Scandinavian Crime Drama in a Motorhome!

Ystad Train Station

There has been a bit of a trend over the last five years or so towards Scandinavian crime dramas. They are not for everyone, but we have found that people who do like them - really like them. We fall into this category as we have had an unhealthy obsession with two in particular: "The Bridge" and "Wallander".  

The Theatre in Ystad

You might wonder why this might be the topic for a motorhoming blog. Well the answer to that is that in the same way that many tourists want to visit Downton Abbey, we really wanted to go to the places where they filmed these two Swedish dramas.

"The Bridge" in fact is a Danish/Swedish production. The first series started with a dead body that was found  on the Oresund Bridge exactly half way between Denmark and Sweden. This necessitated the involvement therefore of detectives from both countries and lots of situations that played on the different national characteristics of the two countries. The second series started with a boat full of dead people crashing into the Oresund Bridge, so you get the idea.

It's dark stuff - sometimes referred to as Nordic Noir but if you get into it, it's completely absorbing. It's set mainly in the cities of Copenhagen and Malmo and as we watch it, we are able to pinpoint a few places we have been on our travels.

On "The Bridge".

Perhaps better for scene spotting is 'Wallander'. This is set mainly in the southern Swedish port of Ystad, but the story-lines also make use of an extensive area of neighbouring coast and countryside. There are three versions of Wallander - two Swedish and one English. The English one is our favourite with Wallander being played by Sir Kenny Branagh. They have only made a handful of these and (sadly) we watch them over and over again.

If you visit Ystad, you can get a tourist map highlighting many of the locations used in all three versions. Ystad even boasts its own film studio that you can tour around, where they film part of Wallander and other Swedish crime dramas.

If you are a real fan, you can go to Valdemarsvik, which is on the east coast south of Stockholm and take the post boat past the home of Wallander's creator, Henning Mankell. The man that drives the post boat actually went to school with him!

Valdemarsvik Harbour

So that's all a bit sad we realise but it does add a new dimension to our trips. There are a whole bunch of other thrillers that we haven't even got into yet including: The Killing, Borgen, Arne Dahl and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. But in common with most of our motorhome trips, every one we go one leads to another three we'd like to do.