

The above three are the essential Nordic noir. How shadows and darkness create claustrophobia in film noir.īelow are some recommendations if you want to participate in the Nordic noir craze… Even in wide-open spaces, the cold atmosphere creates an eerie claustrophobia similar to This is probably due to the cold climate of northern Europe. Even when scenes take place in the daylight and in rural settings, there is a palpable bleakness. Nordic noir also carries a distinctly bleak feeling. In the Danish version of the same story, it took only one season, but there were 20 episodes. With the American version of The Killing, it took two seasons to solve one murder. They are subtle, slow-paced serials with multi-layered storylines that can span entire seasons.

major networks, Nordic noir stories are intellectually complex and can’t be solved in a 60-minute time slot. Many countries have not only broadcasted the Nordic-produced shows, but have done their own Nordic-noir-style shows. The popularity of Nordic noir shows in northern Europe and the UK then bled over to the United States and the rest of the world. Also in the UK, the Danish Forbrydelsen (The Killing) was very popular, and considered the best show on British TV at the time. The Swedish program Wallander was a big hit in the UK. The success of such novels naturally led to movie and TV iterations, which found success outside their countries of origin.


Initially published in Swedish, the series was later published in English and other languages before becoming an international bestseller. Also hugely popular was the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson that began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Beginning in 1991, Henning Mankell’s novels about detective “Kurt Wallander” were hugely popular. Dragon Tattoo & The Bridge The Best Nordic Noir TV Shows and MoviesĪlso known as Scandinavian noir, ‘Nordic noir’ is a term for the wave of crime fiction that came out of northern Europe.
