Wallander

Since 2008 there  have been 12 episodes by Left Bank Pictures, BBC and Yellow Bird produced. Kenneth Branagh has acted as Kurt Wallander. 

It was not many years after the first book was published about inspector Kurt Wallander that tourists started to arrive in Ystad and ask for Mariagatan, the hotel, the pizzeria, the café and the police station. That was 20 years ago and interest is greater than ever. 25 million copies of the Wallander books have been sold in 40 languages an the desire to visit all the Wallander places in Ystad knows no bounds.

Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander

Quates from British actors (BBC team) about working in Ystad: 

"You know big skies and fields of rape and great sways of pinewood that streches along the coast..and it is empty and mysterious and often the emptiest place is the scariest because we don't know what's lurking beneath".

"It is just like back home in some ways and just on the edges in the margin undeniable Swedish. And it is in that kind of atmosphere it is very, very good place for drama".

Yellow Bird is the first Swedish production company ever to have won the British BAFTA TV award for best drama series. The award went to the series Wallander, produced for the BBC by Yellow Bird together with Left Bank Pictures and Kenneth Branagh.

This is, of course, largely because the feature-length episodes about Kurt Wallander have been widely distributed. They have been seen in more than 20 countries and viewing figures are estimated at almost 130 million. Filming took place not only in the studio, but often out on the streets, squares and in the countryside.

With Rolf Lassgård as Kurt Wallander:

• Faceless Killers (1994)
• The Dogs of Riga (1995)
• The White Lioness (1996)
• The Fifth Woman (2002)
• Sidetracked (2002)
• The Man Who Smiled (2003)
• One Step Behind (2005)
• Firewall (2006)

 
With Krister Henriksson as Kurt Wallander:

• Before the Frost (2005)
• The Village Idiot (2005)
• The Brothers (2005)
• The Darkness (2005)
• The African (2005)
• Mastermind (2005)
• The Tricksters (2006)
• The Photographer (2006)
• The Container Lorry (2006)
• The Castle Ruins (2006)
• Bound by Blood (2006) 
• The Joker (2006)
• The Secret (2006)
• The Revenge (2008)
• The Guilt (2008)
• The Courier (2008)
• The Thief (2009)
• The Cellist (2009)
• The Priest (2009)
• The Leak (2009)
• The Sniper
• The Angel of Death
• The Phantom
• The Heritage
• The Collector                           
• The Witness
• The Troubled Man (2013) 

With Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander:

• Sidetracked
• Firewall
• One Step Behind
• Faceless Killers
• The Man Who Smiled
• The Fifth Woman
• The Dogs of Riga
• Before the Frost
• An Event in Autumn
• A troubled Man
• The white Lioness
• A Lesson in Love

The BBC films have been seen by more than 20 million people in the UK since they premièred at the end of 2008.

The series also won a BAFTA for best drama series.