Börjlind Had To Fight To Include Beck’s Neighbour

Cilla Börjlind, who co-wrote the Beck films with Rolf Börjlind between 2000 and 2010, says that Martin Beck’s neighbour Valdemar (Ingvar Hirdwall) was inspired by a real neighbour in the 90s, but the idea was not appreciated by all.

Cilla told Expressen: “There was a neighbour we were inspired by, but the neighbour (in the films) is completely Roffe’s creation… Roffe is very good at writing those kinds of people. There was a sense that if Beck had a sort of sidekick, then it would relax things a little.”

However, Rolf Börjlind had to fight for the neighbor to be included at all. Cilla says: “There were many who said ‘You can’t have such a funny old man in such a serious context, when it comes to murder.’ But it gives a little comic relief to have someone who stands out a little, so that one can laugh too. Even in a detective story.”

Cilla and Rolf Börjlind are currently working on Spring Tide (Springfloden), adapted from their own best selling book, where a homeless former detective (Kjell Bergqvist) and an aspiring police officer (Julia Ragnarsson) join forces to solve a cold case in which a pregnant woman was buried alive.