Humans creator lifts lid on slate

Matador Film, which made Real Humans for Swedish public broadcaster SVT, is developing mystery thriller 1001 as a co-production with France’s Gaumont TV Europe and Eyeworks Scandi Fiction.

The show, which is in its early stages, is a contemporary drama about a policewoman. She receives a demand from a murderer who is threatening to kill again, unless he receives a very specific sum of money. The amount in question is a veiled message to a group of government officials that he knows a secret about a 1980s medical project that went wrong. Matador Film is run by Henrik Widman and Lars Lundström.

The latter told Broadcast: “It’s quite dark and full of madness, with twisted elements. It’s set in a place that looks like Scandinavia but you’re not really sure where it is.” The company is currently in talks with several European broadcasters, and the decision to produce in English should make the drama an easier sale in the UK and the US.

Lundström (pictured), who previously wrote on Wallander, is also working on Jago, a political thriller set in a public relations office in Stockholm. The show, which will have Shakespearean overtones, is being developed for SVT.

Lundström told Broadcast he didn’t expect the English-language remake of Real Humans, which also airs on AMC in the US, to be such a hit.

Humans achieved an average consolidated audience of 4.7 million (17.6%) for C4 across eight episodes, nearly double the channel’s 2.5 million (9%) slot average.

“You never expect anything. You expect it to turn to shit, but you’re always very happy and surprised when it’s successful. The genre and the questions that it asked have international appeal. Kudos has done terrific work and I’m very proud of it,” Lundström said.

Nobel

Thriller about a man who returns from the war in Afghanistan. He finds himself in the middle of a political storm after killing an

Afghan man on the streets of Oslo to save a woman’s life. An 8 x 45-minute drama produced by

Monster Films for Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, created by Per-Olav Sørensen. Distributed globally by DRG.

Prospect

Afghanistan is also a key theme in Danish drama Prospect, which focuses on a former soldier who returns home from the conflict to find that his best friend has apparently killed himself. The 6 x 45-minute drama is produced by Fremantle Media-owned Miso Film for TV2 Denmark and was created by Sex, Drugs & Taxation writers Simon Pasternak and Christoffer Boe.

Modus

Miso Film is also adapting Anne Holt’s bestselling novel Fear Not for Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4. The 8 x 60-minute detective drama follows psychologist and profiler Inger Johanne Vik through a series of brutal murders. The show, which was written by Unit One’s Mai Brostrøm and Peter Thorsboe, will be launched by Fremantle Media International at Mipcom.

Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun, the first ever TV co-production between Sweden and France, was ordered by SVT and Canal+. It follows a French policewoman who travels to Sweden to investigate the bestial murder of a French citizen.

The 8 x 52-minute drama is produced by Nice Drama, Death In Paradise co-producer Atlantique Productions and Lagardère Entertainment’s GMT. It will be distributed internationally by StudioCanal.

Blue Eyes

A House Of Cards-meets-The Killing political thriller that revolves around the murder of a Swedish right-wing politician ahead of a general election.

The 10-part series has been produced by Strix Drama for SVT and is distributed by The Bridge sales agent ZDF Enterprises. The show is the first pick-up for the Channel 4-backed 4World Drama VoD service in the UK, and will also likely air on More 4.