Swedish prodco Filmlance is planning two new seasons of its crime drama The Sandhamn Murders as it prepares to return to The Bridge ^[1].

Two 3×45’ seasons of Sandhamn have been ordered by TV4 in Sweden following the success of its first 3×45’ run in 2010, with production due to begin in April.

The series, based on the books by Viveca Stens, follows crime investigator Thomas Andreasson as he is called in to catch a murderer on the island of Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago.

Filmlance previously produced crime series Beck, based on the novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, for TV4.

Lars Blomgren, Filmlance’s MD, told C21: “It’s a fast, character-driven crime series that was a huge success.”

The company is also developing a second series of The Bridge, a coproduction with Denmark’s Nimbus Films, which will begin filming in October.

The first season, which aired ^[2] on Scandinavian pubcasters SVT, DR and NRK, follows a joint investigation between Danish and Swedish police after a body is found on the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö.

Filmlance also produced adaptations ^[3] of Swedish crime books Arne Dahl (10×90’), a copro with Germany’s ZDF, for SVT. The first film premiered in Sweden at Christmas, with the full run slated for September.

“There’s a scripted boom in Sweden right now, especially on SVT. All the drama they do gets good reviews and people seem to like the expensive dramas,” said Blomgren, citing examples ^[4] including Real Humans, produced by Matador Films.

He added that although he believes the Scandinavian crime genre will continue to expand, broadcasters are now looking towards renewing proven hits.

“The thing that will happen now to all of us will be second seasons,” he said. “We’re doing more Bridge and Sandhamn Murders. We’re planning more Arne Dahl and more Beck. There’s going to be a good mix of new stuff and second seasons being commissioned.”

Filmlance is part of Metronome Film and Television, which was bought by Shine Group in April 2009.

UK diginet BBC4, which last week acquired Norwegian dramedy ^[5] Lilyhammer, is among the international broadcasters who have picked up rights ^[6] to The Bridge from distributor ZDF Enterprises.