Valkyrien star Sven Nordin talks about the latest crime drama coming from Norway

No one’s taking a blind bit of notice of Sven Nordin as he walks up Barcelona’s main Las Ramblas thoroughfare. If we were 2,628.3 kilometres further north in Oslo, though, it’d be a very different story on account of the 60-year-old being a bona fide Norwegian TV, film and theatre superstar.

The latest addition to a CV that dates back to 1983 is Valkyrien, an eight-parter about a doctor who, desperately needing money to find a miracle cure for his terminally ill wife, sets up a clandestine underground hospital for criminals.

“It’s a Walter White-style scenario of a good guy doing bad things for the right reason,” Sven proffers over a café con leche. “At its heart is the love story between my character, Ravn, and his wife, Wilma. He goes into an unholy partnership with a younger, criminal guy, Leif, who has this pessimistic, doomsday vision of the world. The way they spark off each other is another big part of the series.”

Leif is played with delightful menace by Pål Sverre Hagen who picked up a Best Actor gong for his troubles in May at Norway’s Golden Screen Awards.

Beautifully shot, Valkyrien has got a bit of a 1984 dystopian nightmare thing going on and is being given a prime time runout next month by Channel 4 who reckon they’ve got another Deutschland ’83-style hit on their hands.

“It’s totally unlike anything I’ve seen before,” enthuses the man responsible for it being seen here, Walter Iuzzolino. “The hospital wants to stop treating his wife because she’s a lost cause, so to the outside world they pretend she’s dead and stage the funeral, but in fact, he keeps her alive in a coma. It’s such a riveting thing because it doesn’t have a criminal, a victim, a policeman investigating – it’s a great thriller built around something bigger and bolder.”

Such is the buzz surrounding the show that an English remake has been commissioned, which will star Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy actor Mark Strong and switch the action from Oslo to London.

“I’m biased but definitely watch the original because there are lots of things about Valkyrien, which are uniquely Norwegian,” Sven reflects.

When not treading the boards with the Oslo Nye Teater and appearing in such other ratings grabbing Scandi series as Gentlemen & Gangsters, Torpedo and Blue Eyes, Nordin has appeared in smart indie movies like Sons Of Norway, which includes a certain Mr. John Lydon in the credits.

“It’s about a 14-year-old, Nikolas, who cuts his hair and becomes a punk rocker when his mother is killed in a traffic accident,” Sven explains. “He becomes obsessed with the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bollocks and starts playing guitar in a punk band. I’m his hippie father who builds his own motorbike and takes Nikolas to a nudist camp. The director and writer went over to a Public Image concert in London where they convinced John Lydon to appear in the film.”

Daniel Day-Lewis would have been proud of the method acting lengths Nordin went to to get one of the scenes right.

“Yes, there’s a scary bit in the film where I’m naked on my motorcycle,” he laughs. “I said to the crew, ‘Okay, in order for me to be able to do this everybody on set needs to be naked. So, clothes off please…’ They thought I might let them put them back on for lunch, but no! They didn’t like me very much for that!”

With his big bushy Sons Of Norway beard, Sven is a ringer in the film for The National’s Matt Berninger. His rock ‘n’ roll credentials don’t end there with Sven also appearing alongside Steve Van Zandt in Lilyhammer.

“That was so much fun to do,” he enthuses. “I played Julius Bakke, the lawyer with a colourful past who who gets involved with Frank Tagliano. It had over 900,000 viewers in Norway, which for a country of just five million is incredible. It was also one of the most watched subtitled shows ever in America where they’ve tended not to watch foreign language TV. It’s exciting for me that my work is now being seen all over the world.”

Valkyrien will be available to watch shortly on Channel4.com’s Walter Presents strand.