Talisman: Quirky Swedish Drama Starring Per Graffman Makes US Debut

A quirky Swedish drama comes to American telly during MHz Networks’ premiere week. It’s Talisman, starring Guldbagge Awards nominee Per Graffman.

Talisman Per Graffman as Wallton — Talisman (Talismanen): Per Graffman as Wallton, courtesy of MHz Networks

Created and written by international bestselling authors Henning Mankell (“Wallander”) and Jan Guillou (“Commander Hamilton”), Talisman (Talismanen) revolves around the search for the titular Arabian talisman — a necklace forged centuries ago and said to be cursed, bringing lethal bad luck to anyone who takes it from its rightful owner.

The wealthy Consul B. Ulvan (Loa Falkman, Cleo) has the talisman hidden away in a safe deposit box that he shares with his wife. Unfortunately for both of them, she grabs it along with documents that implicate him in a tax evasion scheme, and she gets fatally mugged within minutes thereafter.

Elsewhere in town, two burglars are on the run from police officers Max Wallton (Per Graffman, When Darkness Falls) and Johanna Stenhult (Lena Carlsson, Mara Wern). The cops catch and handcuff one of the perps, but then Wallton loses it and assaults him. In front of two passersby who witness the beating and file a complaint with the police department.

Both Ulvan and Wallton end up in an open prison for convicts who can’t be placed with the general prison population, and it is here that the former offers the latter a proposal: Once Wallton is out of jail, he is to find and return the talisman to Ulvan in exchange for a large sum of money.

Meanwhile, the talisman is spreading misfortune to everyone who gets hold of it. Wallton starts his search for the necklace, and as bodies begin piling up, he realizes that he has a more difficult task on his hands than he originally thought.

Both Henning Mankell and Jan Guillou appear in Talisman as themselves. Also featuring in several episodes are characters from Mankell’s “Wallander” series of novels, including Kurt Wallander and Ann-Britt Höglund, played here by Lennart Jähkel (The Fjällbacka Murders) and Katarina Ewerlöf (Beck). And Wallton is the portmanteau of the authors’ respective famed characters, Kurt Wallander and Captain Hamilton.

Shown in Swedish with English subtitles, Episode 1 of Talisman premieres tonight, 29 April 2015, at 10 PM ET, following the US debut of Medicine Man, on MHz Worldview and MHz Worldview Live.

The entire eight-part Talisman series will be available on MHz Choice, MHz’s new subscription video-on-demand service, beginning 3 May 2015.