It’s been a year or so since Walter Presents first appeared, and over that period people have streamed over 17 million international crime shows via Channel 4’s free online service. And so Walter Presents has a present for crime lovers in 2017, when it launches Norway’s most popular crime programme, Acquitted.
Nicolai Cleve Broch as Aksel Borgen.
Originally entitled Frikjent, the show first aired in Norway in 2015 drawing an audience averaging over 560,000 – a massive figure in a country of just five million. It’s about a successful financier working for a Chinese asset stripper who returns to Norway to invest in a company developing solar cell technology. Solar Tech is based in the tiny community where Aksel Borgen (Nicolai Cleve Broch) grew up. However, his return after 20 years stirs up local passions – mainly because of the reason he left.
All those years ago he was tried and acquitted for the murder of Karine Hansteen. It happens that Hansteen’s mother Eva (Lena Endre) is the CEO of Solar Tech and even though she desperately needs to save her company from going bankrupt, she still believes Aksel Nilsen – Borgen is his new surname – killed her daughter. As the series unfolds, perhaps the real story of the girl’s death will come to light.
We’ve seen the first episode and even more breathtaking than the awkward return of Lilfjord’s prodigal son is the scenery. The programme has been beautifully shot in places like Ardalstangen and Laerdal on the western coast of Norway, with glass-like waters and soaring peaks giving the drama an incredible backdrop. Writers Anna Bache-Wiig and Siv Rajendram Eliasson are said to have based the murder on the real-life killing of a 17-year-old.
Lena Endre as the dead girl’s mother.
Lovers of Nordic noir film and TV will instantly recognise Swedish actress Lena Endre, playing the murdered girl’s mother. She was in all three Dragon Tattoo films, as well as the TV series Wallander.
Acquitted will be available to watch online via Walter Presents from Friday 13 January, 2017. There are eight episodes of 45 minutes each. A second series has proven as successful as the first in Norway, and we expect it will also appear on Walter Presents.
Click or tap here to go to the Walter Presents site.
UPDATE: Acquitted is among our top 10 crime shows of 2017. Find out more.
For more Norwegian crime fiction, try Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer series, which we’ve written a guide for here. Our top 10 crime shows of 2016 can be found here.
I know it was a while ago that Acquitted was mentioned but I have just finished watching all the episodes. I felt so sorry for Aksel. The story is brilliant taking the viewer back and forth as who killed the girl. In the end I was in the dark as much as Askel was. I really enjoyed Acquitted.
Another fantasic drama from Scandanavia….Brilliant cast. Please keep them coming! Xxx
Ernst A compelling story, surely, although I find myself becoming increasingly aware of Aksel’s shallow nature. He is, as his brother says, “like a dog going after a bone” or, as another says,”You have no core.” Lord knows many of the other characters are a bit “simple (Lars, for example. But Yes, Aksel is intelligent–but to what end?
I really love Nordic crime shows & watch all I can. This one had no sympathetic characters which meant that I could only watch until the end of Season 2 before wanting to just kill them all.