Kulturnytt’s editorial staff has voted the pandemic year’s very best TV series in a top ten list. All series can be seen on Swedish streaming services and it has been a strong year for Nordic productions.
I May Destroy You (HBO Nordic)
Michaela Coel takes her place as one of the TV world’s strongest creators with the series in which she both created and plays the lead role. “In May Destroy You” mixes genres, perspectives and expressions in a plot that revolves around sexual abuse. This year’s best TV series.
2. Normal People (SVT / HBO Nordic)
British drama series based on Sally Rooney’s novel of the same name, about the bittersweet love story between Connell and Marianne who grows up in different social classes in the same small town and follows each other into adulthood. (Taken down from SVT Play but premieres on HBO Nordic December 27)
Caliphate (SVT / Netflix)
Swedish drama thriller about young people who are radicalized and travel to Syria to fight with IS. And in parallel – Säpo’s hunt for the people who are planning a terrorist attack in Sweden. Exciting, gripping and bold.
False Identity, Season 5 (SVT Play)
False identities still keep us in full swing, right into the fifth season. The madly acclaimed French series follows the agents of the most secretive department in the French intelligence service (all five seasons are available on SVT Play).
5. The investigation (SVT Play)
Danish series about the laborious investigation of the murder of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall. By focusing on the work, the series manages to avoid the killer’s perspective, which makes it even more exciting.
6. We are who we are (HBO)
Italian film director Luca Guadagnino makes his TV series debut with a story about a group of young people at an American military facility in Italy. It addresses themes such as identity and sexuality, all accompanied by a trendy soud track.
7. The Great (HBO Nordic)
The Enlightenment has never been so fun. Consciously historically wrong, well-played and smart about how Catherine the Great against all odds became an enlightened despot and a force for change in Russia.
8. The hunt for a killer (SVT)
Mikael Marcimain creates a creeping feeling of discomfort in the well-made Hunt for a Murderer, a true crime series about the events surrounding the Helen murder in Hörby. Anders Beckman and Lotten Roos portray the gray police everyday life in a socially realistic tone, surrounded by carefully recreated depressive Swedish 80s and 90s environments.
9. Unorthodox (Netflix)
Miniseries about a young woman fleeing her Jewish Orthodox family in New York. Slowly, her closed world unfolds through flashbacks and we get to experience a rarely formed subculture. The series that made everyone start googling for chassidic headdresses.
10. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
The series that gave chess play a global boost. At the orphanage where Beth Harmon grows up, the caretaker introduces her to chess, which is the beginning of both an inner and outer journey. Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role carries the series from the first to the last box.
BUBBLERS:
“Work in progress” (HBO Nordic), “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV +), “Love and anarchy” (Netflix), “The Day” (SVT Play), “Lovecraft County” (HBO Nordic), “The Mandalorian” (Disney +), “Killing Eve” Season 3 (HBO Nordic), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ”season 3 (Amazon Prime),“ Mrs America ”(HBO Nordic),“ The Last Dance ”(Netflix),“ Björnstad ”(HBO Nordic),“ Curb your enthusiasm ”(HBO Nordic),“ Patria ”(HBO Nordic), “Big Mouth” (Netflix), “Better Call Saul” Season 5 (Netflix), “Central Park” (Apple +), “Dave” (HBO Nordic), “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick story” (Netflix ), “Ethos” (Netflix), “I Know This Much Is True” (HBO Nordic), “Pure” (SVT Play), “Sex education” season 2 (Netflix), “The Good Fight” season (HBO Nordic) . “The Haunting of Bly Manor” (Netflix), “Ur Varselklotet” / “Tales From The Loop” (Amazon Prime), “What We Do in the Shadows” season 2 (HBO Nordic).
Source: ICELAND NEWS