The new series of Swedish Wallander films starring Krister Henriksson has been awarded The International TV Dagger.
Wallander received the prestigious prize in competition with the American series The Good Wife and Damages during The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2010, broadcast yesterday evening at ITV3. Previous award winners include the much-appraised HBO series The Wire. The Crime Thriller Awards, in partnership with the Crime Writers' Association (CWA), celebrate all crime and thriller fiction from film, TV and books.
- This award proves that our films are of highest international quality. I am particularly pleased that the series is so appreciated in the UK, the homeland of the crime genre, said producer Malte Forssell.
The thirteen new Swedish Wallander films have been broadcast on BBC4 and have been a success among critics and viewers alike. Papers like The Daily Telegraph and Radio Times have called the series one of the best ever in the crime genre and the films have a loyal British following.
- We receive an enormous amount of e-mails from viewers in the UK who are very enthusiastic of the series in general and of Krister Henriksson's performance in particular, said Mikael Wallén, president of the production company Yellow Bird.
TV4 in Sweden has previously broadcast the thirteen films in the first Swedish Wallander series as well as the British Wallander films One step behind, Firewall and Sidetracked starring Kenneth Branagh. During spring 2011, TV4 will broadcast the thirteen films in the new Swedish series.
- I am delighted that Wallander has been such a success also abroad and I want to congratulate everyone involved in the production. This shows that Swedish TV drama is in the top league and we look forward to airing the new episodes on TV4 during spring, said Åsa Sjöberg, Head of Programming at TV4.
In Sweden, the new films in the series have been released on DVD. Yellow Bird has produced the series in cooperation with TV4, SF and ARD Degeto, with support from FiIm i Skåne.