---
name: "Kristoffer Nyholm"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/kristoffer-nyholm"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "13 May 1951"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 83
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-17T17:11:49.429661+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kristoffer Nyholm

Director. Born 13 May 1951 in Silkeborg, Danmark.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 13 May 1951, Silkeborg, Danmark
- **Active:** 1996–2017
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 2 directing, 2 crew
- **Average Fi1m score:** 83, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 68 (2), 2000s 84 (1), 2010s 82 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12322978, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0638679/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/6155

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*The Killing*](https://film.one/tv/the-killing-2007.md) (84)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Endeavour*](https://film.one/tv/endeavour.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Kristoffer Nyholm

> Kristoffer Nyholm makes patient, actor-led crime dramas and thrillers. We value his attention to troubled people, though *The Vanishing* exposes the risk: he can keep us waiting without giving us enough to watch.

The younger detective’s awkwardness and his mentor’s care are what make *Endeavour* (2013) worth settling into. Shaun Evans and Roger Allam give us a reason to stay when the investigations grow familiar. We warmed to the programme because the older man’s concern makes the younger one’s difficulties feel worth taking seriously. Kristoffer Nyholm directed the second-series opener in 2014, so the achievement is hardly his alone. It is a useful place to see the value of his interest in character: the people keep us watching when the case cannot.

His work on the Danish crime drama *The Killing* (2007–2009) covered 12 episodes across its first two series. The move into British television took him from detective work to the three-part supernatural drama *The Enfield Haunting* (2015), then to the opening four episodes of *Taboo* (2017). Working with Tom Hardy and Steven Knight on the latter gave him another setting for intense, morally complicated characters. Nyholm’s close work with Hardy on the performance is important here, given how much his direction depends on our interest in difficult people. Across these changes of genre, he keeps returning to people under pressure.

*The Vanishing* (2018), his first feature, brings that approach to a confined psychological thriller with Gerard Butler and Peter Mullan. The isolation is convincing and the dread builds, but some passages offer too little to justify their slowness. A willingness to sit with uncomfortable people becomes a problem when the scenes themselves grow thin. This is where we would prefer less solemnity and a firmer hand with the pace.

*Endeavour* provides a welcome change from the gloom, and it remains our clearest recommendation here. Its familiar investigations are a limitation, but Evans and Allam make the relationship worth the time spent following them. For Nyholm, it is a reminder that taking characters seriously need not mean keeping everything bleak. We would welcome more of that warmth alongside the tension. Start there for company, then try *The Killing* for a longer stretch of his work.

## Biography

Kristoffer Nyholm is a Danish director and producer. He was born on 13 May 1951 in Silkeborg, Denmark.

Nyholm began his career working as an assistant director and in the camera department on Danish films, including several by Lars von Trier. He directed episodes of Danish series including *Forbrydelsen* (known in English as *The Killing*, 2007–2009) and *Nikolaj og Julie* (2002–2003).

His international credits include directing four episodes of the BBC/FX series *Taboo* (2017), an episode of *Endeavour* (2014), the mini-series *The Enfield Haunting* (2015) and the feature *The Vanishing* (2018). He has also directed episodes of *Wolf* (2023).

*Sources: imdb.com, variety.com, unitedagents.co.uk, da.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (4)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *Endeavour* (2013), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/endeavour.md)
- *The Killing* (2007), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-killing-2007.md)

### Crew (2)

- *The Idiots* (1998), Fi1m 54, Assistant Director of Photography, Camera Operator — [page](https://film.one/film/the-idiots.md)
- *Breaking the Waves* (1996), Fi1m 82, Second Unit Director — [page](https://film.one/film/breaking-the-waves.md)

## Complete filmography (22)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Blood Sacrifice* (2026), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *Wolf* (2023), series, Director
- *The Vanishing* (2019), Director
- *The House That Jack Built* (2018), Thanks
- *Taboo* (2017), series, Director
- *The Enfield Haunting* (2015), series, Director
- *Endeavour* (2013), series, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/endeavour.md)
- *Death of a Pilgrim* (2013), series, Director
- *The Killing* (2007), series, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-killing-2007.md)
- *The Boss of It All* (2006), Assistant Director
- *Anecdotes from 'Epidemic'* (2005), as Interviewee-Photography 16mm
- *The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey* (2004), series, Director
- *Nikolaj and Julie* (2002), series, Director
- *The Idiots* (1998), Camera Operator, Assistant Director of Photography — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/the-idiots.md)
- *Taxa* (1997), series, Director
- *Breaking the Waves* (1996), Second Unit Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/breaking-the-waves.md)
- *Landsbyen* (1991), series, Director
- *Ringen* (1988), Director, Writer
- *Epidemic* (1987), Camera Operator
- *The Boy Who Disappeared* (1984), Assistant Director
- *Christiania* (1977), Camera Operator
- *White Stork*, series, Director

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kristoffer-nyholm