As the cold weather stars to kick in, now is the perfect time to cosy up on the couch and dive into your next Nordic noir obsession.
For the uninitiated, the genre began with a string of crime fiction novels set in Scandinavia or the Nordic countries, typically being set in bleak landscapes as twisty thriller storylines play out.
In recent years this has extended to screens, with TV shows like The Killing and The Bridge defining the style.
They even inspired the creation of beloved shows like Broadchurch, Marcella and Mare of Easttown too.
If you want to see what all the fuss is about, Netflix has a collection of Nordic noir shows ready to stream right now. Here’s our pick of the best five to jump into…
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The Glass Dome
Hitting screens earlier this year, the Swedish series The Glass Dome is set in the small fictional community of Granås.
It is the hometown of the series’ protagonist Leijla (Léonie Vincent), a behavioural scientist and criminologist, who returns home from the United States after her adoptive father, a retired police chief, contacts her to share that his wife has died suddenly.
However, when she comes back, Leilja must reckon with the past after she is drawn back into a unsettling trauma from her childhood in which she was kidnapped and held captive.
Upon its release, critics called it ‘chilling’, ‘gripping’ and ‘engaging’.
The Åre Murders
One of the best-known Nordic noir dramas in recent years, The Åre Murders was also released earlier this year and was based on the Viveca Sten murder mystery novels Hidden in Snow and Hidden in the Shadows.
The synopsis for the five-episode series explains: ‘A Stockholm detective under internal investigation heads to a ski resort to unwind, until a young girl’s disappearance compels her back to work.’
Reviews were glowing, with Decider writing: ‘The Åre Murders features all the hallmarks of the Nordic Noir genre as it turns two differently wired cops loose on the mystery of a teen’s disappearance.
‘Throw in some fantastic location shots of Sweden’s mountainous north, and we’re all the way in on this investigation.’
Deadwind
The three-season series Deadwind was set in Finland and starred Pihla Viitala, Lauri Tilkanen, Jani Volanen, and Tommi Korpela.
Hitting screens in 2018, it followed Sofia Karppi, a recently widowed police detective who upon returning to work after time off is given the task of investigating the murder of Anna Bergdahl, a social affairs consultant.
It was critically acclaimed and drew comparisons to beloved series The Killing and The Bridge.
Bustle’s review declared Deadwind was ‘just as compelling and addictive as its predecessors’. ‘After all, no one does brooding crime shows like the Scandinavians.’
The Chestnut Man
The 2021 series The Chestnut Man kicks off with an unsettling figurine made of chestnuts being found at the scene of a grisly murder, leading two detectives to start the hunt for a killer that’s also been linked to a politician’s missing child.
Set in Denmark, it was also based on the book of the same name by Søren Sveistrup.
Viewers lapped up the thriller, saying it left them ‘on the edge of their seats’, presented a ‘powerful and emotional ending’ and was even ‘one of the best Nordic noir series you’ll find on Netflix’.
Last year it was also renewed for a second season, with the new episodes set to be released next year.
The Breakthrough
Based on the non-fiction book of the same name, The Breakthrough explores the real-life case of Sweden’s second-largest investigation ever.
It follows a double murder that took place in 2004 in the town of Linköping, Sweden, which was solved after 16 years due to DNA technology.
Peter Eggers stars as Police detective John Sudin who teams up with genealogist Per (Mattias Nordkvist) to catch the killer before it turns into a cold case. Fans called it ‘one of the best true crime things I have seen in years’.
Released this year, the synopsis teased: ‘The Breakthrough is a fictional story about the unexpected hero, an unlikely collaboration, and the hunt for a killer. But it is also a story about how an unsolved crime affects a society and what happens to people who are left without answers to both “who and why?”.’
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