Leading the Hunt
The creative team behind Swedish true crime drama Jakten på en mördare (Hunt for a Killer) reveal how they sought to dramatise the story of the murder of a 10-year-old girl and the 15-year investigation that finally caught her killer. On the heels of real-life crime drama The Investigation, which debuted last month, Swedish pubcaster SVT is now continuing its interest in the genre with the launch of Jakten på en mördare (Hunt for a Killer). The six-part series explores the murder of 10-year-old Helen Nilsson in Hörby, southern Sweden – a seemingly impossible case that remained unsolved for 15 years. On the March 1989 night when Helen disappeared, there were around 20 suspected paedophiles living in Hörby. This is the backdrop to the story, which follows the unwavering journey of police officers Per-Åke Åkesson and Monica Olhed, who led an investigation team that solved numerous homicides in southern Sweden and who would eventually beat the odds to find Helen’s killer. Produced by Yellow Bird and distributed by Banijay Rights, the project comes from writers Helen Lindholm and Lotta Erikson and is based on the book of the same name by Tobias Barkman. Mikael Marcimain (Liberty) is the director. “When I started here in 2017, I really started to dig into true crime stories,” says SVT head of drama Anna Croneman, speaking during a session about the show at French television festival Série Series earlier this year. “I read this book and came into my first development meeting and told … Continue reading Leading the Hunt
