International TV

Starring: Peter Eggers, Joel Spira and Linda Zilliacus
Amazon price: £16.92
Released: October 28th 2013
Original network: SVT

‘Nordic noir’ is a fairly flexible concept, but largely, most people think of it as dark crimes being solved by the police in Scandinavian countries: think of The Killing, The Bridge, Those Who Kill et al. That’s certainly what you’ll be able to see on BBC4.

But as with any genre, there’s more to nordic noir than the acquisitions staff at TV networks decide to spend their money on. Anno 1790, a 2011 Swedish show, demonstrates this pretty clearly. As the name suggests, it’s set in Sweden in AD1790. It’s just after the French Revolution and anti-monarchy sentiment is catching like wildfire across in Europe. In Sweden, the king is making himself even less popular with a war against the Russians that’s killing many for little purpose but is thankfully coming to an end.

A doctor in the Swedish army, Johan Gustav Dåådh (Peter Eggers), finds his life changed forever when his compatriot Simon Freund (Joel Spira) is nearly killed in the war and asks Dåådh to take him home. Freund is the tutor of the children of Carl Fredrik Wahlstedt, the commissioner of Stockholm’s constabulary, and it’s not long before Dåådh is using his keen deductive skills, scientific knowledge and sense of justice to investigate crimes at Wahlstedt’s behest.

The only trouble? Not only is Dåådh a republican, a friend to some really quite violent anti-monarchists, and Wahlstedt nobility employed directly by the king, but Dåådh is falling in love with Wahlstedt’s wife, Magdalena (Linda Zilliacus) – and she with him.

It’s like CSI crossed with Whitechapel and Barry Lyndon, but all in Swedish. Here’s a trailer and an exclusive video to give you a taster. I’ll talk more about the show after the jump.

Continue reading “Review: Anno 1790 (season 1)”