BBC4 goes Below the Surface

Below the Surface is made by SAM Productions

MIPCOM: BBC4 in the UK has picked up Scandinavian drama series Below the Surface from distributor StudioCanal.

The thriller, produced by StudioCanal-backed SAM Productions in Denmark, has been licensed to the UK pubcaster to premiere next year.

The 8×50’ series centres on the hijacking of a subway train in Copenhagen. Created by Kasper Barfoed (Dicte), it is produced by Morten Kjems Hytten Juhl (The Giant) for SAM Productions. Søren Sveistrup (The Killing), Adam Price (Borgen) and Meta Louise Foldager Sorensen (A Royal Affair) serve as exec producers.

Having originally aired on Denmark’s Kanal 5, Below the Surface has since been acquired in 70 territories. It is based on an original idea by Price and Sveistrup.

Meanwhile, another Scandi noir series backed by StudioCanal will return for a second season, the producer has confirmed here in Cannes.

A second run of The Lawyer, produced by Sweden’s SF Studios for Nordic streaming service Viaplay and TV3 in Sweden, is currently in the works, according to producer Nicklas Wikström Nicastro.

“We are already, together with Viaplay, developing and writing the second season as we speak,” Nicastro told C21.

The Lawyer follows the descent of Swedish defence lawyer Frank Nordling into the Copenhagen underworld on a revenge mission. Its first season is being distributed globally by StudioCanal at Mipcom.

The show is based on a concept created by bestselling author Jens Lapidus (The Easy Money trilogy), Hans Rosenfeldt (The Bridge) and Michael Hjorth (Sebastian Bergman). Joakim Hansson produces alongside Wikström Nicastro.