MTG goes back to Those Who Kill

Those Who Kill stars Natalie Madueño and Kenneth M Christensen

Modern Times Group (MTG) has ordered a reboot of a Danish psychological crime drama for its Scandinavian streaming service Viaplay and its TV3 network in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Those Who Kill (Den Som Dræber) is an eight-part drama being produced by Danish prodco Miso Film and slated to air in 2019.

The show follows a detective and a psychologist as they struggle to find out who has committed a series of murders and why.

Starring Kenneth M Christensen (The Legacy) and Natalie Madueño (Follow the Money), it is being directed by Carsten Myllerup (Black Widows).

Ina Bruhn (Dicte), Per Daumiller (Below the Surface) and Tine Krull Petersen (Dicte) are attached to write, while FremantleMedia will handle global sales.

The show is based on the original Danish series of the same name, which aired on TV2 in Denmark in 2011 before being sold around the world.

Jakob Mejlhede, MTG’s exec VP and head of programming and content development, said the “refresh” would be “even more unsettling, unrelenting and an unmissable experience.”

It joins more than 50 original scripted projects in MTG’s pipeline, including The Lawyer, Stella Blómkvist and ALEX. Its shows have also travelled, with Veni Vidi Vici premiering on US streaming service Hulu and Swedish Dicks being picked up by American network Pop TV.

The company has also confirmed a second season of The Great Escape, its children’s series that attempts to explain complex subjects in an entertaining way. It is produced by Swedish prodco Nexiko and will be available on Viaplay later this year.

MTG is in the midst of splitting itself into two companies after a deal to sell its Nordic Entertainment and MTG Studios businesses to Danish telecoms firm TDC Group fell through.

In related news, Viaplay has greenlit a second season of its original kids’ series The Great Escape.

The programme is produced by Stockholm-based Nexiko and season one premiered exclusively on Viaplay in December 2016.

Originally produced in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish versions have also been made and the show was named Children’s Programme of the Year at Sweden’s Kristallen Awards last year.