--- title: "Lilyhammer" year: 2012 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/lilyhammer" fi1m_id: "lilyhammer" imdb_id: "tt1958961" tmdb_id: 42368 wikidata_id: "Q1758072" fi1m_score: 63 critics_score: 56 critics_reviews: 5 published: "2026-10-06T04:33:33.916417+00:00" updated: "2026-10-06T04:33:34.901895+00:00" region: "CO" 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." --- # Lilyhammer (2012) Created by Anne Bjørnstad, Eilif Skodvin · Drama, Comedy, Crime ## Identity Lilyhammer - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/lilyhammer - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** lilyhammer - **IMDb ID:** tt1958961 - **TMDB ID:** 42368 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1758072 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1958961/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/42368, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1758072 **Fi1m score: 63** · Critics 56 (early) from 5 reviews *In a sentence:* A New York mobster takes one look at the Norwegian welfare state and decides it needs a protection racket > Steven Van Zandt’s mobster hiding in a Norwegian ski town is gentle, odd and good company, and the joke is a good one. It is also the only joke, and three series is a long time to keep telling it. ## Synopsis Frank Tagliano (Steven Van Zandt), a New York mobster, turns informant against his boss and is offered a new life anywhere in the world. He chooses Lilyhammer, as he pronounces it, the Norwegian ski town he liked the look of on television during the 1994 Winter Olympics. Renamed Giovanni Henriksen, he lands there in deep winter, is enrolled by the state in a course for new immigrants, and sets about acquiring a bar, a woman and a crew. On the train in he meets Sigrid Haugli (Marian Saastad Ottesen), a single mother, and her son Jonas (Mikael Aksnes-Pehrson). In town he picks up Torgeir Lien (Trond Fausa Aurvåg), a nervous local who would like to be dangerous, and Torgeir’s brother Roar (Steinar Sagen). Police chief Laila Hovland (Anne Krigsvoll) starts wondering who the new arrival really is. ## Review Frank Tagliano, a New York mobster, informs on his boss and asks to be hidden in Lillehammer, because he liked it during the 1994 Winter Olympics. That is the whole premise of *Lilyhammer*, and Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin, who created the series and wrote it with Steven Van Zandt, know it is enough to carry an episode. Their problem, across three series of eight episodes each, is that they never found anything to put beside it. The result is pleasant and easy to watch. It is also thin, and the thinness shows by the fourth episode. Van Zandt plays Frank, renamed Giovanni Henriksen, with the same slow menace and the same remarkable hair he brought to Silvio Dante in [*The Sopranos*](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos), and he is the reason to watch. He never raises his voice. He looks at a bus timetable, a municipal official or a snowdrift with the patient disappointment of a man who has seen worse and dealt with it. The script gives him a fur hat, a bar to buy and a town full of people who have never been threatened by anyone, and he goes to work on them with a kind of courtesy. It is a performance built on one expression, but it is a good expression. The town is the better half of the joke. Trond Fausa Aurvåg’s Torgeir, soft and anxious, attaches himself to Frank in the hope of becoming a gangster if somebody will only show him how, and he is the best thing in the series after its star. Steinar Sagen, as his brother Roar, is not far behind. Marian Saastad Ottesen plays Sigrid, the single mother Frank meets on the train in, and she and Mikael Aksnes-Pehrson, as her son Jonas, give the series its one relationship that is not a set-up for a gag. Anne Krigsvoll’s police chief Laila Hovland watches Frank with the face of a woman who knows exactly what he is and cannot find the form to prove it. The cast speaks two languages, and that is the best running joke. The Norwegians talk to Frank in Norwegian, he answers in English, and everyone understands everyone, which is roughly how a small country raised on American television works. Sometimes the rule slips and a character switches tongue for no reason we could see, and for a minute the whole arrangement looks like a muddle rather than a device. Geir Henning Hopland and Simen Alsvik direct the snow plainly, wide and white, and let the wooden houses and the ski jump above the town do the work. Frans Bak’s music keeps everything light, and nothing in the series ever suggests it should be otherwise. We laughed, and more than once, at the sight of Van Zandt sitting in a Norwegian-for-immigrants class with his coat on, being asked to repeat a phrase as if he were the slowest pupil there. The joke is simply a large and dangerous man being treated as harmless, and the series knows it. By the fifth episode we had stopped laughing and started counting. Each week brings a small local problem, a bully, a bureaucrat, a planning dispute, and Frank solves it with a threat or a bribe and the town is a little better for it. That is the shape of the series and it does not change. Underneath the charm is a question the series never faces. It likes Frank’s methods, and it likes them more than it likes the Norwegian way of doing things, which it draws as fussy, slow and faintly ridiculous. Some critics objected to that, and we see why: a comedy in which the welfare state is the straight man and the gangster gets the punchlines has taken a side, whether or not it says so. When Paul Kaye arrives in the second series as an Englishman called Duncan Hammer and the plots reach for proper villains, the lightness that carried the first eight episodes goes, and nothing much replaces it. [*Northern Exposure*](https://film.one/tv/northern-exposure) put a New Yorker in a snowbound town and found a new reason to be there every week for years. *Lilyhammer* finds one reason and keeps it. Watch the first series, which is short, warm and strange in a way British television rarely manages. How far you go on from there depends on how much you like Steven Van Zandt in a hat, and we found we liked him a good deal, for exactly eight episodes. *Fi1m score 63, published 6 October 2026.* ## What the critics say With only five reviews in so far, the critics are split down the middle, and nobody is wholly sold. The positive notices find the series odd but charming, with a mysterious Norwegian setting and a playful, watchable Steven Van Zandt doing most of the work; Paste, writing on the second series, thinks it has settled confidently into its stride. The dissenters find the gangster-meets-fish-out-of-water formula overfamiliar, the characters thinly drawn and the mobster himself unconvincing, with The Guardian adding that its innocent, rose-tinted Norway sits uneasily after recent events. Trond Fausa Aurvåg’s performance is admired even by those who dislike the show. ## Straight answers **Is Lilyhammer worth watching?** *Lilyhammer* is worth watching for its first series, and we scored it 63. Steven Van Zandt's mobster hiding in a Norwegian ski town is gentle, odd and good company, and the joke of a dangerous man being treated as harmless lands every time for about eight episodes. After that the shape never changes, and three series is a long time to keep telling the same joke. **Where can I watch Lilyhammer in Colombia?** *Lilyhammer* is streaming on Netflix in Colombia. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Lilyhammer, and is it suitable for children?** *Lilyhammer* is a crime comedy rated TV-MA in the United States and uncertificated in the UK, so it is for adults and older teenagers rather than children. The violence is mostly threat rather than spectacle, with Frank solving each small local problem by menace or bribe, and the tone stays light throughout. The squeamish will be fine; younger viewers will simply find little in it for them. **What should I watch after Lilyhammer?** After *Lilyhammer*, try [*Northern Exposure*](https://film.one/tv/northern-exposure) (1990, Fi1m 82): The New Yorker-in-the-snow comedy that found a fresh reason to stay every week. Then [*Local Hero*](https://film.one/film/local-hero) (1983, Fi1m 86): An American sent to a remote town and slowly, gently taken over by it; and [*Fargo*](https://film.one/film/fargo) (1996, Fi1m 91): Polite people, deep snow and crime that nobody present is equipped for. ### Reviews we read (5) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Tim Goodman (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the series light but promising, with a pilot enjoyable enough to make the remaining episodes worth sampling. He praises the beautiful, mysterious Norwegian setting and Van Zandt’s playful performance, while noting confusing language inconsistencies. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/review-lilyhammer-steven-van-zandt-sopranos-netflix-287367/) - **The Guardian**, Sam Wollaston (65/100, inferred): Wollaston finds Lilyhammer odd but charming, and says Steven Van Zandt is very watchable. He also objects that its portrayal of Norway as an innocent, naive place feels rose-tinted after the previous summer’s events. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/sep/11/lilyhammer-vikings-tv-review) - **The AV Club**, Phil Dyess-Nugent (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the series slick and watchable but ultimately diminished by combining overfamiliar gangster and fish-out-of-water comedy. He praises Trond Fausa Aurvåg’s winning performance while faulting the thinly drawn characters and relationships. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/lilyhammer-1798171493) - **Vulture**, Willa Paskin (35/100, inferred): The piece is wryly skeptical about the series, finding its portrayal of Norway and its mobster unconvincing. It singles out the ski-jump as an amusingly underused setting for mob intimidation. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2012/01/lilyhammer-netflixs-first-foray-into-original-programming.html) - **Paste**, Aaron Channon (8.2/10): Channon calls the season premiere a strong showing and says the series has moved confidently into its next phase. He praises its dryly comic culture clash, especially the contrast between Frank’s criminal world and his earnest Norwegian associates. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/article/lilyhammer-review-milwall-brick-episode-201) ## Details - **Created by:** Anne Bjørnstad, Eilif Skodvin - **Creator:** Anne Bjørnstad, Eilif Skodvin - **Director:** Geir Henning Hopland, Simen Alsvik - **Writer:** Eilif Skodvin, Anne Bjørnstad, Steven Van Zandt - **Music:** Frans Bak - **Cast:** Steven Van Zandt as Frank Tagliano / Giovanni 'Johnny' Henriksen; Paul Kaye as Duncan Hammer; Nils Jørgen Kaalstad as Dag Solstad; Sven Nordin as Julius Backe; Steinar Sagen as Roar Lien; Trond Fausa Aurvåg as Torgeir Lien; Marian Saastad Ottesen as Sigrid Haugli; Anne Krigsvoll as Laila Hovland - **Release (Colombia):** 25 January 2012 - **Genres:** Drama, Comedy, Crime ## Where to watch in Colombia - Netflix: streaming *Checked 2026-10-06.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AZ, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, GB, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, SE, SG, SK, TH, TR, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Golden Nymph for Best European Comedy TV Series 2015: Golden Nymph for Best European Comedy TV Series (won) - Golden Nymph for Best International Comedy TV Series 2014: Golden Nymph for Best International Comedy TV Series (won) - Gullruten for best drama 2014: Gullruten for best drama (won) ## If you liked this - *Northern Exposure* (1990), Fi1m 82: The New Yorker-in-the-snow comedy that found a fresh reason to stay every week. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/northern-exposure.md) - *Local Hero* (1983), Fi1m 86: An American sent to a remote town and slowly, gently taken over by it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) - *In Order of Disappearance* (2014): Norwegian snow, a snowplough driver and a body count; the gangster comedy done cold. - *Fargo* (1996), Fi1m 91: Polite people, deep snow and crime that nobody present is equipped for. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fargo.md) - *The Sopranos* (1999), Fi1m 94: Where Van Zandt learned the slow stare; still the measure for mob comedy. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md) --- © 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/tv/lilyhammer