Follow the Money 3, Magnus win big at Oslo Series Days

A jury of 12 leading TV reviewers from Denmark, Norway and Sweden handed out the awards on Wednesday evening, during the closing ceremony of the 4^th Oslo Series Days (Seriedagene Oslo).

In a statement, they said they awarded DR Drama’s Follow the Money 3 (Bedrag 3) for its ability ‘to take the popular Nordic noir genre in a new and more complex direction.”

The third season created by Jeppe Gjervig Gram is indeed more of a spin-off that a follow up, focusing on the rough world of street crime and drug dealing, unlike the first season that centred on the world of high financing.

The 10-part drama was conceptualised by Søren Balle (The Killing), with rising talents Milad Alami (The Charmer) and Gustav Möller (The Guilty) as episodic directors. The series was acquired by SVT, NRK, Yle, RÚV through the Nordic 12 alliance and by several international broadcasters including the BBC for the UK and Lumiere Group for Benelux. DR Sales handles world sales.

The jury of Oslo Series Days also celebrated NRK’s crime comedy Magnus for its freshness and ability to challenge the comic genre. “Although the series is full of characters who are inept in their jobs, it is in every way a total hit,” commented the jury. 

Created by Vidar Magnussen (who also stars as police inspector Magnus Undredal, Norwegian version of Inspector Clouseau) the series was produced by Anders Tangen (Viafilm) and commissioned by Christina Rezk-Resar, NRK Head of Comedy.

Two versions of the 6x30’ series were shot in Norwegian and English, with the latter version to be launched at MIPCOM. Hat Trick International handles world distribution on the Norwegian version.  

Magnus beat off competition in the Best Comedy category from SVT’s Dips and TV3 Denmark’s Hånd i hånd (Hand in hand), while Follow the Money 3 defeated five strong competitors: DR Drama’s Ride Upon the Storm 3, NRK’s Home Ground 2, TV2 Norway’s Kielergata, Kanal5’s The Truth Will Out and Netflix’s first Swedish original Quicksand.  

Co-organised by NRK, TV2, the Norwegian Film Institute and Aftenposten, the four-day Oslo Series Days (formerly Nordic Series Days) had a full programme of debates, master-classes, works in progress and preview screenings of upcoming high profile Norwegian series including NRK’ financial drama Exit, crime series Twin, youth drama 18, TV2’s thriller Witch Hunt and Viaplay’s supernatural drama Seizure.