Everything you need to know about new Sky Atlantic drama Midnight Sun

What is Midnight Sun?

Google 'Midnight Sun' and the first hit you’ll get is an unreleased Twilight novel by Stephenie Meyer. Good news: this Franco-Scandi crime series has nothing to do with that.

Instead, this story starts with a man woken by the sound of machinery. He’s tied to a helicopter blade. It starts to rotate and, well, it doesn’t end well for him.

That begins a murder investigation much in the same vein of dark Scandi drama The Killing. And although the initial heli-slaughter is set in the northern mountains of Sweden, it soon transpires the victim is a French national and the show recruits Parisian homicide cop Kahina to the scene. She’s joined by the local Swedish prosecutor Rutger and his timid deputy Anders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OK6f7xHleY

Midnight Sun – or Midnattssol in Swedish ­ – is the latest drama from Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein, the two writers behind The Bridge that followed a murder on the Oresund Bridge, which links Sweden's Malmo and Denmark's Copenhagen.

Why is it called Midnight Sun?

Well, a midnight sun is a real natural phenomenon. Go north enough during the summer months and the sun can be visible for 24 hours a day. And, would you believe it, this drama is set in Kiruna, the northernmost town in Sweden.

In other words, this drama's gone a long way to avoid a nighttime shoot.

What language is Midnight Sun in?

It’s in Swedish, French and English (not all at the same time) – of course, there will be subtitles.

When is it on?

The last episode is on Wednesday 3rd May at 10pm on Sky Atlantic.

Who’s in the cast?

Leila Bekhti plays the aforementioned French cop who’s sent packing to the Swedish Mountains. It’s unlikely you’ve seen her in any English language films, but you may have spotted her in 2006’s French flick Paris, Je T'aime.

You might recognise Gustaf Hammarsten, who plays the jaded Swedish prosecutor Anders Harnesk. Hammarsten played assistant Lutz in Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno, and he also appeared as the younger version of ageing Nazi Harald Vanger in the English language telling of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

However, the largest actor involved in Midnight Sun is Peter Stormare, who plays investigator Rutger Burlin. Stormare's had roles in Fargo (as blonde and blood-lusting criminal Gaear Grimsrud), 22 Jump Street (The Ghost) and Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World (Dieter Stark).

As for the rest of the cast, well, unless you’re a megafan of Swedish soaps and obscure dramas then they won’t have registered on your radar before.