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Wallander (British TV series)

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Wallander
Wallander opening titles, featuring Kenneth Branagh
GenreCrime
Written byNovels
Henning Mankell
Screenplays
Richard Cottan
Richard McBrien
Directed byPhilip Martin
Niall MacCormick
StarringKenneth Branagh
Opening theme"Nostalgia" by Emily Barker
ComposersMartin Phipps
Vince Pope
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producersFrancis Hopkinson
Anne Mensah
Rebecca Eaton
Hans-Wolfgang Jurgen
Anni Faurby
Ole Søndberg
Kenneth Branagh
Andy Harries
ProducersDaniel Ahlqvist
Simon Moseley
Production locationsYstad, Sweden
CinematographyAnthony Dod Mantle
Jan Jonaeus
Igor Martinvoic
Lukas Strebel
EditorsTony Cranstoun
Kristina Hetherington
Running time89 min.
Production companiesLeft Bank Pictures
Yellow Bird
TKBC
Original release
NetworkBBC One/BBC HD
Release30 November 2008 –
present

Wallander is a British television series adapted from the Swedish novelist Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels and starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous police inspector. The six-episode series, produced by Yellow Bird, Left Bank Pictures and TKBC for BBC Scotland, was broadcast first on BBC One from November to December 2008. It is the first time the Wallander novels have been adapted into an English-language production. Yellow Bird, formed by Mankell, began negotiations with British companies to produce the adaptations in 2006. In 2007, Branagh met with Mankell personally to discuss playing the role. Contracts were signed and work began on the films, adapted from Sidetracked, Firewall and One Step Behind, in January 2008. Emmy-award-winning director Philip Martin was hired as lead director. Martin worked with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle to establish a visual style for the series. The two were keen to use the Red One digital camera, making Wallander the first British television series to do so.

Using scripts adapted by Richard Cottan and Richard McBrien, filming ran for 12 weeks from April to July 2008 in Wallander's hometown of Ystad, Sweden. The series had a budget of £7.5 million, drawn from the BBC and from pre-sales to Germany and America; Germany's ARD Degeto and America's WGBH Boston are credited as co-producers for their budget contribution. Critics have written positively of the series. The three films were broadcast on BBC One on 30 November, 7 December, and 14 December 2008 respectively. The second series was filmed from July to October 2009 and was broadcast from 3 January 2010.[1] The BBC hopes that Wallander will become a returning series, in the style of Inspector Morse. The series has won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award (Best Actor for Branagh) and six British Academy Television Awards, including Best Drama Series.

Episodes

First series

  • Sidetracked (aired 30 November 2008).
  • Firewall (aired 7 December 2008).
  • One Step Behind (aired 14 December 2008).

Second series

  • Faceless Killers (aired 3 January 2010).
  • The Man Who Smiled (aired 10 January 2010).
  • The Fifth Woman (aired 17 January 2010).

Characters

The protagonist, Kurt Wallander, is played by Kenneth Branagh. Branagh describes Wallander as "an existentialist [...] who is questioning what life is about and why he does what he does every day, and for whom acts of violence never become normal. There's a level of empathy with the victims of crime that's almost impossible to contain, and one of the prices he pays for that sort of empathy is a personal life that's a kind of wasteland."[2] In the novels, Wallander regularly listens to opera in his apartment and his car. This signature hobby has been dropped for this adaptation; producer Francis Hopkinson believes it would make Wallander too similar to Inspector Morse, whose love of opera is already familiar to British viewers.[3] Branagh did not watch any of the Swedish Wallander films before playing the role, preferring to bring his own interpretation of the character to the screen.[4]

Wallander's team at the Ystad police station is made up of: Anne-Britt Hoglund (played by Sarah Smart), Svedberg (played by Tom Beard), and Martinsson (played by Tom Hiddleston). Of Wallander and Hoglund, Smart said, "Our relationship is based on this impeccable mutual respect which is all very Scandinavian and, actually, more interesting to play."[2] The team is joined at murder scenes by Nyberg (played by Richard McCabe), a forensics expert. The team is overseen by Lisa Holgersson (played by Sadie Shimmin), Ystad's chief of police. Away from the police station, Wallander has a tempestuous relationship with his daughter Linda (played by Jeany Spark), and his father Povel (played by David Warner), who Wallander discovers in Sidetracked has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Wallander's father spends his days sitting in an art studio, painting the same landscape repeatedly. He is taken care of by his new wife Gertrude (played by Polly Hemingway).

Production

Kenneth Branagh approached Henning Mankell personally, asking if he could play Wallander

In 2006, Yellow Bird managing director Morten Fisker opened discussions with British production companies about developing English-language adaptations of the Kurt Wallander novels, to which Yellow Bird holds the distribution rights. The BBC and Channel 4 were believed to be involved in discussions; the BBC had already announced plans to adapt Mankell's The Return of the Dancing Master. Fisker wanted to bring a new detective to British screens to replace Inspector Morse, who had been killed off on-screen in 2000. Actors proposed to play Wallander were Trevor Eve, Neil Pearson, Jason Isaacs, David Morrissey, Clive Owen and Michael Gambon.[5] Negotiations were still under way in 2007, when Kenneth Branagh met Henning Mankell at an Ingmar Bergman film festival and asked to play Wallander. Branagh had started reading the Wallander books "relatively late" but enjoyed them, and read all nine translated novels in a month.[2][6] Mankell agreed to let Branagh play the role, and Branagh visited Ystad in December to scout for locations and meet Film i Skånes chief executive Ralf Ivarsson.[7]

A series of three 90-minute adaptations was commissioned by BBC Scotland's Anne Mensah and BBC Controller of Fiction Jane Tranter in January 2008. Like Morten Fisker, the BBC wanted a returning series that would have the same audience appeal as Inspector Morse, Prime Suspect and Cracker. Yellow Bird was contracted as a co-producer, working with Left Bank Pictures, a production house formed in 2007 by former ITV Controller of Comedy, Drama and Film Andy Harries. Harries described Wallander as "more than just a detective series" and that it would be visually "very picture postcard". The first series consists of adaptations of Sidetracked, One Step Behind and Firewall.[8] Philip Martin was hired as lead director of the series, and met with Branagh, Harries and Left Bank producer Francis Hopkinson in January. The four discussed how the adaptations would appear on screen, agreeing that the characterisations, atmosphere and ideas would be difficult to portray on screen. Richard Cottan was hired to adapt Mankell's novels, and delivered his first scripts in February.[9] Cottan changed the plots of some of the books in order to fit them into a 90-minute adaptation, though made sure the scripts retained Wallander's "journey".[10] The following month, Martin began discussions with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle about what visual style the films would have. They agreed to use the Red One digital camera to shoot on,[9] which has a near-35 mm resolution and is not as expensive as 35 mm; Dod Mantle said that the BBC "has politics" about the cheaper 16 mm and Super 16.[11] Casting of British actors, which was done in London, was completed by April, and the whole crew moved over to Ystad to begin rehearsals. Martin wanted the actors playing police officers to know how to fire a gun, so arranged for them to spend time at a firing range using live ammunition.[9]

Series 1

A £6 million budget was originally assigned to the first series,[8] which increased to £7.5 million.[12] Half of that came from the BBC, and the rest from pre-sale co-production funding from American WGBH Boston and German ARD Degeto, and a tax deduction for filming in Sweden.[13][14]

Location filming was principally set in Ystad. Interior sets were constructed at Ystad Studios under the supervision of Anders Olin, who also designed the sets of the Swedish Wallander films. The main police station set is 500 square metres, twice the size of Olin's previous sets.[15] For exterior shots of the police station, a combination of the Ystad railway station and swimming pool was used.[16] Mock-ups of Ystads Allehanda, a local newspaper, were produced as working props. Producer Simon Moseley explained that the mock-ups use Swedish words that can be understood by English-speaking audiences.[4] Moseley also explained that some pronunciations of Swedish words are Anglicised (such as the pronunciation of "Ystad" and "Wallander"), as "the authentic local accent is very strange to English ears and we didn't want to stray into Allo! Allo! territory".[2] Like Branagh, Philip Martin did not watch any of the Swedish-language Wallander films so that he could bring a fresh interpretation to the films.[3] Filming was scheduled for 66 days over 12 weeks in Sweden; each film would be shot back-to-back over 22 days.[4][11] Martin directed the first and third films and Niall MacCormick directed the second.[9] Dod Mantle was keen to conceive a good style for what could become a long-running series.[11]

Filming on Sidetracked commenced on 14 April on location at a townhouse in Södra Änggatan, Ystad. Parking of cars was forbidden in the surrounding residential areas during shooting, though the locals were used to this, having had the Swedish Wallander films filming there for years.[17] The same week, filming was done at Häckeberga Castle near Genarp. Another castle was going to be used, but the deal fell through. The manager of Häckeberga Castle, which had been turned into a hotel, allowed filming to take place there on the night of 17 April, though guests had to be moved to stables for the night.[18] Scenes set in the rapeseed field were filmed at Charlottenlund Mansion. Location scouts had been impressed with the look of the winter rapeseed. The team from Danish Special Effects had difficulty setting the field on fire.[19] Using the Red One digital camera meant that rushes could be viewed on set, saving time on the already tight schedule.[11] Martin and Dod Mantle believed that the Red captured the Swedish light well, so there was no need to use big lighting rigs. The cheaper filming option meant that the budget could be used on other things.[20]

One Step Behind was filmed in May. The opening scene, featuring a multiple murder and burial in the woods, was filmed on location at the Hagestads nature reserve. A large hole was needed for the shallow grave, so Yellow Bird approached the local authority for permission. The request was granted on the same day as it was lodged, with the stipulation that the hole be filled in after filming.[21] Niall MacCormick arrived in Sweden to film Firewall in June,[9] concluding in the third week of July.[22] Danish Special Effects also worked on body squibs, bullet hits and atmospheric effects. Their post-production work was completed in August.[23] While the crew were in Sweden, editing was done at The Chimney Pot in Stockholm. Post-production was completed by The Farm in London.[20][24] Martin Phipps composed the soundtrack to the series.[9] A version of "Nostalgia" by Australian singer-songwriter Emily Barker is the opening theme.[25]

Series 2

The production of three new films based on Faceless Killers, The Fifth Woman and The Man Who Smiled was confirmed by the BBC in May 2009 to start in the summer in Ystad.[26] The BBC broadcast the series in January 2010.[27] Richard Cottan wrote Faceless Killers and The Fifth Woman, while Simon Donald wrote The Man Who Smiled.[28] Hettie MacDonald directed Faceless Killers, Andy Wilson handled The Man Who Smiled while Aisling Walsh directed The Fifth Woman. Photographer Igor Martinovic (director of photography on Man on Wire, the Academy Award winning documentary) worked with Macdonald and Wilson while Lukas Strebel, who won an Emmy in 2009 for Little Dorrit, was in charge of photography for “The Fifth Woman.[29] .[30]

The second series started shooting on 22 June 2009. The film crew consisted of slightly more Britons, as the Swedish language films were still filming in the area until December 2009. Yellow Bird's Daniel Ahlqvist said, "It is a quite special that we are doing two different Wallander productions at the same time. So it has been a little bit tougher to recruit competent personnel here in Skåne. We came to the conclusion that if we cannot get people from Skåne, we might as well bring in folks from the UK rather than Stockholm." The landscape of Skåne will be a big part of the second series. Shooting will start in the outskirts of Ystad but a big scene in Ystad city square is planned. Scenes are also planned to be filmed at the summer residence that served as the home for Wallander's father. Faceless killers, was first in the shooting schedule, followed by The Fifth Woman and last The Man Who Smiled. As with Series 1, each episode is filmed over approximately 22–23 days, with just 3–5 days set aside for studio recording, and the rest for location shooting.[31] On 23 June, the film team spent all day in Simrishamn, a coastal town north east of Ystad. Scenes were shot at the local police station and in the town square. Production Manager Nina Sackmann explained that "the town was perfect for what we needed to convey with this film".[32] On 21 July, the portions of road 1015 passing by The Karlsfält Farmland Estate north of Ystad was closed from 11 p.m. until midnight to accommodate the film crew.[33]

On 18 August, closing scenes of The Fifth Woman, where Kurt Wallander is dragged away at gunpoint, were shot on location at Ystad railway station. On the right side of the railway track, this dramatic scene was being filmed and on the left side, commuters were exiting the train. About 40 meters away, the Swedish language Wallander film Vålnaden (The Ghost) was being filmed at the same time.[34][35] Earlier in the week, scenes were shot at an old automobile repair and maintenance shop from 1928 in Hammenhög village. Part of the building had served as a flower shop when Mankell wrote The Fifth Woman and, since a murder victim is a flower shop owner, it was convenient to shoot in the now abandoned building.[36]

Filming on The Man Who Smiled began at the beginning of September. Location production on the episode concluded on 2 October. The first couple of weeks featured location work outside of the swimming baths—which doubles as the exterior of the police station. For the last two weeks, production moved to locations around the countryside of Österlen.[37] On Monday evening September 14, the Ystad city square was closed off to film an important action scene from The Man Who Smiled where Kurt Wallander comes running across the square as a car explodes. The clear blue September sky caused problems with the lighting and they had to wait until the sun started to set.[38]

Kenneth Branagh explained that the challenge for filming series one was to “create” the strange world of Ystad, in part as Henning Mankell sees it, in part as script writer Rick Cottan saw it and then upon arrival realize that the town looks different. "To get all these different visions to work together was a bit nervous last year. This year the pressure is to develop the style of this show and develop the characters, for example the other policemen at the station. Branagh claimed that there had been no problems shooting due to weather conditions except the last day of filming: "Henning Mankell often writes about the long Swedish summer rains, but during two years of filming we have not seen any of that. No wonder British tourists like to visit." He also stated that there is a possibility of a third series. "It all depends on how these new episodes are received, but I think I really would like to film more episodes. But we also need to feel that we have something more to offer, more to tell and that the scripts are good."[39] Any filming on a third series would be postponed until 2011, to allow Branagh to work on Thor.[40] Yellow Bird's Daniel Ahlqvist believes that The White Lioness's South African setting will make it difficult to film, and the post-Cold War plot of The Dogs of Riga is no longer relevant, but sees no reason why Before the Frost and some new story ideas, in the same vein as the original Yellow Bird films could not be developed for the BBC.[41]

Local politicians supported and invested 8,000,000 Swedish kronor (roughly £ 750,000) in the second Wallander series through Film i Skåne, a regional resource and production centre.[42]

Series 2 features some interesting choices of actors for minor roles. Fredrik Gunnarsson features in Faceless Killers as Valfrid Strom, Gunnarson appears in 17 episodes of the Swedish language Yellow Bird produced Mankell's Wallander series of films as uniformed police officer Svartman. Rune Bergman had a minor role in the Swedish language adaptation of Faceless Killers and also featured in the Yellow Bird Wallander films. Patrik Karlson featured in the Swedish language adaptation of The Man Who Smiled as well as the Yellow Bird Wallander film Mastermind. Bergman and Karlson have the distinction of appearing in films starring the three different Kurt Wallander actors. Karin Bertling also appears in Faceless Killers and has previously worked on the Mankell's Wallander film Before the Frost.

Series 3

The Guardian has reported that a third series of Wallander consisting of six episodes has been commissioned, to include three new scripts which are not adaptations from Henning Mankell's original novels. A senior production source claims that the broadcaster is looking at producing the original screenplays first, then tackling three adaptations of Mankell's 'The Dogs of Riga', 'The White Lioness' and 'The Pyramid'. Filming depends on Branagh's availability. This has yet to be officially confirmed, however, by either the BBC or the series producers.[43] [44]

In a short interview on 28 January 2010 on Sveriges Radio P4, the main local radio station for Skåne County, Yellow Bird producer Daniel Ahlqvist said that no contracts had been signed, but that a discussion was ongoing with the concerned parties. The main issue was the choice of which books could be developed for television. Ahlqvist stressed that Yellow Bird wanted to stay as close to Mankell’s original stories as possible. Another important aspect would be to give Wallander some new challenges in his private life. Ahlqvist stated that the two main concerns were an official decision from the BBC and Branagh's availability to film.[45] Local newspaper Ystad Allehanda has reported Ahlqvist as saying that further Wallander films were very probable but that he but did not know when such a project might happen.[46]

Broadcast

A public screening of Sidetracked was given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on 10 November 2008, and was followed by a question-and-answer session with Philip Martin and Kenneth Branagh.[47] A gala premiere of Sidetracked was held in Ystad on 23 November, a week before it was broadcast in Britain.[48] Sidetracked's first British broadcast came on BBC One on 30 November, followed by Firewall on 7 December, and One Step Behind on 14 December. Episodes were simulcast on BBC HD.[49] BBC Four broadcast programmes and films to complement the series; the schedule included a documentary by John Harvey entitled Who is Kurt Wallander, as well as the Swedish adaptation of the Linda Wallander novel Before the Frost, and Mastermind, an installment of the Mankell's Wallander film series starring Krister Henriksson.[6][50][51]

The series has already been sold to 14 countries and territories across the world, including TV4 Sweden, TV2 Norway, DR Denmark, MTV3 Finland, France on M6, Canada, Slovenia, Australia, Lumiere Benelux and Svensk Film for its pan Scandinavian feed.[52][53] BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm, sold the series to further buyers at the Mipcom television festival in October 2008.[54] In the United States, PBS secured the broadcast rights through the co-production deal struck between its affiliate WGBH Boston and the BBC. It aired as part of the Masterpiece Mystery! in May 2009.[55] In advance of the broadcast, Branagh and WGBH Boston's Rebecca Eaton presented a screening of an episode at The Paley Center for Media on 29 April.[56] In Germany, ARD broadcast the first series episodes on 29 and 30 May, and 1 June 2009.[57] TV4 broadcast the first series in Sweden from 11 October 2009.[40]

Reception

Critical reaction

The series received a positive reception from critics, who praised both Branagh's performance and the character he played; in a preview of the BBC's Autumn season, Mark Wright of The Stage Online wrote that Branagh was "a good fit" for the character and had "high hopes for the success of [the] series".[58] Previewing Sidetracked, The Times's David Chater called Branagh "superb as Kurt Wallander", and the series "one of those superior cop shows in which the character of the detective matters more than the plot".[59] In a feature in The Knowledge, a supplement of The Times, Paul Hoggart called Branagh's performance "understated, ruminative, warm, sensitive and depressed" and wrote positively of the design and cinematography and concluded by writing that "Wallander is that rare treasure: a popular form used for intelligent, thoughtful, classy drama and superbly shot".[6] At the time the series was commissioned, Scottish author Ian Rankin expressed disappointment to The Scotsman that BBC Scotland was producing adaptations of Swedish literature; "My main caveat is that there's so much good, complex and diverse Scottish crime writing going on right now that I'd like to have seen BBC Scotland pick up on that".[60]

Reviewing Sidetracked after it aired, Tom Sutcliffe for The Independent called it, "often a visually dazzling experience, the camerawork as attentive to the contours of Branagh's stubbly, despairing face as it was to the Swedish locations in which the action took place or the bruised pastels of a Munch sunset". He praised Branagh's acting but felt the Wallander character was "shallower than the performance, the disaffection and Weltschmerz just another detective gimmick".[61] The Guardian's Kira Cochrane was also complimentary to Branagh, calling him "faultless", but was not impressed with the scenes between Wallander and his father, which she believed slowed the pace of the film, as she did not want to learn Wallander's entire backstory immediately. Like Sutcliffe, Cochrane praised the cinematography and was pleased that the ending "tied up nicely".[62] Andrew Billen of The Times wrote, "This distinctly superior cop show is both spare and suggestive, and brilliantly acted." He took time to adjust to Kenneth Branagh as Wallander, and found the warm blue skies of Sweden unexpected.[63] Billen's and Cochrane's opinions of the child abuse storyline differed; Billen believed that it was "used too often in fiction, but here it meant something",[63] though Cochrane called it a "familiar element".[62] In The Daily Telegraph, James Walton was disappointed with the revelation that the crimes stemmed from sexual abuse; "once quite a daring TV subject, now a rather clichéd short cut to the black recesses of the human heart". Walton, like others, was complimentary of Branagh, and concluded by writing, "The series still probably won't appeal to fans of Heartbeat, but if you fancy an undoubtedly classy antidote to the cosy cop show, you could do a lot worse."[64] The broadcast had an average 6.2 million viewers and 23.9% audience share.[65] The episode began with a peak of 6.9 million (25.4%) but dropped to 5.8 million (24.6%) at the end. 57.2% of the audience was from the upmarket ABC1 demographic and 6.1% were in the age 16–34 demographic. The average viewer rating was down 300,000 on the same timeslot in the previous week.[66] Final ratings, incorporating those who watched via DVR, was 6.54 million, making it the eighth-most-watched programme on BBC One that week.[67] An editorial in The Independent complained that the episode's closing credits ran too fast; a hundred names were displayed in 14 seconds.[68] Branagh called the speed of the credits "insulting". The actors' union Equity also complained to BBC director general Mark Thompson.[69]

Firewall was seen by 5.6 million (23% share), 600,000 viewers and one share point down on the previous week.[70] Final ratings boosted it to 5.90 million and the tenth-most-watched broadcast on BBC One that week.[67] In The Guardian, Sam Wollaston wrote, "with the greyness, the cold, the Scandinavian sadness, and a troubled Kenneth Branagh mooching around in the gloom trying to figure out who killed these people so horribly, it's all pretty perfect."[71] Andrew Billen wrote in The Times that Wallander and Ella's relationship not working out is conventional for a television detective drama, though liked how Wallander's depression "has grown out of the failure of his marriage and the experiences of his career".[72] On TV Scoop website, John Beresford wrote that the episode "went quickly downhill" from the murder of the taxi driver in the opening minutes; "Pedestrian plots, characters that wander aimlessly about with next to nothing to do or say, and a format that seems better fitted for radio than it is for television. By that I mean the endless shots where there's a someone on the left of the screen, someone on the right, and they stand there for hours tal...king...verrrry...slow...ly to each other with absolutely nothing else happening."[73] One Step Behind received overnight ratings of 5.6 million (22.4%).[74] Final ratings were recorded as 5.66 million, making it the week's twelfth-most-watch programme on BBC One.[67] David Chater's Times preview called Branagh "a masterpiece of vulnerability and despair". He wrote of the conclusion: "a climactic scene that has been done dozens of times in thrillers, on this one occasion it felt entirely believable".[75] The Daily Record named it "Best of this week's TV"[76] though it was criticised in The Herald; David Belcher called it "far worse than initially reckoned. Never has there been a less observant, more irritating fictional detective". Belcher hoped that no more adaptations would be made.[77]

In a review called "Wåll-and-ör–den äkta Wallander" (the title is first poking fun at Branagh’s pronunciation of Wallander while at the same time calling this Wallander version the real or proper Wallander), Martin Andersson of Southern Sweden’s main daily newspaper Sydsvenskan was very positive to Branagh’s interpretation of Wallander, and thought BBC series to be of better quality then the current Swedish-language series of films. He emphasises that not only is Branagh’s performance of higher quality than the current Swedish Wallander actor Krister Henriksson, but the BBC series really understands how to use the nature and environment of the Skåne province to tell the proper story and added that as a person from Southern Sweden he recognized all the settings and they had never looked as beautiful as in this production.[78]

Awards

Branagh won the award for best actor at the 35th Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Awards (2009). It is his first major television award win in the UK.[79] The series was nominated for Best Drama Series but lost to The Devil's Whore.[79][80] The series, represented by Sidetracked, won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. Richard Cottan, Kenneth Branagh, Philip Martin and Francis Hopkinson are named as the nomination recipients.[81] At the BAFTA Television Craft Awards, the series won four of five nominations: Martin Phipps for Original Television Music, Anthony Dod Mantle for Photograph & Lighting (Fiction/Entertainment), Jacqueline Abrahams for Production Design, and Bosse Persson, Lee Crichlow, Iain Eyre and Paul Hamblin for Sound (Fiction/Entertainment). Ray Leek was also nominated for his opening titles work.[82][83]

In May 2009, PBS distributed promotional DVDs of One Step Behind to members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for nomination consideration at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.[84] The episode was not nominated, but Branagh was nominated for his performance in the Outstanding Actor, Miniseries or Movie category and Philip Martin was nominated for Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special.[85] Kenneth Branagh has been placed on longlist in the Best Actor category of the 2010 National Television Awards.[86] The series was nominated for The TV Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards.[87]

In November 2009, the Royal Television Society presented the series with two awards at the 2009 RTS Craft & Design Awards; Aidan Farrell at post-production house The Farm was presented with the Effects (Picture Enhancement) award, and Martin Phipps and Emily Barker with the Music (Original Title) award for the opening theme. Anthony Dod Mantle was also nominated in the Lighting, Photography & Camera (Photography)—Drama category, and Bosse Persson, Lee Crichlow, Iain Eyre and Paul Hamblin in the Sound (Drama) category.[88] The series has been nominated in the Best Drama Series/Serial category at the Broadcast Awards 2010.[89] The International Press Academy has nominated the series for the Satellite Award for Best Miniseries and Branagh for the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.[90] The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has nominated Branagh for the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film for his performance in One Step Behind.[91]

Effect on the Wallander franchise

In a Radio Times interview, Henning Mankell announced that he has a new Wallander book in the works. Several Swedish media outlets have speculated that the renewed Wallander interest in the UK and the warm reception of the BBC adaptations has sparked a new motivation in writing further Wallander novels; Mankell's last book starring the Ystad inspector was originally published in 1999.[92][93][94] The new and final Kurt Wallander book, The Troubled Man, was published in Swedish in August 2009.[95]

The increase in sales of the novels already published in the UK was also attributed to the television series.[96]

Due to the success of the BBC series, Yellow Bird is now perusing the possibility of developing a French language series.[97]

Effect on Ystad

The series has resulted in a new interest among British tourists to visit Sweden, and especially Ystad and the Skåne province according to Itta Johnson, Marketing Strategist with Ystad County. Johnson reports that in the past British people were reluctant to visit Sweden since they saw the country as cold and expensive, but now questions are mostly about the light and the nature seen in the BBC series. Statistics Sweden reports that Skåne is the only Swedish region that has seen an increase in hotel visits during the first quarter of 2009. The largest increase in non-Scandinavian tourists is seen among Britons, who now count for 12% which is almost as large as the percentage of visitors from Germany, at 13%.[98] In 2009, Ystad saw an increase of tourists from the UK with 18%, and local politicians credit the BBC Wallander series with attracting British tourists.[99]

Itta Johnson estimates that 2-3 % of the people who watched the first series of Wallander on the BBC decided to visit the region. In 2008 tourism brought into Ystad 51 million Swedish kronor (c. £4.4 million) and with the influx of British tourists this number could very likely be higher for 2009.[100]

“A lot of travel organisers from the UK call and want to include Ystad in what they can offer their clients” says Marie Holmström, tourism coordinator with Ystad tourism agency. “This year (2009) we have 30% more hotel bookings from Great Britain, compared to last year. Kenneth Branagh says many good things about this town and we have received many requests from British press”.[101] Jolanta Olsson, tourism coordinator with Ystad tourism agency, says they get many requests from visiting Britons concerning shooting locations and where the film crew reside.[102]

Starting in October 2009, Ystad will start hosting a film festival with a focus on crime fiction. The festival is kick started with a marathon of series one and a speech by Yellow Bird producer Daniel Ahlqvist.[103]

Ystad was awarded the 2009 Stora Turismpriset (The Great Tourism Award). "The brand of Ystad as a film- and tourism town has been strengthened due consequent and longsighted film investments" said Pia Jönsson- Rajgård, President of Tourism in Skåne.[104]

Merchandise

Vintage has published paperbacks of the adapted novels with tie-in covers featuring Kenneth Branagh.[105] The DVD was published by 2 Entertain Video on 26 December 2008.[106] It features all three films, the Who is Kurt Wallander? documentary, and a 55-minute documentary entitled The Wallander Look. Half of The Wallander Look features Branagh and Mankell discussing Wallander. The DVD was released in the United States on 2 June 2009.[55]

The second series was released on DVD 8 Feb 2010.[107] Tie-in editions of the novels adapted for Series 2 will be published in February 2010.[108]

References

  1. ^ BBC Press Office (11 December 2009). "Network TV BBC Week 1: Sunday 3 January 2010". Press release. Retrieved on 11 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Dickson, E Jane (29 November–5 December 2008). "Death Becomes Him", Radio Times, BBC Magazines, pp. 12–16.
  3. ^ a b Arbsjö, Karin (17 April 2008), "Han är nye Wallander" (in Swedish), TT Spectra, Kuriren. Retrieved on 5 June 2008.
  4. ^ a b c Mårtensson, Ulf (30 May 2008). "Kenneth Branaghs liv som Kurt Wallander" (in Swedish), Ystads Allehanda, Skånemedia AB. Retrieved on 9 June 2008.
  5. ^ Duval Smith, Alex; Rob Sharp (2 July 2006). "Just what we need instead of miserable Morse...a gloomy Swedish detective", The Observer, Guardian News and Media. Retrieved on 18 April 2008.
  6. ^ a b c Hoggart, Paul (29 November 2008). "Sleuthing Swede", The Times, Times Newspapers. Retrieved on 29 November 2008.
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Further reading

—A comparison between Wallander and Mankell's Wallander.
—A detailed description of the cinematography and editing technology used on the series.
—An interview with director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle about the series' camera setup.
—An analysis of the political and social representation of Sweden in the novels and Wallander.

Videos

Interviews

Press releases

Preceded by British Academy Television Awards
Best Drama Series
2009 		Succeeded by
To be announced
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