Agent Hamilton
Jakob Oftebro is Agent Hamilton Source: distributor
Viewers kept asking when they would get to see more of the piercing blue eyes and strong cheekbones of Norwegian actor Jakob Oftebro in a second season of this spy thriller. Well, you’re in luck because season two of Agent Hamilton is now streaming. Based on the best-selling Hamilton novels by Jan Guillou the series stars the charismatic Oftebro in the lead role of Carl Hamilton. After training with the Navy SEALs in the United States, Hamilton returns to Sweden on a secret mission from his CIA employer. He has been given the assignment to hunt down a group of terrorists responsible for a series of bombings and cyber-attacks that shook Sweden to its core. But to make things more complicated, he also accepts a job at OP-5, a top-secret unit within the Swedish military, making him a double agent in the process. In season two audiences can enjoy four standalone stories which play out across two gripping episodes.
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The Lawyer
Frank Nordling (Alexander Karim) and sister Sara (Malin Buska) Source: SBS
A fast-paced thriller that’s Nordic Noir with a law procedural twist, featuring a distractingly attractive brother/sister duo out for revenge as the leads? Sign me up. As children, Frank Nordling (Alexander Karim) and his sister Sara (Malin Buska) witness the horrific deaths of their parents. As adults Frank is a promising defence lawyer, while Sara is a Malmö police officer with secrets of her own. When they learn the truth behind their adoptive parents’ deaths, it’s time for vengeance. They were murdered by one of the leaders in Copenhagen’s criminal underworld, Thomas Waldman (Thomas Bo Larsen). To Frank’s horror, Waldman also happens to be one of the law firm’s most prominent clients. To avenge their parents’ deaths, Frank must infiltrate Waldman’s organisation and become his personal lawyer and trusted confidant. While Sara uses the other side of the law to get revenge, but at what cost?
Trapped
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson has been called “The Hottest Man in Iceland”. Source: SBS
In a small Icelandic fishing port, a ferry from Denmark docks. That same day a dismembered body is found in the river, sparking an investigation. As sheriff Andri Ólafsson (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) is waiting for the forensics team to arrive he realises this murder was recent – and the killer is most likely either on the ferry or in the town – and, thanks to the worsening weather, no one is getting in or out. In this small town finding a dead torso is just the beginning.
Series lead Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is a glorious superstar, standing at 6 foot 5 with a lush beard – it's no surprise he is one of Iceland’s major stars and sex symbols. The other element your eyes will admire is where the series was filmed, the small and remarkably beautiful town of Seyðisfjörður. Plus, let’s not leave your other senses out of it: Trapped features music composed by Academy Award winner Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker) and nominee Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario, The Theory Of Everything). Every element makes this peak Nordic Noir excellence.
Beforeigners
A kick-arse Viking shieldmaiden becomes a no-nonsense detective in modern day Norway. This series makes you think, I don’t know if I want to be you, or marry you?! In Beforeigners, people from three time periods – the Stone age, the Viking age and the late 1800s – suddenly appear in the present. No one understands how this is possible, and the people from the past, dubbed 'beforeigners', have no memory of what's happened. When a woman with Stone-Age tattoos is murdered, silver fox Detective Lars Haaland (Nicolai Cleve Broch) is teamed up with the equally appealing former Viking shieldmaiden Alfhildr Enginnsdottir (Krista Kosonen), the first police officer with Viking origin, to solve the mysterious murder.
Part Nordic Noir crime show, part supernatural drama, part buddy comedy, this HBO Nordic original will hook you in with its excellent characters plus season two sees Alfhildr and Lars investigating whether Jack the Ripper has jumped the time-space continuum as a newly arrived beforeigner.
Borgen
Sidse Babett Knudsen as Birgitte Nyborg and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Katrine Fønsmark in Borgen Source: SBS On Demand
If you like political dramas, then you can’t go past Borgen.
Stella Blómkvist
Heida Reed as Stella Blómkvist Source: Distributor
Stella Blómkvist (Heida Reed) will set your pulse racing with amazing hair and thrilling storylines in this stylish, sexy and dangerous neo-noir crime drama from Iceland. A character from a bestselling book series, Blómkvist is a ruthless, badass and cunning lawyer, with a flexible moral compass and fluid sexuality. She’s difficult to describe but head writer Jóhann Ævar Grímsson , “She manages, somehow, to be the detective and the femme fatale in one package… She’s in it for the money, but she has this one niggling problem – she has a conscience and a soft spot for the underdog.” Blómkvist has a knack for taking on mysterious and dangerous murder cases, so grab a whiskey and get ready for a thrilling ride in this neon world.
Seizure
Anders Danielsen Lie in Seizure Source: SBS
If you saw the film The Worst Person in the World you may recognise acclaimed indie actor, heartthrob and doctor (that’s right he’s also a working doctor) Anders Danielsen Lie in this Norwegian crime drama that has a supernatural twist. On their first day as partners, Detectives Max Sørensen (Danielsen Lie) and Sander Holm (Anders Baasmo – who you can also watch in Exit) are called in to investigate the mysterious death of four boys. There are no signs of violence or drugs, but there are eels crawling around at the crime scene. The detectives both start seeing things they can't quite explain – and the feeling of time and place slowly disappears. Max and Sander must confront their worst nightmares and cope with the misdeeds of their pasts to resolve the matter or lose everything. Doctor, doctor!
Black Sands
Aldís Amah Hamilton in Black Sands Source: Glassriver/All3Media International
Ok, we are back in Iceland again for this crime drama from the creator of Trapped which means more landscape eye candy, because it is set on the striking remote south coast of Iceland, where volcanic activity creates its famous black sand beaches. Young police detective Aníta Elínardóttir (Aldís Amah Hamilton) is forced to return to the hometown she fled 14 years ago. A reckoning with her mother is inescapable, but when the body of a young woman is found, everything is upended. Anita is dragged down into the dark abyss of her past, looking for a possible serial killer and the reckoning turns into a nightmare. Hamilton is the perfect lead for this dark romantic thriller, even wearing everyone’s favourite and most eye-catching jumper - a Fair Isle knit, and she’s also a writer and co-creator of the series, talk about multi-talented.
Blinded
Bea Farkas (Julia Ragnarsson) and Peder Rooth (Matias Varela). Source: SBS
Never mix money, love and investigative reporting (*unless it's for an addictive TV series). Young financial journalist Bea Farkas (Julia Ragnarsson) and bank director Peder Rooth (Matias Varela) are good-looking, hard workers from working class backgrounds and they’re having an affair (he’s married, she’s single). But when Bea is given the assignment to monitor the quarterly report for the bank Peder works for, she struggles to separate the professional from the personal. And when she receives a tip that the bank is hiding big problems the stakes get even higher and more complicated. Blinded (or Fartblinda in Swedish) is an exciting, stylish and complex thriller set in the world of high finance.
