Finnish streaming service Elisa Viihde has ordered Sphere of Shadows (Nyrkki), a ten-part international political thriller series to be directed by AJ Annila who dominated the 2018 Jussi Awards with six wins for The Eternal Road, including Best Film and Best Director. Inspired by true historical events, Sphere of Shadows is set in Helsinki during the 1950s when global powers and their intelligence agencies gathered in the small neutral country that stood between the East and the West. Written by Kristi Manninen
Espionage
International Intrigue For Chief Inspector Ratamo
Distributor Federation Entertainment has boarded ten-part Finnish political espionage thriller Secret Enemies (Ratamo) as co-producer and will take the show to MIPTV in Cannes for international sales next month (9 - 12 April). Devised by Roope Lehtinen and Mikko Pöllä (Black Widows) based on the Arto Ratamo series of books by Taavi Soininvaara, Secret Enemies is written by Timo Varpio (Downshifters) who won a Venla Award in 2002 for Kultakuume.com. When Chief Inspector Arto Ratamo (Samuel Vauramo) is called in to investigate
Thomas Engström’s West Of Liberty Now Filming
Filming has begun in Germany for West of Liberty, a six-part adaptation of the first in a series of political thrillers by Thomas Engström about former STASI agent Ludwig Licht, played by Wotan Wilke Möhring. Ludwig Licht (Wotan Wilke Möhring) is retired and running a bar in Berlin when Clive Barner (Matthew Marsh), head of the CIA Berlin station and Licht´s contact from his time as a double agent in the seventies, drags him back into the darkness of the intelligence
C More Orders Two Season Reboot Of Hamilton
C More has announced that its investment in original drama is to continue with a two season reboot of Swedish spy thriller Hamilton, beginning with the origin story of Carl Hamilton as a young man. The reboot of Jan Guillou's beloved books, which have previously starred Stellan Skarsgard, Peter Stormare and Mikael Persbrandt, will introduce Carl Hamilton on his first assignment in Europe, set in the present day against a backdrop of rising tensions between the US and Russia. Head of Drama