Inspector-Wallander.org, Kurt Wallander & Henning Mankell Fan Site

Inspector-Wallander.org
The Site for English-Speaking Fans of Henning Mankell's Detective Series
Featuring Kurt Wallander of Ystad, Sweden,
A small town outside of Malmö in the southern province of Skåne.

Welcome!
Inspector-Wallander.org is the site for English-speaking fans of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander Mystery series.

Theme song from Wallander proves popular

Posted 5 January 2010

Many people watching the BBC Wallander series have been curious about the theme song used for both series 1 and 2. The song is from Australian folk singer Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo band.

Emily Barker & The Clay Halo were today riding high on Amazon's Movers and Shakers chart with a 2500% increase in rank due to interest generated by the screening of Wallander on BBC 1, Sunday 3rd Jan 2010. The highly acclaimed drama series starring Kenneth Branagh features Emily's song Nostaglia as its theme tune and is now in its 2nd series (next episode Sunday 10th Jan 9pm and final episode Sunday 17th Jan 9pm).

The track emanates from the album Despite the Snow and has won Emily both a Bafta and a Royal Television Society award for best original theme. Not bad for a musician who has never owned a television set!

You can listen to the track below and visit the Emily Barker & The Clay Halo web site to purchase the song as an MP3 file for £0.80 GBP, €0.90 EUR or $1.30 USD.

You can find out more about their music by visiting Emily Barker's web site or MySpace page.

Also, the soundtrack of the Yellow Bird series is available for download at Amazon.co.uk. The MP3 album is appropriately titled "Musiken från Wallander" and contains 34 tracks by Adam Nordén.

Series 2 of BBC's Wallander premiers Sunday, 3 Jan, 2010

Posted 28 December 2009

Kenneth Branagh returns to British television on 3 January as Kurt Wallander in the second series of the BBC's adaptations of Henning Mankell's novels. The three new films were shot on location in Ystad with a mix of British and Swedish actors, continuing the successful formula of the first series.

The second series begins with Faceless Killers on 3 January, followed by The Man Who Smiled on 10 January and The Fifth Woman on 17 January. Each film will be broadcast at 21:00 on BBC1.

View the preview for Faceless Killers:

There are a few interesting audio interviews with Kenneth Branagh which fans should enjoy. You can listen to him discuss returning to the role of Kurt Wallander with Swedish Radio and BBC Radio (part 1 & part 2).

Swedish Yellow Bird DVDs no longer have English subtitles

Posted 28 Dec 2009

It is bad news for English-speaking fans of the Kurt Wallander series, but from #18 onwards, the Yellow Bird series of Kurt Wallander DVDs will no longer include English subtitles. Yellow Bird hasn't commented on the change other than to say they are working to get local distributors in English-speaking countries to carry the series.

Meanwhile, the series continues to make good progress in Sweden. The DVD for film #21 was recently released with #22 scheduled for 20 Jan, 2010. The series will wrap up after the 26th film is released in June 2010.

Yellow Bird Series 1 on BBC4 Mondays and Thursdays, web

Posted 16 July 2009, updated 18 July

Wallander fans in the UK can look forward to watching Yellow Bird's Kurt Wallander series on BBC4. A new episode from the Swedish-language series will screen every Monday night at 9:00 PM with a repeat showing on Thursday.

The successful series stars Krister Henriksson as Kurt Wallander and is filmed on location in Ystad. Series 1 featured 13 episodes and was released in Sweden in 2005-2006. Series 2 consists of a further 13 episodes which are currently being released on DVD in Sweden at a rate of approximately 1 film per month.

The BBC is offering the Wallander episodes for later viewing on the web and through their iPlayer service (available to UK residents only).

Krister Henriksson has announced that series 2 will be his last as Kurt Wallander. But fans of Swedish and Nordic thrillers have much to look forward to. Yellow Birds wildly successful big-screen adaptations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy is currently in theaters with DVD and Blu-ray releases to follow. Yellow Bird is also filming several new films based on Henning Mankell's non-Wallander novels, including Kennedy's Brain, The Red Antelope and The Chinese. Yellow Bird is also working to bring the Norwegian Anna Holt series to television with plans to develop Jo Nesbø's recent novel Headhunters (Hodejegerne).

One spot of bad news for Swedish film fans has been the closure of web site DVD.se. The site previously was one of the only web retailers who would ship Swedish DVDs outside of Europe. British web shop CDWOW.com briefly stepped in to fill the void by listing a large collection of the various Swedish films. Their stock regretfully seems to be depleted at this time.

Henning Mankell at the Palestine Festival of Literature, 23-28 May

Posted 13 May 2009, updated 31 May 2009

Henning Mankell has been invited to participate in the 2009 Palestine Festival of Literature which takes place between May 23-28. Events will be held in several cities across the Palestinian territories.

The central drive of the festival is to assert what Edward Said called "the power of culture over the culture of power." Henning Mankell has been invited because he shows the sterling qualities of the committed artist. He has brought a universal human and political dimension to the popular genre of the thriller and he has been true to his expressed positions in the theatre work he is doing in Mozambique.

The panel that Mr. Mankell is on is called Choosing Departure: A Different Perspective? and he will also be running a workshop with drama students at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin and at Hebron University.

Because of the difficulties Palestinians face under military occupation in traveling around their own country, the Festival group will travel to its audiences. It will tour to Ramallah, to Jenin, to al-Khalil/Hebron and to Bethlehem. To celebrate its year as Cultural Capital of the Arab World for 2009, the festival will begin and end in Jerusalem.

The festival web site will feature daily blogs and video interviews by the featured authors beginning on 23 May.

Update: Henning Mankell has written about his experiences at Palfest in the author blog section of their web site. Mankell also gives his impression of the strength of the Palestinian people after a tour of al-Khalil/Hebron:

Mankell's remarks appear near the 5:37 mark

Kenneth Branagh's Wallander premiers in US May 10th on PBS

Posted 4 May 2009

Series 1 of the BBC's Wallander films gets it US television debut next week on the PBS Masterpiece Mystery program. These adaptations of Henning Mankell's novels were filmed on location in Ystad, Sweden but use a primarily British cast.

Kenneth Branagh stars as Kurt Wallander and also served as the executive producer for the series. Other actors include Jeany Spark as Linda Wallander, Sarah Smart as Anne-Britt Hoglund, Tom Beard as Svedberg, Tom Hiddleston as Martinsson, Richard McCabe as Nyberg, Sadie Shimmin as Lisa Holgersson and David Warner as Povel Wallander. Nicholas Hoult, star of the film About a Boy, makes an appearance as Stefan Fredman in Sidetracked.

Sidetracked will start off the series on Sunday, May 10th at 9:00 PM. Firewall will follow on Sunday, May 17th with One Step Behind finishing up on Sunday, May 31st. Viewers should check their local stations for exact times. The PBS web site will have the films available for online viewing between May 11 - June 7, 2009.

The series will be released on DVD on June 2 and is available for pre-order in the US at Amazon.com and in Canada at Amazon.ca. This 2 disc set contains all three films as well as several extras, including the Who is Kurt Wallander? documentary that aired on the BBC and an interview with Henning Mankell and Kenneth Branagh.

View the trailer for Wallander Series 1 on PBS

Kenneth Branagh's version of Wallander has been well liked by both audiences and critics in Europe. The series has received favorable reviews in leading newspapers and recently it was presented with the Best Drama prize at the 2009 Bafta TV Avards.

Wallander wins at the 2009 Bafta TV Avards

The success of the BBC Wallander series has all but guaranteed further films will be made. It is hoped that series 2 could begin as early as this summer.

Kenneth Branagh discusses Wallander in NYC on May 7th

Posted 4 May 2009

The New York Times will be hosting a TimesTalk event with actor Kenneth Branagh in New York City on Thursday, May 7th from 6:30 - 8:00 PM.

New York Times reporter Bill Carter will discuss the Kurt Wallander series and other projects with Mr Branagh:

Kenneth Branagh -- actor, director, producer and screenwriter – is renowned for his interpretation of a melancholy Scandinavian — Prince Hamlet. He brings the existential Nordic outlook up to date on Masterpiece Mystery! this month as the gritty Swedish sleuth Kurt Wallander, based on the bestselling thrillers by Henning Mankell. Hear him talk about his work as Wallander, his recent film and theater projects and what's coming next.

The venue for the discussion is TheTimesCenter, 242 West 41st Street, New York City. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance at the Ticketweb site or by phoning 888-NYT-1870.

A similar event was recently held in Los Angeles and an interesting description of the event was forwarded to me by Jude, a fellow fan on the Wallander series. I hope other fans find it as interesting as I did:

There was a promo screening in LA with a Q&A on April 29th at the Paley Centre

"They screened the entire episode of "One Step Behind"; most of the audience didn't notice Ken slip in right before it started. He sat in the back row, seemingly to gauge the audience's reaction to the show. Both the moderator (Brian Lowry) and Masterpiece Theater executive producer (Rebecca Eaton) joked that they were mainly involved with the project and event because of crushes on Branagh (Eaton has apparently had a crush on him for 20 years, and Lowry's wife has a 'serious infatuation'). They both kept their speeches short; as Eaton said, "We know whom you've really come to see."

After the screening, Ken was introduced to great applause and proceeded to answer questions for almost 30 minutes. He talked about Sweden (the weather, the dreadful winters, the depression rates and 'Scandinavian melancholy'). He spoke of how he met Henning Mankell, which was really funny - they took a bathroom break at the same time during an Ingmar Bergman festival in Sweden. They were next to each other at the urinals and wound up chatting. "I didn't shake his hand," said Ken, "for reasons that I need not go into." The crowd howled. He told us that before he'd ever met Mankell or considered adapting Wallander for the screen, he'd finished all nine Wallander books in an unbelievable six week period. "I am," he explained, "an absolutely voracious reader."

An audience member asked him why the police station was so sparse, compared to the clutter that you so often see in British cop dramas.

Ken admitted that the design was "A bit Ikea," and when the audience laughed, he quickly put his hands up (you know the way he does that - palms out, like he's going for a double hi-five?) and said "But I don't mean to disparage!" He said that they had purposely exaggerated a specific style that does exist in Sweden - long, clean lines and only essential furniture with minimal clutter.

Ken does seem to enjoy the Swedish landscape, particularly how you can take long drives through the countryside and see very few people, or a few isolated houses. He mentioned the beginning shots of "Sidetracked" - "You're looking at a rape field, bright yellow, below an amazing blue sky; you feel that you are literally inside the Swedish flag. Then this is punctuated by a shocking act of violence."

Jokes were made about how the town of Ystad has too many murders for the population to survive. Ken laughed and likened the high murder rate in "Wallander" to one of his favorite shows, "Midsomer Murders" - "It features this tiny village where so many bad things happen that there won't be any people left before long."

My favorite moment came when Lowry asked Ken whether he'd taken a moment to consider using a Swedish accent for Wallander. "Oh yes," Ken laughed. "But literally a moment. I sounded like the Swedish chef from the Muppets." The idea was quickly dropped.”"

If you attend the TimesTalk event and wish to share your experience with other readers, send us an email and we'll see about getting it posted to this site.

Henning Mankell reveals Den orolige mannen as final Wallander

Posted 4 May 2009

The Swedish title of the final novel in the Wallander series has been revealed as Den orolige mannen by Henning Mankell in an interview. A literal translation of the title into English would be "The Worried/Nervous/Anxious/Restless Man".

The novel is completed and will be published in Sweden in August of 2009. The publication schedule for other languages is unknown at this point.

Not much is known about the novel outside what is in the Leopard Förlag press release:

On a winter's day in 2008 a retired high naval officer, Håkan von Enke, disappears during his daily walk in Lilljansskogen. For Kurt Wallander this becomes a personal matter of the highest importance. Von Enke is Linda Wallande'rs father-in-law, and her little daughter's grandfather.

The investigation leads back in time, to the Cold War, to right-wing associations and assassins from the old Eastern Europe. Wallander suspects that he is on the track of a big secret, perhaps on the edge of something much more serious than even the Wennerström affair, the worst spy scandal Sweden has ever experienced. At the same time an even darker cloud appears on the horizon...

Ezequiel M. González Busquin, a fellow Wallander fan, reported this after seeing Henning Mankell speak at the Buenos Aires Book:

In [this] novel Wallander gets a grandchild, Baiba from Riga returns to his life and the beginning of the book is in 1983 when Palme (the prime minister of Sweden) receives a report stating that Russian submarines had been detected in Swedish waters.

[Mankell] mentioned that Wallander will not die in the book, but that something will happen to him and it will be impossible to write any more Wallander novels.

Hopefully this final novel in the Kurt Wallander series will get a speedy translation into other languages.

Yellow Bird series 2 begins 9 Jan with Hämnden (The Revenge)

Posted 4 January 2009

Yellow Bird's Wallander series is entering its second season on 9 January with the Swedish theatrical release of Hämnden (The Revenge). Krister Henriksson returns as Kurt Wallander for 13 new stories by Henning Mankell. After Hämnden, the remaining 12 films will be released on DVD in Sweden then later shown on television.

The characters of Ann-Britt Höglund, Linda Wallander and Stefan Lindman do not appear to be returning for various reasons. However two new recruits are joining the Ystad Police force, Sabina and Pontus, played by Nina Zanjani and Sverrir Gudnason respectively. Most of the other regular characters such as Martinsson, Svartman, Nyberg and Ebba will be back.

Be sure to watch these Swedish-language videos of Hämnden, including a trailer, behind the scenes feature and interviews from the premiere:

Watch the trailer for the new Wallander film.

View the making of feature.

See Expressen's coverage of the premiere.

Visit the Yellow Bird Films web site for more information about Wallander series 2. While there, be sure to check out their already completed 6 film series based on the Irene Huss novels from Helene Tursten as well as the much anticipated Millennium trilogy based on the novels of Stieg Larsson.

BBC4 airs 'Who is Wallander' and Swedish films, also on web

Posted 8 December 2008

BBC4 has a documentary titled Who is Kurt Wallander that aired this weekend and will air again on 12 Dec at 10:30 pm. The Radio Times web site has this description for the program:

John Harvey presents a documentary about writer Henning Mankell, Sweden's most popular author internationally and the creator of the Kurt Wallander detective series. By examining Mankell's anti-hero Wallander, it reveals the hidden angst affecting present-day Sweden, a country with an excellent welfare system yet one which has suffered two shocking recent political assassinations. The film tries to grasp what Mankell's characters say about Sweden and how his books inform the rest of the world.

BBC4 has also broadcast two of the Swedish films from the first Yellow Bird Wallander series-- Before the Frost and Mastermind. These films star Krister Henriksson as Kurt Wallander and the late Johanna Sällström as Linda Wallander.

The documentary and the two films can be viewed online by people inside the UK using the links above or by using the BBC iPlayer software until 14 December.

RadioTimes interviews Kenneth Branagh & Henning Mankell

Posted 24 November 2008

RadioTimes magazine interviews Kenneth Branagh

Ahead of the premier of the BBC's new Wallander series, RadioTimes magazine features Kenneth Branagh on the cover of their current issue.

Inside, the magazine has an interesting interview with Branagh and Sarah Smart, the actress portraying Anne-Britt Hoglund, and Tom Beard who plays Svedberg.

Branagh explains in the interview how the series came about and how he has approached the character of Kurt Wallander:

"I read lots of detective fiction for pleasure and I watch lots of crime drama. The Wallander stories are just so good; I was really caught by them. Then, last year, I was in Sweden for an Ingmar Bergman festival and I met Henning [the author is the son-in-law of the late film director]. We had dinner together, and he was very encouraging about the idea of an English-language series, and gave the project his blessing."

There are shades of Bergman in Branagh's interpretation of Mankell's deep-thinking, emotionally repressed hero. "At heart, Wallander is an existentialist," explains the actor. "He's someone who is questioning what life is about and why he does what he does every day, and for whom acts of violence never become normal. There's a level of empathy with the victims of crime that's almost impossible to contain, and one of the prices he pays for that sort of empathy is a personal life that's a kind of wasteland."

And while Branagh and the other actors have the spotlight this week, RadioTimes has gotten a quote from Henning Mankell that is sure to grab the attention of every Wallander fan hungry for more novels to read:

"Only my publisher knows this and I have a knot in my stomach saying it out loud but, yes, I am working on a new Wallander," says Henning Mankell. "The secret is out and now," he sighs, with something of his hero's frustrated conscientiousness, "I must write it."

Be sure to buy a copy of RadioTimes magazine and read the full interview with Kenneth Branagh and Henning Mankell.

BBC promo for Wallander series airs

Posted 24 November 2008

Television adverts for the new Wallander series starring Kenneth Branagh have begun appearing on the BBC.

The DVD release of the Wallander series looks to follow closely behind as Amazon.co.uk is showing a Boxing Day release date for the 3 disc set.

BBC's Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh debuts 30 November

Posted 2 November 2008, updated 23 November

BBC1 will begin airing the first of three films from The Kurt Wallander Mysteries on Sunday, 30 November. US viewers can expect the series to be shown by PBS in Spring/Summer 2009.

Kenneth Branagh's turn as Kurt Wallander is drawing much praise from critics and from Henning Mankell himself:

"I have seen some of the footage and I'm enormously impressed," [Mankell] says. "As soon as Ken [Branagh] told me his ideas about the drama, I was very happy. I knew he was going to go in his own direction, and that really pleased me. It always makes an author happy to be told something new about what he's written."

James Rampton writes for the Telegraph:

Branagh brings real depth to the character, a troubled man profoundly affected by the crimes he witnesses. They seem to worm their way into his soul. Afflicted by diabetes, separated from his wife and struggling with dysfunctional relationships with his father and daughter, Wallander dreams of escape - "I could get a smallholding; carrots, maybe a couple of pigs" - but you know that he never will. He is repelled by the crimes he investigates, but nevertheless feels compelled to solve them. He is marooned in Ystad by his own sense of honour.

Stephen Armstrong writes in the Times:

Branagh's relatively trim Wallander doesn't appear to be approaching the kind of morbid obesity that can induce [diabetes]. He is, however, suitably taciturn, weary and occasionally despairing. In the first drama of what the executive producer, Andy Harries, hopes could become a new Prime Suspect — "Maybe three every two years," he suggests — Branagh's Wallander picks at a skein of abuse, teasing out of it self-mutilating schoolboys, a woman escaping sexual slavery who would rather torch herself than accept his help, and a circle of the great and good protected by a sinister former cop. It's not typical Branagh material — "There's something very strange, I think, at the heart of Wallander," he has said — but he somehow pulls it off.

Be sure to visit the Branagh Compendium web site for some photos of the BBC cast and crew.

And there's still plenty of Wallander left to come as Yellow Bird has announced plans to film a further 13 episodes of their Swedish Wallander series starring Krister Henriksson.

UPDATE: It looks like the series debut has been pushed back to 30 November.

The dates for the entire series are posted below:

Sidetracked, 30 November 2008
Firewall, 7 December 2008
One Step Behind, 14 December 2008

The Pyramid coming in English in Sept. 2008 for UK, US, Canada

Posted 23 March 2008

The final major work in the Kurt Wallander series is set to appear in English in September 2008. The Pyramid is Henning Mankell's collection of five short stories detailing Kurt Wallander's early life and career:

When Kurt Wallander first appeared in "Faceless Killers" back in 1990, he was a senior police officer, just turned forty, with his life in a mess. His wife had left him, his father barely acknowledged him; he ate badly and drank alone at night.

"The Pyramid" chronicles the events that led him to such a place. We see him in the early years, doing hours on the beat whilst trying to solve a murder off-duty; witness the beginnings of his fragile relationship with Mona, the woman he has his heart set on marrying; and learn the reason behind his difficulties with his father.

These thrilling tales provide a fascinating insight into Wallander's character, and demand to be read in one sitting. From the stabbing of a neighbour in 1969 to a light aircraft accident in 1989, every story is a vital piece of the "Wallander" series, showing Mankell at the top of his game. Featuring an introduction from the author, "The Pyramid" is an essential read for all fans of Kurt Wallander.

In the UK, Harvill (part of Random House) will be publishing the collection in hardback. The New Press will also release a hardcover in the US.

Fans in Europe can already preorder The Pyramid at Amazon.co.uk.

Henning Mankell to build village in Mozambique

Posted 1 February 2008

Henning Mankell is using more than literature to help Africa - his generous donation of 15 million Swedish Kronor (1.6 million Euros) to the SOS Children's Villages charity is financing the construction of an entire village in Mozambique.

According to the SOS Children's Villages website the project will have "15 family houses for 150 orphaned and abandoned children and be located in the needy town of Chimoio". Education will also play a large role in the project:

A kindergarten and a school will also be built in the village for the village children and several hundred children from the vicinity. "Education is important", emphasizes Henning Mankell. "At the SOS Children's Village in Maputo there is a girl, a foundling, who is now starting to study law at university. In some years perhaps she can work as a lawyer for children's rights. And she has first-hand experience that nobody else has! She will have the possibility to help the children in Mozambique considerably. This girl would not have had any chances in life if she had not been admitted to the SOS Children's Village. The children that get this chance will have the possibility to improve their society."

Henning Mankell visits an SOS Children's Village in Maputo. Photo by Björn Lindgren. Henning Mankell at the site of the planned village. Photo by Björn Lindgren.
Henning Mankell visiting an SOS Children's Village in Maputo
and the groundbreaking ceremony in Chimoio. Photos by Björn Lindgren

For more information about the project, read the complete article from Pelle Tagesson or visit the SOS Children's Charity website.

Kenneth Branagh to play Kurt Wallander in BBC series

Posted 12 January 2008, updated 1 February 2008

Actor Kenneth Branagh has been chosen by the BBC to portray Inspector Kurt Wallander in a series of English-language films based on Henning Mankell's novels. The BBC will adapt Sidetracked, One Step Behind and Firewall as part of their Wallander series.

The Local, one of Sweden's news sites for English speakers, reported on the announcement:

The three 90-minute crime dramas are to be filmed this summer on location in Ystad in southern Sweden, home of fictional detective Kurt Wallander. Mankell's series of books on the life of the enigmatic police inspector have achieved great international success, selling 10 million copies worldwide.

According to Mankell's production company Yellow Bird, the Academy Award-nominated actor got in touch with them last year requesting to play the title role.

Branagh told Broadcast: "Wallander is a wonderfully complex and compelling character and I am excited to be playing this fascinatingly flawed but deeply human detective,"

More information about the upcoming Wallander series from the BBC can be found in the report from Variety.