02/07/2012 - Danish actress Iben Hjejle stars as a crime reporter in Miso Film’s adaptations of Elsebeth Egholm’s thrillers, which have begun production in Aarhus

Danish crime reporter Dicte Svendsen will poach on the preserves of The Killing’s detective Sarah Lund (in her Faroese jumper), when Denmark’s TV2 launches Dicte, a drama series adapted from Danish author Elsebeth Egholm’s thrillers.

The ten episodes (each 45 minutes) will be the most extensive production so far in Aarhus – Denmark’s second-largest city – starring Iben Hjejle, with Lena Maria Christensen, Lærke Winther, Lars Brygmann, Dar Salim and Peter Schrøder. The first two installments will be directed by Jannik Johansen, the remaining eight by Charlotte Sachs Bostrup and Kasper Barfoed.

Herself a favourite subject of the tabloids, Hjejle spent time as a journalist trainee during her research for the role as the crime reporter who – after her recent divorce – returns to her native town of Aarhus with her teenage daughter. Introduced in Egholm’s Hidden Errors (2002), she tries to cope with being full-time reporter and part-time sleuth while restarting her life.

“We have been looking forward to filming in Aarhus, because the city is important both for the setting and the plot,” said Danish producer Peter Bose, of Miso Film, which has most recently been involved in the Norwegian Varg Veum detective series. Shooting on locations in Aarhus and the Filmby Aarhus studios will continue until November and TV2 will air the series next year.

The main writers on the screenplays are Dorte Høgh and Ida Maria Rydén, and Dicte’s investigations are not exclusively reserved for Danish viewers – Miso Film is producing for TV2 in collaboration with Filmby Aarhus and broadcasters TV4-Sweden, TV2-Norway and ZDF-Germany.