Mipcom: On Tuesday the team of The Restaurant (Vår tid är nu), Banijay Rights and industry guests celebrated the show’s soaring ratings and Cannes launch.

The third episode of the Jarowskij family saga aired on SVT1 on Monday at 20:00 and posted a record 1,515,000 viewers for a 45.3% share, beating the 1,421,000 opening viewing numbers.

“We are so incredibly pleased that Swedes across all demographics are embracing the show, although we knew we had an amazing team between top writers Ulf Kvensler, Malin Nevander, Johan Roselind, producer Susann Billberg who worked on the Millennium films, and the cast consisting of a mix of strong seasoned actors and newcomers,"  said Iréne Lindblad, CEO at Jarowskij.

Promising actors Charlie Gustafsson and Hedda Rehnberg who play respectively Calle, the kitchen boy who falls for Nina Löwander, and Suzanne Goldstein, the young French Jewish Holocaust survivor who befriends Peter Löwander, were at hand at MIPCOM to promote the show. Gustafsson who had no interest whatsoever in cooking before making the show, was trained and inspired by Swedish Michelin star chef Håkan Thörntröm and had to learn the kitchen hierarchy. The 25 year-old said he enjoyed mostly creating ‘an emotional and sensitive Calle’, a ‘modern man in 1940s-50s Sweden. Hedda Rehnberg, a natural French-Swedish-English speaker, said she tried to convey the complexity of her character, a vulnerable young woman arriving alone in Sweden from Auschwitz and desperate to integrate. “I tried not to play a victim and balance her vulnerability with her inner-strength,” told Rehnberg to nordicfilmandtvnews.com.     

For Jarowskij’s CEO, the biggest challenge on The Restaurant was bringing together for the first time the Swedish broadcaster SVT and streaming service Viaplay and locking the financing. “We broke new ground by creating this ‘unholy alliance’, and getting 20x1h episodes commissioned in one go. We’re now developing season 3 and waiting for it to be greenlit. “

The show The Restaurant backed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, is sold internationally by Banijay Rights. It is currently programmed on Finland’s YLE Fem and Yle Arena and it will premiere on NRK on October 29.