‘Acquitted’ Becomes Norway’s Biggest TV Drama Hit
PARIS — “Acquitted,” Miso Film’s drama series which is distributed worldwide by FremantleMedia International, has achieved the biggest launch ever on Norway’s pubcaster TV2.
The one-hour series was made under the new production and distribution venture launched last May by Miso and Nordisk Film.
Bending the codes of Nordic Noir with psychological/social drama elements, “Acquitted” stars Norwegian star Nicolai Cleve Broch as Aksel Borgen, a successful businessman who returns to his hometown in rural Norway after spending 20 years in Asia to rescue the town’s main company from bankruptcy. But Borgen, who left the country after being acquitted for the murder of his girlfriend, is haunted by his past.
“Acquitted” premiered on Monday on TV2 and attracted a record 660,000 viewers and a 38.8% share of viewers. “Acquitted” was also Twitter’s top trending topic in Norway.
“Viewing numbers like these gives us lots of inspiration and courage to continue giving viewers quality drama,” said TV2’s program director Jarle Nakken.
In other Scandi news, the Finnish Buddy comedy “Luokkakokous,” a remake of Danish pic “The Reunion,” scored Finland’s all-time best opening weekend for a local movie.
Pic took the box office’s number
with 123,939 admissions sold across 126 screens. Produced by Jesse Fryckman for Solar Sami Hedberg, Aku Hirviniemi and Jaajo Linnonmaa star as three friends from the class of ’95 who embark on a journey to a reunion.
Correction: A previous version of this article included a typo crediting the show with attracting 60,000 viewers instead of 660,000.
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