
Photo: Sandy Haggart
Sara Heldt is one of the writers behind the Emmy Award nominated TV production The Crown Princess (2006). Together with Swedish screenwriter Johan Widerberg she wrote Death of a Pilgrim (2013) and Another Time, Another Life (2014), the popular series based on the best-selling and award-winning novels by Leif GW Persson, both of which were nominated for the prestigious Prix Europa in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
With a long and outstanding career in film and television, Heldt is one of Sweden’s most experienced and popular screenwriters. Her feature film credits include the popular children’s movie LasseMajas Detective Agency (2008), The Guy in the Grave Next Door (2002) directed by Kjell Sundvall and starring Michael Nyqvist, as well as Winter Bay (1996) directed by Harald Hamrell. The latter two were both nominated for a Guldbagge Award for ‘Best Script’.
Kristallen Awards Nominee (Best Television Drama) Sweden – En pilgrims död Death of a Pilgrim | 2013 |
Guldbagge Awards Nominee (Best Screenplay) Sweden – Grabben i graven bredvid The Boy in the Grave Next to Me | 2003 |
Guldbagge Award Nomination for “The Guy in the Grave Next Door” (Best Screenplay) – Grabben i graven bredvid The Boy in the Grave Next to Me | 2003 |
Guldbagge Awards Nominee (Best Screenplay) Sweden – Vinterviken Vinterviken | 1997 |
C More and TV4 have ordered an eighth season of The Sandhamn Murders, with filming already underway. The series is one of TV4’s most successful crime dramas, and season 7 recently premiered on C More with outstanding viewer ratings.
As in season 7, the series is based on the characters of Viveca Sten’s crime novels, but the plots of the original books and the TV adaption diverge. Sara Heldt and Johan Widerberg are the writers for season 8, while Mattias Ohlsson and Niklas Ohlson direct. Alexandra Rapaport will reprise her lead role as Nora Linde.
There is currently no set release date for season eight.
Thomas Engström’s award-winning novel about Ludwig Licht, former Stasi agent and CIA informant, is to be made into a TV series for the international market.
West of Liberty, the title of both novel and TV series, takes place in among else Berlin, where the arrest of the corrupt leader of a whistleblowing site has thrown the city into turmoil. Clive Barner, chief of the CIA’s Berlin office and Ludwig Licht’s old contact when he worked as a double agent in the 1970s, calls in Licht. The former informant turned barkeep and freelance problem solver has to pray his old skills haven’t rusted as he’s pulled back into the shadow world of those who make a living finding – and killing for – intelligence.
The TV series will consist of six episodes of 45 minutes. Sara Heldt and Donna Sharp have written the script, and Barbara Eder will direct when shooting starts in spring 2018. Producers are Anagram Sverige AB and Network Movie (Germany). The TV series is already sold to YLE in Finland and TV2 in Norway.
The TV series Another Time, Another Life (2014), written by Sara Heldt and Johan Widerberg, has been nominated at the Prix Europa 2015 in the category ‘TV Fiction’. The series is based on the second installment in Leif GW Persson’s Story of a Crime trilogy.
Death of a Pilgrim (2013), the first part of the popular series, was also nominated for a prestigious Prix Europa in 2014. This too was written by Heldt and Widerberg, and was based on the best-selling novels by Leif GW Persson.
The award ceremony of this year’s Prix Europa will take place 23 October in Berlin, Germany.