TV 2 Denmark names Mette Nelund Head of Drama - highlights priorities and top series

Nelund (46) has worked for over two decades in the Danish film and TV industry - notably at Zentropa. She joined TV 2 in 2020 and has since been part of the senior executive team. As deputy head of drama, she has worked closely with the commercial public broadcaster's former head of drama Katrine Vogelsang, who over 11 years, played a crucial role in establishing the quality stamp of TV 2 Drama, both in Denmark and internationally.

Nelund is now heading a team of 14 fiction employees split into three new teams - two dedicated to content, and one for rights management and financing.

Each content team is run by a senior executive producer who together with executive producers and project managers, drive the series forward, in collaboration with independent producers and creative talents.

Heading one of the content teams as senior executive producer is Pernille Bech Christensen - Susanne Bier’s long-time editor, who most recently served as executive producer on TV 2’s White Sands and Arte co-produced drama DNA.

Commenting on Nelund’s appointment, TV 2’s Head of Content Lotte Lindegaard said “Danish fiction is one of our most important content areas, and the strong stories that we can gather around and reflect on are in high demand among the Danes,” referring notably to the hit series Seaside Hotel (Badehotellet). “Fiction is therefore also crucial for TV 2 PLAY and for TV 2's overall impact, and I am really happy that Mette Nelund has agreed to continue the important work of spearheading and further developing TV 2 Fiction,” continued Lindegaard, before adding:

“Mette will both put together the best team and create optimal conditions for everyone in the team to develop their skills. And at the same time, she has an important focus on the industry and on how TV 2, as the largest buyer of Danish fiction, can take joint responsibility for the challenges in the industry.”

Outlining her strategy, Nelund said her objective is three-fold:

• to continue to build on TV 2’s current drama success through a long-term development and investment strategy, by commissioning even more Danish fiction based on the stories that spring from the Danish society, culture and history, and by “creating a strong repertoire of high-quality stories that both contain vitality and recognisability”
• to expand TV 2’s position on the Danish market through new external collaborations for instance with international co-producers.
• to continue to take responsibility for the development of the Danish audiovisual industry, which she acknowledges “has been challenged in recent times, both by overheating, new business models and value chains, and most recently by the rights conflict (read here our coverage: CLICK HERE. “We must be even better at solving these challenges together,” Nelund underlined.

Among TV 2 Denmark’s drama series set to premiere in 2023 are:

• Chorus Girls (Dansegarderoben) feelgood period drama co-created and written by Ditte Hansen and Louise Mieritz for Apple Tree Productions.

• Agent, comedy written and directed by star actor Nikolaj Lie Kaas for Zentropa (see our story: CLICK HERE).

• Oxen, crime series co-written by Emmy-winning duo Mai Brostrøm and Peter Thorsboe from Jens Henrik Jensen’s eponymous book series, produced by SF Studios, see our story: CLICK HERE.

• Killjoy, co-created by Emma Sehested Høeg and Jennifer Vedsted Christiansen for Uma Film.
  

Star Danish filmmakers attached to TV 2 drama series include Lone Scherfig, whose hospital drama The Shift was nominated in 2022 for the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize-outstanding screenplay of a Nordic series, and Thomas Vinterberg’s much anticipated Families Like Ours, produced by Zentropa.