Cometh the Saturday night, cometh the Nordic noir on BBC Four. At the risk of causing a diplomatic incident, I find Norway interchangeable with Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In my defence, it’s not the flawed antiheroes, although they do get a little samey, but the visual vernacular – lowering skies, bleak grey hillsides, oppressive dark forests – that makes them meld into one. The new six-parter Trom offers something new.
It’s set on the beautiful, remote Faroe Islands, and Dear Viewers, it’s in Technicolor. At least by Scandi-TV standards. Vivid green grass, foaming white waterfalls plunging from glossy black rocks and so many hand-knitted sweaters it was surely deliberate product placement.
Now, at this point I should mention that I’ve been to the Faroe Islands, which makes me the very definition of an armchair expert. The self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark boasts 50,000 people and 70,000 sheep. The air is pure, the summer light extraordinary and life – oil, farming and fishing – is tough. Old customs are deeply held and fiercely defended; whatever the Western world thinks about whale hunting, on the Faroes it is a non-negotiable. Trom, which translates as “burden”, centres on the culture clash between anti-whaling protesters and islanders determined to keep tradition alive.
The opening double-bill focused on activist Sonja (Helena Heðinsdóttir), on the brink of uncovering a scandal and who piqued interest further by informing journalist Hannis Martinsson (Ulrich Thomsen) that she was his long-lost daughter and her life was in danger. Martinsson clearly has an intriguing backstory and helpful in signposting this maverick man was a scene in which he unceremoniously necked all the hard spirit miniatures in his hotel room.
Pricey and reckless anywhere, but an act of financial self-harm in the Faroes where alcohol is so expensive most householders make their own. It’s gripping stuff and the tensions over whaling will provoke thought long after the closing credits. Trom looks different because it is different. It’s well worth a watch.