Unlimited Stories’ six-part thriller The Lost (Försvunna människor) is also due to launch in Denmark (DR), Finland (MTV3), Norway (NRK), and Benelux (Lumiere), the co-financing partners. The show was co-produced by SVT, Film i Väst, with backing from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Known earlier under the English working title ‘Missing People’, The Lost is directed by actress-turned-director Tova Magnusson (Solsidan, The Most Forbidden) from an original screenplay by Ulf Ryberg, credited for the Bafta-nominated film Headhunters, and Millennium’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet‘s Nest.

The realistic drama thriller centres on Erwin (Peter Viitanen) who drives over the Öresund Bridge into Sweden on a hot summer day, with eight Syrian refugees smuggled in his tanker truck. For him it’s a humanitarian act, but for his boss Lunt (Ville Virtanen), it’s a lucrative business.

Pregnant Mouna is one of the refugees. When she and a feverish boy can't handle the stuffy air in the tank, Erwin hides them in the back of the driver's cab, when suddenly he sees a police checkpoint on the road.

The SVT series was selected for the EBU ‘Proud to Present Fiction 2022’ showcase, among alongside nine of the best new European public service fiction series for adults. The European Broadcasting Union’s event will unspool November 15.

Earlier Scandinavian series sold by REinvent to AMC Networks for Spain and Portugal include the Finnish ‘ordi-noir’ Transport, produced by Tekele for Yle, and the comedy Ordinary People produced by Glassriver for Síminn.