The latest Nordic noir drama begins tonight on More4 – and this time it's the Norwegians bringing the thrills
A TV series with a title that essentially means "greed" is always a good start for me. And, in the first episode of Mammon, the latest Scandinavian thriller to follow in the eerie footsteps of The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge, there's plenty of underhand pilfering to fill the conspiracy-shaped hole that may have been left in your wake by the end of BBC2's Line of Duty.
Spanning a period of six days, the six-part drama follows journalists investigating an embezzlement scandal involving Norway's political and banking elite. In true Nordic noir style, what Mammon is really pointing to – in the genre's typically complicated, baffling way, of course – is corruption everywhere; its country's own grubby underbelly.
As it delves into the nebulous worlds of finance, politics and journalism, the series weaves a labyrinthine plot that lurches between the capital of Oslo, trendy Bergen (where there are some very pretty fjords) and mysterious forest. (The sort you'd avoid, even if you did want to go for an early-morning jog).
It also explores sibling conflict, honing in on a fraternal bond blown apart by a mysterious suicide that becomes crucial to the plot.
Aside from Lilyhammer, which premiered on Netflix in 2012, Norway has experienced limited international success with its original drama programming. Mammon seems to be saying "in your face" to all the critics who didn't believe Norway would create the same buzz around its crime dramas as it has its fiction.
In fact, Mammon has been re-commissioned (season two was green-lit before the show even aired on Norway's public broadcaster NRK in January). It has also been bought by broadcasters in various European countries from Germany to the UK, and – yes – there's a US adaptation in the mix (Fox, who remade The Killing for American audiences, has snapped up the rights).
This all means that Mammon (which isn't actually a word at all in Norwegian but one of murky, possibly Greek, etymology from the New Testament, meaning material wealth or greed that's personified) is a series you might want to give a go when it turns up on More4 this evening. Yes, update your diary – Scandi crime night has moved to Fridays.
• Mammon, Fridays, 9pm, More4. Don't miss Stuart Jeffries dissecting all the action in his first episode-by-episode blog, which will be online straight after the show ends.
MammonTelevisionCrime dramaDramaNorwayEuropeMegan Connertheguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |