Characters
The series is based on Kurt Wallander (Branagh), a detective and police inspector in the small city of Ystad, Sweden. Branagh describes Wallander as “an existentialist who is questioning what life is about and why he does what he does every day, and for whom acts of violence never become normal. There is a level of empathy with the victims of crime that is almost impossible to contain, and one of the prices he pays for that sort of empathy is a personal life that is a kind of wasteland.” In the novels, Wallander regularly listens to opera in his apartment and his car. This signature hobby has been dropped for this adaptation; producer Francis Hopkinson believes it would make Wallander too similar to Inspector Morse, whose love of opera is already familiar to British viewers. Branagh did not watch any of the Swedish Wallander films before playing the role, preferring to bring his own interpretation of the character to the screen.
Wallander's team at the Ystad police station is made up of: Anne-Britt Hoglund (Smart), Svedberg (Beard), and Magnus (Hiddleston). Of Wallander and Hoglund, Smart said, "Our relationship is based on this impeccable mutual respect which is all very Scandinavian and, actually, more interesting to play." The team is joined at murder scenes by Nyberg (McCabe), a forensics expert. The team is overseen by Lisa Holgersson (Shimmin), Ystad’s chief of police. Away from the police station, Wallander has a tempestuous relationship with his daughter Linda (Spark) and his father Povel (Warner), who Wallander discovers in Sidetracked has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Wallander’s father spends his days sitting in an art studio, painting the same landscape repeatedly while in the care of his new wife Gertrude (Hemingway).
Read more about this topic: Wallander (British TV Series)
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