North American streaming service Topic has announced its “Summer of Suspense” slate, which includes the premieres of new Euro TV series and seasons, and more!
Diving further into its “It’s Criminally Good” vertical of crime thrillers and mysteries, Topic, First Look Media’s SVOD streaming service, is bringing several new and returning titles to North American audiences under its “Summer of Suspense” banner.
Between May and September 2021, Topic will premiere real-life Russian mystery drama Dead Mountain, new seasons of Belgian supernatural mystery series Beau Séjour and Russian drama An Ordinary Woman, and the long-awaited debut on this side of the Danish fjords of The Killing. And there’s more besides.
Said Ryan Chanatry, General Manager of Topic, which saw subscriptions increase by more than 500% over the past year:
“Our summer slate of intensely thrilling titles enable you to become a detective right from your living room. These cases explored, in iconic cult hits such The Killing to the conspiracy theories in Dead Mountain, take our viewers on a tour that will keep them on the edge of their seats. We’re proud to be the home of three of the series that kicked off the global Nordic noir sensation in addition to so many others that are continuing that tradition.”
The Euro TV series in Topic’s “Summer of Suspense” include the following:
Dark Woods (Das Geheimnis des Totenwaldes) (Germany)
Already available for streaming in the US and Canada is Topic Original series Dark Woods, a true-crime mystery-crime drama inspired by real-life events that took place in the late 1980s — including two double murders and the disappearance of a woman. As the story unfolds, it centers on the decades-long search for the woman by her brother, a high-ranking police officer in Hamburg (played by Matthias Brandt of Babylon Berlin), who finally learns the truth of what happened to her after nearly 30 years.
For further details about Dark Woods, read this article.
An Ordinary Woman: Season 2 (Obychnaya zhenshchina) (Russia)
Following the cliffhanger that concluded the first season, the award-winning An Ordinary Woman returns to find wife, mother, and flower shop owner Marina (Anna Mikhalkova, The Icebreaker, Sky Court, Godunov) — after having blurted out the truth about her sex-for-hire business to her husband, Artem (Evgeniy Grishkovets, The Stroll) — trying to keep him from taking control. She is the matriarch of her family and the boss of her empire, and as such is the only person who can protect her family and avoid blackmail, all while taking care of her newborn son.
An Ordinary Woman: Season 2, a Topic Original series, premieres Thursday, June 3.
Follow the Money: Seasons 1-3 (Bedrag) (Denmark)
The winner of six Danish Film Awards, including two for Best TV Series, two for Best Supporting Actor (for Esben Smed and Jacob Lohmann), and one each for Best Actor (for Thomas Bo Larsen) and Best Actress (Maria Rich), Follow the Money takes viewers into the high-stakes world of economic crime — where speculators and swindlers, the greedy and the ambitious, commit all manner of crimes in their pursuit of wealth.
Season 1 follows detectives Mads Justesen (Thomas Bo Larsen, The Lawyer, Veni Vidi Vici) and Alf Rybjerg (Thomas Hwan, The Legacy, Rita) as they investigate a rapidly-expanding, billion-kroner Danish sustainable energy company and its CEO (played by Nikolaj Lie Kaas of The Killing and the “Department Q” films). The duo delves into the practices of one of Denmark’s largest banks in Season 2, and in Season 3, Alf follows the money trail of mechanic-turned-henchman-turned drug smuggler and money launderer Nicky’s (Esben Smed, The Kindness of Strangers, A Fortunate Man) drugs business.
Follow the Money: Season 1 has its North American streaming debut on Thursday, June 10, exclusively on Topic, followed by Season 2 on June 17 and Season 3 on June 24.
The Bridge: Seasons 1-4 (Bron/Broen) (Sweden-Denmark)
A two-time Swedish Kristallen award winner for Best Television Drama and the winner of three Danish Film Awards (Best Actress for Sophie Helin, Best Actor for Kim Bodnia, and Best Supporting Actress for Camilla Bendix), amongst other wins and nominations, the critically-acclaimed and fan favorite The Bridge helped to cement Nordic noir as a juggernaut vertical in TV programming. Its success has spanned the globe, having been shown in more than 100 countries and having had 5 local adaptations (to date). Soon it will be available for streaming again in the US and Canada.
Sophia Helin (Atlantic Crossing, Mystery Road, The Same Sky) stars as Saga Norén, a Swedish detective in Malmö who partners with Copenhagen-based Danish detectives Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia, Killing Eve, The Letter for the King, in Seasons 1 and 2) and Henrik Sabroe (Thure Lindhardt, Seaside Hotel, The Spider, in Seasons 3 and 4) to investigate, in each season, a series of connected crimes that occur on both sides of the Øresund Bridge. These are kicked off by the discovery of: what appears to be a woman’s corpse placed equally across the border between Sweden and Denmark on the Øresund Bridge (S1); five unconscious young people aboard a crew-less tanker that drifted directly into the Øresund Bridge (S2); a tableau of a traditional family, staged at a construction site, using mannequins and a woman’s corpse (S3); and the dead body of a woman who’d been stoned to death at the base of the Øresund Bridge (S4).
The Bridge: Season 1 begins streaming exclusively in the US and Canada on Topic on Thursday, July 8, followed by Season 2 on July 15, Season 3 on July 22, and Season 4 on July 29.
The Killing: Seasons 1-3 (Forbrydelsen) (Denmark)
Arguably the series that put Scandi noir on the map outside of the Nordic countries and made it the go-to sub-genre of international crime dramas (not to mention starting the Faroese sweater craze), The Killing, a BAFTA winner for Best International series and a two-time International Emmy® nominee (for Drama Series and Best Performance by an Actress for Sofie Gråbøl), will finally be available in the US and Canada thanks to Topic.
Sofie Gråbøl (The Undoing, Fortitude, The Restaurant) leads the cast as Detective Sarah Lund, a Danish cop who, in Season 1, puts her fiancé and the start of her new life with him in Sweden on hold to investigate the rape and murder of a teenage girl. Season 2 finds a demoted Lund called to Copenhagen to assist on the case of a military adviser’s murder. The series closes with Detective Chief Inspector Lund investigating the murder of a sailor and the abduction of an industrial magnate’s nine-year-old daughter.
The Killing: Season 1 premieres in the US and Canada exclusively on Topic on August 12, followed by Season 2 on August 19, and Season 3 on August 26.
Dead Mountain (Pereval Dyatlova) (Russia)
Based on the de-classified files of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, Dead Mountain tells the story of the real-life mystery of nine experienced hikers who, in January 1959, set out on a trek in the Ural Mountains but never reach their destination. When their frozen, near-naked bodies are found scattered across their campsite a month later, the investigators are confounded about who or what the hikers were trying to escape from and how and why they died. Then KGB agent Oleg arrives to conduct a confidential inquiry with help from local medical examiner Katya; as his quest to find the truth continues, his list of questions grows.
Dead Mountain, a Topic Original series, premieres in the US and Canada with its first three episodes on Thursday, September 2, exclusively on Topic. New episodes will debut singly each week through October 7.
Beau Séjour: Season 2 (Belgium)
Flemish-language supernatural mystery drama Beau Séjour returns with a new season, a new story, and a new cast. In Season 2, former naval officer Maurice Teirlinck (Gene Bervoets, Tabula Rasa, Professor T) sees his own lifeless body dangling from the mast of his sailboat, the Beau Sejour. Soon he discovers that no one can see or hear him, realizes that he is dead, and learns that his family is glad to be rid of him.
When several things in the police record about his death appear to be inaccurate, Maurice starts to investigate it himself. This is how he meets his grandson, Jasper (newcomer Lennard Corne), who can see him. Others, too, can see and talk with him — but why them? As Maurice tries to make amends to his family for something that happened seven years ago, he hopes to solve the case of his own death and find peace.
Beau Séjour: Season 2, a Topic Original series, premieres in the US and Canada with its first three episodes on Thursday, September 30, exclusively on Topic. New episodes will debut singly each week through November 18.
In addition to the above Euro TV series, the shows below are part of Topic’s “Summer of Suspense” as well.
Philly D.A. (USA)
Currently airing on PBS, Philly D.A. is a docuseries that details the dramatic work inside the office of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, as he and his team work to end mass incarceration and transform the criminal justice system from the inside. Filmed by verité documentary filmmakers Yoni Brook and Ted Passon over the course of three years, the eight-part series follows Krasner and co’s “social experiment” as they push reforms — from prosecuting police misconduct and brutality, and rethinking sentencing, probation and parole reform, to minimizing the use of cash bail and ending the pursuit of the death penalty — and encounter political opposition, a stultifying bureaucracy, and a skeptical and untrusting public.
Philly D.A., a Topic Original series, begins streaming on Topic on Thursday, August 5.
The Tailings (Australia)
In the six-part short-form (10 minutes) drama series The Tailings, troubled teen Jas (newcomer Tegan Stimson) starts investigating the suspicious death of her father after it is ruled an accident, a conclusion she doesn’t believe. At about the same time, Ruby (Mabel Li, New Gold Mountain), Jas’s new schoolteacher, arrives in this small Tasmanian town with the burden of her own past trauma. While Jas initially clashes with Ruby, the two begin to develop a mutual trust, which allows secrets to be exposed and the truth to be revealed.
The Tailings, a Topic Original series, premieres in the US and Canada on Thursday, September 16, exclusively on Topic.
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