At the beginning of October we managed to catch Swedish star Liv Mjönes for a quick chat in-between her busy filming schedule. She is out in Norway and currently filming in Oslo.

Our first discovery of Liv was when we watched the excellent crime series Stockholm Requiem which can be found currently on Walter Presents. The series was released at the beginning of the year, but now is the perfect time to catch it as we head into the dark nights of winter.

We asked Liv about how she would best describe her character in Stockholm Requiem, Fredrika Bergman, who comes across as a very strong-willed lady having to deal with a hard-nosed chauvinistic pair of detectives who don’t seem to show her much respect.

Liv responded: “Well firstly I think I have a lot to owe to the director Karin Fahlén for giving me the role. Fredrika’s character is very far apart from me in that she is a bit more of a reserved person who likes to keep her emotions to herself. So it was a new character for me to play making it challenging in a way because she rarely ever expresses how she thinks or feels”

It is a very good way of describing her role and character – Fredrika is outed for her lack of experience by almost all her team but when it comes to the crunch it is Fredrika who manages to hold herself together despite having to deal with some pretty horrendous cases.

“It is true, I think her character has been training for this all her life in a sense. She wanted to be a violinist but couldn’t because of an accident and I think as a musician at the level she was at, you need to be super focused and not let anything else disrupt you. You need to be into what you do 100% without any distraction from boys or whatever”.

Liv raises a fascinating perspective about the character, who is much loved in the Nordic noir book series written by Kristina Ohlsson, on which the show is based.

I certainly enjoyed the series and as such am being careful not to give too much away.

The credit sequence shows a night time Stockholm with flashes of our characters – all worked to a fantastic score – the way it is filmed is slick and stylish. It looks great and it is certainly one of our favourite credit sequences!

The show itself will no doubt get compared to the likes of The Bridge but we feel this show holds its own with a great narrative that works all the way through the series and the subsequent investigation the team of detectives get embroiled in. It is by no means a cheerful thriller but what do you expect?

Naturally I need to ask whether we might get to see more of the detectives?

“I don’t know how much I am allowed to say but personally I would love to see a second season of Fredrika. For me it would be great to meet Fredrika again – I hope for it – and perhaps see her become more emotional and to live her live more fully”

I certainly agree – with the show released in 2018 it has been a long wait for a decision but given 2020 has been written off with this pandemic, perhaps we will be greeted with news of  new season next year.

Fortunately for fans of Liv they can get another fix from the much hyped ‘The Lawyer’ which released its second season this year (again thanks to the excellent Walter Presents). Here Liv plays a little less of the leading role but still certainly gets a key role in the story.

“Well, umm, oh god am so bad at this…”

For a moment I am concerned she is going to give a spoiler away.

“It is a kind of a more action drama than Stockholm Requiem, it is more about the legal side and the dirty business that is behind it all. Revenge plays a strong role. I am playing the part of trying to calm the main character and make him come down to earth and settle down – that is my part in the series”

Since speaking to Liv I have finished season one of The Lawyer and highly enjoyed it – as Nordic series go this had a lot more action than I had expected (especially when the show is called ‘The Lawyer’ so do not be put off by that)! As Liv says, the show is about revenge and the dark side of a legal firm and the main protagonists, played brilliantly by Malin Buska and Alexander Karim, set their sights on getting revenge on an evil crime lord who they believed killed their parents. Thomas Bo Laursen does an excellent job as the bad guy here. It comes highly recommended and I can’t wait to dive into season two of the series.

Most of these shows were filmed a while ago so I wonder what it is that Liv has been up to since?

“Well I am doing a TV series called The Breast Feeding Room in Sweden you have rooms for women who want to breast feed privately and it is based around one of these rooms and what goes on there. It is about four women talking about their lives discussing their lives and how happy/unhappy they are. I expect it to air in Sweden early in November.”

Liv also talks about a new Swedish film she is in that we’ve noticed has been featured at quite a few film festivals:

“It premiered in Busan at a film festival in South Korea. I think it will be shown at some film festivals – then we hope for it to be released. It is a super cool movie called Tigers and it is about a young boy who becomes a professional football player and I am playing the role of his mother”.

Aside from all the work Liv is putting in I wonder what she has been enjoying in her spare time?

“I am so into Norwegian music and authors at the moment. Have you read Knausgard?”

I haven’t read the 6-book autobiographical novel series by Karl Ove Knausgard, but it sounds interesting as we learn their release caused a media frenzy in Norway. One to look into.

We move to music…

“Royksopp – I love them! Melody AM is a great album. Sigrid and one big Swedish artist (Robyn) and their collaboration is very good!”

I tell Liv about how we like to finish our interviews finding out what their tip of the day might be – she goes silent in thought.

“Tip of the day….

Well I haven’t seen it yet but my friend told me to about a TV Series about Utoya about what happened here in Norway? There are now two movies and this TV Series which is apparently fantastic!”

Liv apologies that her English is not so good but we are very impressed – I find it a prime opportunity to practice a phrase I have learned in Swedish: “Tack se mycket, ha en bra dag” I say in my finest Swedish (it translates hopefully as thankyou, have a great day)!

This hits the spot – it seems perhaps I need to keep sticking to my Swedish lessons.

Liv comes across as such a fun and animated lady that is working on so many projects and seems to be everywhere we look. We strongly recommend Stockholm Requiem for those that love a good Nordic Noir series to jump into and what we have seen of The Lawyer so far we have been really impressed!

Interview with Alex Minnis