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DISTRIBUTION / DRAMA SERIES

Anneke von der Lippe, Andrea Berntzen star in TV2 Norway’s Abducted

4 MARCH 2021

Abducted, Bortført / PHOTO: Tv2, Norway Monster Scripted H

The thriller series produced by Monster Scripted with Israel’s Drama Team (In Treatment) will premiere on the Norwegian broadcaster April 11.

Formerly known as What Happened in Oslo, the ten-part international suspense thriller with the working title Abducted (Bortført) is one of TV2 Norway’s most ambitious projects ever, co-financed with Israeli broadcaster HOT and Netflix.

Shot in Norwegian, English, Hebrew and Arabic, the show produced by Brede Hovland for Monster Scripted, was filmed between Oslo, Eidsvoll, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Eilat.

Stian Kristiansen (Home Ground, Witch Hunt) and Israel’s Uri Barbash (Beyond the Walls, One of Us) are co-directing. The show is based on a screenplay co-written by Kyrre Holm Johannessen and Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz.

In the starring roles are Andrea Berntzen (Utøya), Emmy-winning actress Anneke von der Lippe (Eyewitness, An Affair), Anders T. Andersen (Mammon, Atlantic Crossing) and Shadi Mar’i (Fauda, Our Boys).

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NEWS

Anneke von der Lippe, Andrea Berntzen star in TV2 Norway’s Abducted

Abducted, Bortført, Anders T Andersen, Andrea Berntzen, Anneke von der Lippe / PHOTO: Tv2 Norway Monster Scripted

When the young Norwegian girl Pia (24) gets kidnapped in the Sinai desert with two Israelis, her parents Alex and Karl are first deeply confused and then shocked as they didn’t know their daughter had travelled to the Middle East. The kidnappers have a simple request: twelve IS prisoners to be released in Israel and one in Norway-otherwise they will kill the hostages.

As authorities are slow to react, Alex who has contacts in the Middle-East, since the time she worked around the 1993 Oslo Accords, decides to act. She reconnects with two former friends/colleagues: the Israeli Arik (Amos Taman) who is now a high-ranking Israeli politician and Layla (Raida Adon) who might have connection with Hamas. But can Alex, Arik and Layla recreate bridges between them to save Pia?

“Even though the series takes place in different countries, with different cultures, it is first and foremost about people who do everything they can to survive, to save their children, and what they value most. It’s also about how secrets become harder to get out of, if you have first started lying,” said Holm Johannessen.

TV2 Programme director Kathrine Haldorsen said: “With Bortført, we explore how far we, humans, are willing to go to protect ourselves and our secrets, and to save those we love.”

The show will premiere on TV2 Norway and TV2 Sumo April 11.

Monster Scripted was at the Berlinale Series market Selects this week with the drama comedy Pørni created by actress Henriette Steenstrup (Beware of Children, Lilyhammer) who plays the titular character. Pørni is a childcare single mum who struggles to please everyone at home-three teenagers, her ageing father, while dealing with a hopeless ex-husband and the recent loss of her sister. The eight-part series will premiere on Viaplay May 2. Keshet International handles sales.

RELATED POST TO : DISTRIBUTION / DRAMA SERIES / NORWAY