Viaplay backs Swedish female creators

The two high-end Swedish TV dramas will premiere exclusively on NENT Group’s Nordic streaming service Viaplay in the fall 2019.

The eight-part crime thriller Honour (Heder) is created and executive produced by Helin (The Bridge/Bron), Rapaport (Mother Goose/Gåsmamman) Lundqvist (Alex), Dufenius (Modus), with the latter three also starring in the series, together with Eva Röse (Maria Wern).

Birgitta Wännström is producing for Bigster, with Ecco Rights handling world distribution. 

Heder is the name of a law firm headed by four female partners and long-time friends, on a mission to make the world a better place for women, victims of violence. But can the truth ever come to light when the lawyers themselves are hiding the darkest secret of all?

Gåsmamman’s star Rapaport said: “After long years of searching for a context where I would work with my female colleagues, all the pieces fell in place when Sofia Helin came to us with the idea of four lawyers with a common dark past. From her idea, we then created Honour."

Wannström added: "Honour is extremely important in the current climate and the proof that the industry is starting to change. We show that four amazing female actors can each have their main role in the same series and that five women together can produce it. The cooperation is as challenging as rewarding, and it is bold and innovative from Viaplay to bet on us."

Helin, Rapaport, Dufvenius, Lundqvist, Röse, Wännström will be on hand this Wednesday at Content London to present the case study of Honour, together Ecco Rights’ Nicola Söderlund and Viaplay’s Director of Programmes Fredrik Ljungberg. 

Love Me (Älska Mig) is written and directed by high profile actress Josephine Bornebusch (Welcome to Sweden, Solsidan) who recently did her directorial debut with the children’s film Jerry Maya’s Detective Agency 4-The First Mystery.

Bornebusch also stars alongside Sverrir Gudnason (Borg vs McEnroe/The Girl in the Spider’s Web), Johan Ulveson, Ia Langhammer (The Truth Will Out), Gustav Lindh (Jordskott) and Görel Crona (Spring Tide). The six-part romantic comedy series about friendship, grief and romance spans three generations of Stockholmers. Sofie Palage (Garden Lane) is producing for Warner Bros Int’l Television Production Sweden, in co-production with Film Capital Stockholm.

Jakob Mejlhede Andersen, NENT Group EVP and Head of Content said: “This comedy drama has the pacing, production values and psychological depth associated with the very best Nordic drama productions, but this time with more laughs.”

Honour and Love Me are the latest additions to Viaplay’s original production output, which has now reached 20 Nordic titles a year. The Swedish crime series The Truth Will Out starring Robert Gustafsson was just released on the Swedish streaming service on Friday, after a successful run on co-production partner Discovery Networks Sweden/Kanal5.