The ambitious project The Great Century (Det stora århundradet) is the second Jan Guillou book-to-screen adaptation for Stockholm-based Dramacorp-Pampas Studios after Agent Hamilton, based on the Swedish best-selling author’s Hamilton spy novels.

Guillou has written so far nine books about The Great Century's main protagonists the Lauritzen brothers, born in a poor Norwegian fishermen family in the early 20th century, who set out on a lifetime of adventure and eventually build a family dynasty across Europe.

The first sweeping season will take us from a small Norwegian island to a fabled German university, on to the frozen mountains of Norway, the savannahs of Africa and English stately homes. Skavlan said he “loved” The Great Century, and feels “the Lauritzen family saga is more than a journey back in time with its themes of blind faith in new technology, the rise of nationalism, and the battle for gender equality and sexual freedom, it also holds up a mirror to our own divisive times,” he noted.

Dramacorp-Pampas Studios’ executive producer Patrick Nebout says the ambitious series will be “Scandinavia’s answer to The Crown or South and North, with a modern tone and take”.

Jens Alex, CEO of Dramacorp-Pampas Studios, added: “After the successful launch of Agent Hamilton, this is Dramacorp-Pampas Studios ‘next big thing’. We’re potentially looking at the most spectacular drama series ever to have come out of Scandinavia. Not surprisingly, the interest from broadcasters is huge.”

The joint venture Dramacorp Pampas Studios set up in 2016 between Nebout’s Dramacorp (co-owned by Beta Film) and Rolf Sohlman’s Pampas Produktion had a successful launch of its first drama series Agent Hamilton at MIPCOM, where actor Jakob Oftebro, director Erik Leijonborg and writer Petter Rosenlund were on hand for a promotional stint. The 10x60’ thriller produced for C More/TV4 and ZDF was pre-sold to TV2 Norway, DR and MTV3. A second season is in development. Beta Film handles world distribution.