Show of the week: Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun represents the first Franco-Swedish drama coproduction, says Katrina Neylon, executive VP, sales and marketing at the show’s distributor, Studiocanal. Each territory supplies two partners: pay TV network Canal+ and Atlantique Productions are from France and pubcaster SVT and Nice Drama from Sweden.

The 8x52mins dramas follows a French detective (Leila Behkti) who travels to a remote part of Scandinavia to work with a Swedish officer (Gustav Hammarsten), who is also part of an ancient Scandinavian tribe, to investigate a gruesome murder.

Nice Drama founders Henrik Jansson-Schweizer and Patrick Nebout created the concept before the latter joined Atlantique Productions (and subsequently launched his own firm, Dramacorp), with SVT immediately enthused by the pitch. Canal+, which had announced a push into Scandinavian coproduction, soon joined the party.

“Both broadcasters have been heavily involved with development from the start,” says Nice Drama executive producer Stefan Baron.

Filmpool Nord, French producer GMT  and the Nordisk Film & TV Fund are also involved.

Significantly, the project found its legs when Broen creators Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein took on the project. “They have been supervising everything together,” says Atlantique co-chief Olivier Bibas.

The show: Midnight Sun
The producers: Atlantique Productions, Nice Drama
The distributor: Studiocanal
The broadcasters: Canal+ (France), SVT (Sweden)
The concept: French policewoman partners with Swedish DA in northern Sweden to investigate a brutal murder