TV4 Sweden is enjoying the successful run of its first English language Swedish show Welcome to Sweden (pictured) and has commissioned five new films in the Johan Falk crime series.

Created by US comedian Greg Poehler from his own experience as an expat living in Sweden, the comedy series Welcome to Sweden scored last Friday on TV4 with nearly1.7 million viewer, a 47% share in the 12-59 year old target group and 17% rating. The 10x30’ series follows New York accountant (Poehler) who falls in love with the Swedish girl Emma (Josephine Bornebusch) and moves to Sweden. Other key roles are played by Lena Olin, Illeana Douglas and Patrick Duffy, with cameos from Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell. The series is produced by Felix Herngren’s FLX in co-production with TV4, Syskon and Entertainment One that handles world distribution. US rights were acquired by NBC. 

The Swedish leading commercial channel TV4 also announced this week the green-lighting of five new TV films featuring Jakob Eklund as detective Johan Falk. The crime series will be directed by Richard Holm and Peter Lindmark. Anders Nilsson who shares the writing credit with Joakim Hansson is show-runner. “The Johan Falk series has a unique appeal, and a large and loyal audience has followed the characters through the years. It is therefore with great pleasure that we can introduce a third season, led by Anders Nilsson, Joakim Hansson and their team” said Åsa Sjöberg TV4 Programme Director. The series is produced by Strix Drama in collaboration with TV4, Nordisk Film, and Germany’s ZDF and Aspekt Telefilm. Filming will debut in June. The series will be distributed first on DVD, VOD by Nordisk Film before airing on TV4.