It’s taken an awfully long time to arrive, but Broadcast magazine this week reports that BBC1 has commissioned a three part series based on Henning Mankell’s Wallander novels.
The three novels being adapted are Sidetracked, Firewall and One Step Behind, although Broadcast speaks of them as the “first three novels in the series.” That’s not really true. In terms of novels, their the fifth, eighth and seventh novels in the sequence. The books were never published in order in the UK, yet there are a few continuing storlines running throughout the series.
The three dramas will each be self-contained 90 minute pieces, will cost £6m and in a bit of a coup, will star Kenneth Branagh as the detective. Branagh, it seems, is a bit of a fan of the Mankell series. They’ll still be set in Sweden, and the series is being seen as the “new Morse.”
The BBC hopes that the international appeal of Wallander will ensure healthy sales of the series. What the piece doesn’t mention is that the series has already been made into two different TV series in Sweden with different Wallanders. The most recent of these series was produced as recently as 2005 and 2006, and unlike the UK, other European territories where the novels are popular, don’t have a difficulty with either broadcasting dubbed or subtitled versions.
Interestingly, these new editions are being co-produced by Left Bank Pictures in association with Yellow Bird, Mankell’s own company who produced the most recent Swedish series, and Branagh’s own new, as yet unnamed company.
So all in all, this is positive news, that’s taken 18 months to reach this point. I’d still love to know what happened to the announced BBC Scotland adaptation of Return of the Dancing Master that was first promised for 2006.
[UPDATE] The BBC’s press release is here.