Stella Blómkvist hits streaming heights

Stella Blómkvist stars Heida Reed

The equivalent of almost half the population of Iceland ordered crime drama Stella Blómkvist on local broadcaster Síminn’s SVoD service in the first week since its premiere, with the series breaking a number of records for the on-demand platform.

The 6×45′ series received more than 150,000 orders on Síminn’s service in its first week, out of a population of 330,000. Additionally, 54% of all Icelandic households that have Síminn Premium (which is in roughly a third of homes) watched the first episode over its premiere weekend.

The figures see Stella Blómkvist surpass fellow streaming original The Handmaid’s Tale, on Hulu, as the most in-demand drama. Within its first three days, the series, produced by Icelandic indie Sagafilm, topped the ratings on Siminn’s platform, pushing The Handmaid’s Tale into second place.

Stella Blómkvist is based on a series of books penned by an author using the pseudonym of the same name, and sees Heida Reed (Poldark) play a hard-nosed lawyer who takes on mysterious murder cases and goes up against the country’s political elite.

It was co-developed with Red Arrow International, which distributes the show, and will also air on MTG-owned streamer Viaplay in early 2018.

The project was one of those featured in the Hot Properties section of C21’s Drama Summit as part of Content London last month.