Swedish Radio’s Children’s Channel has made an adaptation of Emma Karinsdotter’s Lisbet and the Samba King for this year’s summer drama series. A new episode of the hilarious, heartwarming, and norm-challenging chapter book will be released daily through July 18.

The voice cast features Mary Neldén as Lisbet, Anna Bjelkerud as the narrator, and the legendary Inger Nilsson, known worldwide as Pippi Longstocking, as granny the Samba King.

Director and screenwriter Tiina Lymi (b. 1971) is one of the most successful and exciting names emerging from Finland.

Lymi began her film career as an actor in the 90s. She played leading roles in numerous films, theatre plays, and TV series, and is a recipient of the prestigious Jussi Award for ‘Best Leading Actress’, with three additional nominations in the same category. After a few years of acting, Lymi took up writing. She wrote her first theatre play at the beginning of the 2000s, but it was in 2015, when Lymi directed her first short, that she found her true calling. Since then, she has written and directed several feature films and TV series.

Her latest feature, Stormskerry Maja — a historical drama based on the five-volume book series by Anni Blomqvist — had its international premiere at Rotterdam in 2024. The film was a major success in Finland, breaking box office records and earning critical acclaim both domestically and abroad. It went on to win multiple Jussi Awards, including ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director.’

2025 saw the release of Lymi’s dark comedy TV series Queen of Fucking Everything, which premiered on Yle to the best opening week numbers of all time. The story follows real estate agent Linda, whose husband suddenly disappears, leaving behind nothing but mountains of debt. Unable – and unwilling – to let go of her lifestyle, Linda turns to crime. Something she appears to be really good at.

Emmy, SAG, and Tony-nominated actor Bill Camp (Presumed Innocent, The Queen’s Gambit) joins the series regular cast of the Apple and A+E Studios as-yet-untitled series based on the bestselling crime novels by Lars Kepler.
Camp joins the previously announced stars, Liev Schreiber, Zazie Beetz, and Stephen Graham, and will play Chief Ellison, the police chief. Filming is set to begin this summer in Pittsburgh, US.

Read the full article in Deadline by clicking ‘Read More’ below.

The acclaimed series Mafia which saw its US release last week, now premieres on Viaplay in UK.

Mafia has received great reviews, among else The Wall Street Journal calls it a “sophisticated six-part thriller” that “separates itself from the teeming pack of TV crime thrillers with a notable level of sophistication about global politics, character and the creation of suspense. Peshang Rad, who suggests a Serbian De Niro circa “Godfather II,” is Radovan “Jakov” Jakovic.”

Mafia is also included as one of New York Times 30 Shows To Watch This Summer.

The strong cast of Mafia features Peshang Rad, Katia Winter, Helena af Sandeberg, Nemanja Stojanovic, Jens Hultén, Christian Hillborg Cedomir Djordjevic and Dragomir Mrsic. Mafia is helmed by two high-profile directors — Mani Maserrat and Tomas Jonsgården, and Axel Stjärne serves as the lead writer.

Midnight. Stockholm is in motion – then everything changes. A series of spectacular deeds paralyze the city, the whole community. The police management are convinced that they can stop new acts of madness, but criminal inspector Mariana Hermansson can sense that something is not right.

While Mariana’s bosses are lead astray, her search leads her to ward 5 at a forensic psychiatry clinic. Someone has been planning crimes no one has ever seen before, crimes beyond the imaginable. There is only one way that she can solve them: she has to get to the other side of the walls and barbed wire. By her side are the police force’s foremost infiltrator, detective Ewert Grens, and the criminal Piet Hoffman. This will be their final joint adventure.

The thriller series Mafia will start rolling out episodes on June 19 in US, on Viaplay.

The strong cast of Mafia features Peshang Rad, Katia Winter, Helena af Sandeberg, Nemanja Stojanovic, Jens Hultén, Christian Hillborg, Cedomir Djordjevic and Dragomir Mrsic. Mafia is helmed by two high-profile directors — Mani Maserrat and Tomas Jonsgården, and Axel Stjärne serves as the lead writer.