Advanced Television

Viaplay orderes Below as next Norwegian Original

June 22, 2022

The latest Viaplay Original from Norway is the dark comedy-drama Below, starring Maria Austgulen as a young woman whose life is turned upside down by a traffic accident. Acclaimed screenwriter Tina Rygh makes her debut as a creator with the six-part series, which is directed by Siri Seljeseth (the Golden Screen winner ‘Young and Promising’) and will premiere exclusively on Viaplay this autumn.

After a night out, Fanny (Maria Austgulen) is involved in an accident that kills her best friend Kurt and leaves her paralysed from the waist down. Fanny is forced to move in with her sister, having avoided her since childhood, all the time longing to return to her fourth-floor apartment and her old life.

Rygh commented: “I wanted to make a series about people in crisis – it’s a fruitful starting point for painful, intimate and embarrassing encounters. But Fanny doesn’t fit the template of someone who’s supposed to be grieving. In a sense she rejects the situation, at the same time as she can’t escape it. It’s so great that Viaplay have seen the same comic and tragic potential in this story.”

Filippa Wallestam, Viaplay Group Chief Content Officer, added: “This sharp and quirky show challenges your expectations at every turn. It takes on complex themes through a multi-layered character – and the more Fanny pushes away everything around her, the closer you’re drawn to her. Our latest addition to Viaplay’s Norwegian slate has the makings of a huge viewer hit, both locally and internationally.”

Below (Norwegian title: Below) is produced by Bård Fjulsrud and Aurora Bjørnhaug at Monster Scripted, with Tanya Nanette Badendyck as executive producer for Viaplay Group. The series is distributed worldwide by Viaplay Content Sales.

Categories: Press Releases

Tags: ,