Wallander Last Night

[sp1814]

Did anyone else see it last night?

What the hell were the BBC thinking????

Wallander is one of the best Nordic dramas of the past decade. It's set in Sweden, and ideally it should star Krister Henriksson.

I can just about deal with Kenneth Branagh...but literally everything else was completely wrong.

Am I alone here on my high horse, or is anyone going to saddle up?

[rockyracoon]

No, you're not on your own, I'm up on that horse with you.

I fell asleep half way through so that shows you what I thought of it. I like Branagh but the whole set up seemed out of place. If I watch a Nordic drama, I, at least expect it to be set in Scandinavia somewhere.

[thugulike]

I love Wallander. Prefer Krister ideally but will always watch. And watch I did because I certainly couldn't hear much. The sound was dreadful, I could have used subtitles. I wish BBC would re-run the Yellowbird productions from the start on mainstream TV

[Nodger]

Apparently it was an original Wallander story by Henning Mankell, and has been filmed before in Swedish (not with Krister Henriksson, but the other guy whose name I can't remember). But I agree - it didn't work. It could have been any police procedural - there was none of the Wallander characteristics. Did we really see him out for a run clutching a bottle of water? Should have been a glass of red by the fire, with Jussi at his feet.

[Mrsspagnoli57]

The episode was an adaptation of Henning Mankell's novel The White Lioness-a Wallander story set in South Africa. I enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see how they do A Troubled Man, the final novel. I'm very much a Krister girl and have watched the Swedish adaptations many times. Krister Hendriksen IS Wallander for me, but I do like the fact that Kenneth Branagh has done adaptations of the books, I don't think Swedish tv adapted The Dogs of Riga (certainly not with Krister Hendriksen) which was very well done by Branagh. Second best to original Swedish but I like them nevertheless.

[Ken4155]

sp, in the final series of the Swedish version, Wallander travels to Moldova in the episode titles 'The Loss'. As has already been pointed out, the BBC adaptation was based on one of the books. The episode wasn't brilliant when judged against the high standards of the previous 3 series, but i will be watching the final two episodes. Having watched all 32 episodes of the Swedish version, i have to admit that theirs is the best, but Branagh does a fine job and even last night's episode was better than much of our own drama.

[sp1814]

Okay - my big problem with last night's episode (and I'm pleased it's not just me) is that...it didn't make sense in the 'Wallander world'. If it were Krister Henriksson who was in South Africa, I would have bought into it...because he's Swedish.

But Kenneth Branagh is English, and had an English accent, so when he was referred to as Swedish, it made no sense. If the producers had relocated Wallander to the UK, I could buy into the premise, but if he's Swedish - where's his accent?

To me - the show should have a completely different name. It wasn't Wallander to me...it was a different detective programme with a brilliant actor...but he ain't Wallander.

Think I'll wait for the next series of The Bridge.

[dzug2]

I have to wonder why he rarely bothered to lock his car

And yes I had trouble with the sound - should have checked whether there were subtitles. I'm assuming from an earlier comment there weren't

[sp1814]

dzug2

I got annoyed about 20 minutes into it, because there are things that I expect from Wallander which it didn't deliver...I like the fact that that the original is in Swedish, which means I have to concentrate on that telly (subtitles), and I like the setting (Sweden has that grey/blue depressing skyline thing).

I will watch next week's episode, but if it's set outside Malmo, I will not be happy.

[Ken4155]

So, sp, based on your comments @ 19;57, epic films such as The Ten Commandments wouldn't have impressed you because Charlton Heston had an American accent rather than speaking Hebrew or Aramaic? :-)

[sp1814]

Ken4155

Absolutely - that has always bothered me. It's why I can't take war films seriously (apart from Downfall, which is flipping astonishing) because I can't invest in characters who are speaking with the wrong accent.

I have to say though - Valkyrie with Tom Cruise was brilliant...but I had a huge problem with the fact that Tom Cruise basically had a accent that placed him right in the middle of a tenement in Syracuse, New York.

[marval]

It was Ok, but definitely not the best. I like seeing the Swedish landscape.

[DTCwordfan]

Wallander is Swedish not a *** Boer or even a Swede on holiday - not credible and very 'disappointing' in attempting to be appealing to all. Bad - BBC.....

[zebo]

I've never seen the point of the BBC making Wallender with Branagh but last night was a new low, lost interest after about half an hour. Just watched it again with OH who'd missed it and it doesn't improve by being more awake!

[DTCwordfan]

Nice pics of Table Top Mountain but that was about it, flat as the plateau up there too....

[bednobs]

i hve never bought into KB as wllander

[Dodger666]

I thought it was a waste of 90 minutes of my life. It seemed like longer.

[hc4361]

I enjoyed it. As already stated Mankell wrote this book, first published in 2009, and set the story in South Africa so that is true to the original.

To my mind, having English actors speaking English is no different to reading the book in English. I certainly couldn't read them in the original Swedish.

This is the 4th series starring Brannagh and as far as I can recall all the others have been set in Sweden, although he may have ventured in to Poland in one episode. No doubt he'll be back in Sweden next week.

[gingejbee]

^^^ indeed he is back in Ystad on Sunday....and STILL speaking English!

[hc4361]

Just as he did in the three previous series, ginge