sami Blood).

The series is produced by Sweden’s B-RF for C More/TV4 and Germany’s ZDF, in association with London-based Agatha Christie Limited (ACL), the government of Åland. Germany’s Nadcon is co-producing, with ZDF Enterprises handling global sales.

“The series is the perfect combination of a well-known classic and the scandi crime genre,” said ZDFE’s Vice President - Drama, Robert Franke. “It marks a new beginning for scandi crime and proves that the genre has much more to offer than gloom and doom. It combines sophisticated, clever narratives with a new lighter look and feel. At the same time, it features complex and interesting characters with more redeeming qualities, without surrendering the multilayered storytelling we all love about Scandinavian crime shows.”

Franke said he will unveil at MIPDrama “a short sizzle so buyers can get excited about what is going to come their way very soon”. The series will premiere later this year on C More/TV4.

Furia (Fury) about right-wing extremism, is created by international Emmy-award winner Gjermund S Eriksen (Mammon), with Magnus Martens (The Walking Dead: World Beyond) and Lars Kraume (The People vs. Fritz Bauer) serving as co-directors.

The story is set in an idyllic Norwegian town. A shocking killing leads police investigator Asgeir (Pål Sverre Hagen of Beforeigners) to undercover cop Ragna (Ine Marie Willmann from Exit), as she infiltrates a nationalistic subculture. A journey into a horrifying underworld of hatred follows, and a terrorist plot that reaches from Norway’s mountains to the very heart of Europe is revealed.

In a previous interview (CLICK HERE) with us, Eriksen said he was partly inspired by Homeland "It [Fury] starts out as a regular crime show and it turns out as something deeper and very unique.” Homeland was extremely good at making a thriller story deepen your understanding of an important question: what triggers Islamic terror. We will hopefully engage the world in a different kind of conversation about how rightwing extremism works and how it relates to the digital world, with terrorists using internet and social media to spread their word."

The eight-part series is produced by Norway’s Monster Scripted, in co-production with Germany’s X Filme Creative Pool for NENT Group’s Viaplay and Germany’s ZDF. Lumiere Group handles Benelux and Keshet International (KI) the rest of the world.

Keren Shahar, KI's COO and President of Distribution said: "We are thrilled that Furia has been handpicked to be showcased to MIPTV's drama buyers this April. It's a great platform to alert buyers that this title will be available later this year. With its universal themes of far-right terrorism and with Ine Marie Willmann playing the kick-ass female lead, I think this title will appeal to global and local broadcasters looking to invest in an edge-of-your seat thriller."

Furia will premiere exclusively on Viaplay in the Nordics later this year.

The other international series selected for MIPDrama are:

• period drama Anne Boleyn (UK) produced by Fable Pictures for Channel 5
• drama Container (Russian Federation) produced by Yellow, Black & White for START
• thriller Don’t Leave Me (Italy) produced by Paypermoon Italia for RAI.
• comedy-drama Feudal (Canada) produced by Sex Eleven Media, eOne for CBC
• comedy Lucky Day - working title (Switzerland) produced by IDIP Films, Perpetual Soup for RTS
• political drama Pandore (Belgium) produced by Artemis Productions for RTBF
• comedy-drama Supernormal (Spain) produced by Movistar+ with Secuoya.
• crime/thriller The Beast Must Die (UK) produced by New Regency TV I, Scott Free for BritBox, AMC
• thriller drama The Winemaker (Germany/Austria) produced by Good Friends Filmproduktion with Satel Film for ZDF and Servus TV
• crime series Whitstable Pearl (UK) produced by Buccaneer Media for Acorn TVX.

MIPDrama’s curated programme was put together by top industry professionals part of MIPDrama Advisory Board including

• Ignacio Barrera, SVP, Sales, & Business Development, Telemundo Global Studios (USA),
• Geraldine Easter, Director of programming & Acquisitions, Nine Network (Australia),
• Aline Marrache-Tesseraud, Senior Vice President, Development, Original Scripted Content, Universal Music Media & Content (France),
• Anette Romer, Format Consultant, STV Productions (Denmark),
• Sarah Wright, Director of Sky Cinema & Acquisitions, Sky (UK)
• Viktoria Wasilewski, Head of Content, Amazon Italia Services.