---
title: "Wallander"
year: 2008
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/wallander"
fi1m_id: "wallander"
imdb_id: "tt1178618"
tmdb_id: 7263
wikidata_id: "Q1041885"
fi1m_score: 76
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 4
published: "2026-10-07T14:59:50.976604+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T14:59:51.306131+00:00"
region: "UA"
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."
---

# Wallander (2008)

Created by Henning Mankell · 1h 29m · Drama, Crime, Mystery

## Identity

Wallander

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/wallander
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** wallander
- **IMDb ID:** tt1178618
- **TMDB ID:** 7263
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1041885
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1178618/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/7263, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1041885

**Fi1m score: 76** · Critics 78 (early) from 4 reviews

*In a sentence:* Every field is yellow, every corpse is a sculpture and Branagh has not slept since 2008

> Kenneth Branagh plays Henning Mankell’s sleepless Swedish detective as a man held together by coffee and guilt, and the series is worth watching for him alone. The cases are grislier than they need to be and the Sweden on screen is a little too pretty to be true.

## Synopsis

Kurt Wallander (Kenneth Branagh) is a detective inspector in Ystad, a small town on the southern coast of Sweden. His wife has gone, his daughter Linda (Jeany Spark) rings to check he is eating, and his father Povel (David Warner), a painter, is beginning to forget things. In the opening episode a teenage girl stands in a field of yellow rape and sets herself alight as Wallander walks towards her, and before he has slept a retired politician is found murdered on his own land. With Nyberg (Richard McCabe) on forensics, Anne-Britt Hoglund (Sarah Smart) and the young, impatient Magnus Martinsson (Tom Hiddleston) beside him, he starts looking for a link between the two, while his boss Lisa Holgersson (Sadie Shimmin) asks when he last took a day off.

## Review

Kurt Wallander is a detective in Ystad, a small town on the southern coast of Sweden, and he is not well. He does not sleep. He eats standing up, when he eats. His wife has left, his daughter Linda rings to check he is alive, and his father is losing his memory in a farmhouse full of his own paintings. The BBC’s adaptation of Henning Mankell’s novels gives him an English voice and an English cast, keeps the Swedish names and the Swedish light, and runs each case to feature length: three episodes of 89 minutes per series, four series between 2008 and 2016. It is a good series carried by one performance, and the performance is worth your evening.

Kenneth Branagh plays him without a scrap of charm, which for Branagh is the brave choice. He is pale, unshaven, slightly stooped, and he looks at every corpse as though it were his fault. There is no wisecrack, no eccentricity, no trick of deduction. What there is instead is a man who cannot stop thinking and cannot bear what he thinks, and Branagh lets the fatigue show in his hands, which shake when he reaches for the phone, and in his pauses, which run a beat longer than anyone else’s. Most critics have said the series belongs to Branagh, and for once we agree with most critics.

The look is the other thing people remember. Southern Sweden is shot in flat, bright, overexposed daylight, the kind that gives you a headache, with the focus so shallow that Wallander’s face floats in front of a blur of yellow rapeseed or grey sea. The directors, Philip Martin, Niall MacCormick and Hettie Macdonald among them, keep the camera close and hand-held and the colours scrubbed almost to white. The first episode opens with a girl standing in a rape field who sets herself alight as Wallander walks towards her, and we were horrified, not by the flames but by the silence before them and by the way the camera stays on his face afterwards rather than on the fire. It is a strong opening, and it sets the pattern: the series reaches for the terrible image early and often.

Around Branagh, the casting is sound. David Warner plays Povel, the father, and plays his dementia as irritation rather than pathos; he is angry at his son for existing and angrier at himself for forgetting why, and the scenes between them are the best thing in the series after Branagh himself. Tom Hiddleston’s Magnus Martinsson is the young detective who thinks he is cleverer than his boss and is sometimes right. Richard McCabe’s Nyberg does forensics with the weary good humour of a man who has seen worse, and Sarah Smart, as Anne-Britt Hoglund, gets the thankless job of being sensible in a room full of men who are not. Jeany Spark, as Linda, is given too little, and the series seems to know it, because she keeps turning up to be worried and then leaving.

The cases are the weakness. Mankell’s plots run on grudges that go back decades and killers with elaborate rituals, and on screen the rituals arrive faster than the grudges, so every episode has at least one body arranged for effect before anyone has explained why. We flinched at the right moments and then, more than once, caught ourselves wondering whether the writers (Richard Cottan, Richard McBrien and Peter Harness share the credits) had the ending before they had the middle. The feature length lets the mood settle, which is good, and lets the plot wander, which is not. By the third series the misery has become a habit: Wallander is sad, something terrible happens, Wallander is sadder.

There is also the matter of the accents. Everyone speaks English, the signs are in Swedish and nobody ever mentions it. We got used to this within ten minutes and then, every so often, Tom Beard’s Svedberg would say something in received pronunciation and we would notice all over again. It is a convention, and a reasonable one, and it never quite goes away.

The last series takes part of the story to South Africa, which gives the directors new light to work with and gives the critics a sentimental speech to object to. We will not describe it, except to say they have a point.

Twelve episodes of 89 minutes is a long time to spend with a man who will not cheer up. Spend it anyway; just not all at once, and not before bed.

*Fi1m score 76, published 7 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Wallander worth watching?**

*Wallander* is worth watching for Kenneth Branagh's performance alone, and we scored it 76. He plays Henning Mankell's Swedish detective as a sleepless, charmless man who treats every corpse as his own fault, and the fatigue in his hands and pauses carries the series. The cases are grislier than they need to be and the plots wander, so take it an episode at a time.

**How long is Wallander, and what is it rated?**

*Wallander* has episodes of about 1h 29m. It is a drama and crime series.

**Where can I watch Wallander in Ukraine?**

*Wallander* is not on any streaming or rental service in Ukraine at the moment. It is available in 6 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Wallander, and is it suitable for children?**

*Wallander* carries a UK 15 certificate and is not suitable for children. The first episode opens with a teenage girl setting herself alight in a field, and most cases include at least one body arranged for effect before anyone explains why; the horror is in the silence and the aftermath rather than in gore. Adults who are squeamish about ritual killings should expect to flinch.

**How does Wallander compare to Prime Suspect?**

*Wallander* and [*Prime Suspect*](https://film.one/tv/prime-suspect) are both about detectives worn down by the job, but *Prime Suspect* is the better series. Helen Mirren's Jane Tennison is right, tired and resented for being both, and her first story is as good as British crime television has been. *Wallander* has the stronger look, with its bleached Swedish light and shallow focus, and the sadder lead, but its cases are weaker and its misery becomes a habit by the third series.

### Reviews we read (4)

- **Radio Times**, Ben Dowell (90/100, inferred): Dowell praises the series as a strong drama elevated to brilliance by Kenneth Branagh. He singles out Branagh’s captivating central performance as the series’ defining strength. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/wallander-is-a-good-drama-series-made-sublime-by-the-brilliance-of-branagh/)
- **The AV Club**, Dennis Perkins (75/100, inferred): Perkins finds the third season reliably entertaining, with the finale especially satisfying. He singles out Kenneth Branagh’s empathetic, controlled performance as the series’ chief strength. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/wallander-series-iii-1798174134)
- **Variety**, Brian Lowry (75/100, inferred): Lowry gives the series a positive verdict, finding enough freshness and conviction in a familiar crime-drama formula. He especially praises its vivid color palette and atmospheric Swedish settings. [Read](https://variety.com/2009/scene/markets-festivals/wallander-sidetracked-1200507217/)
- **The Guardian**, Sam Wollaston (70/100, inferred): Wollaston finds Wallander still compelling, with the detective’s investigative instincts and the case’s unfolding intrigue working well. He especially praises the evocative South African locations, though he objects to the sentimental closing speech. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/may/23/wallander-review-back-and-still-got-it)

## Details

- **Created by:** Henning Mankell
- **Creator:** Henning Mankell
- **Director:** Philip Martin, Hettie Macdonald, Esther May Campbell, Charles Martin, Toby Haynes, Andy Wilson, Niall MacCormick
- **Writer:** Henning Mankell, Richard Cottan, Peter Harness, Richard McBrien
- **Producer:** Ralf Ivarsson, Hilary Benson, Charlotte Bloxham
- **Cast:** Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander; Richard McCabe as Nyberg; Jeany Spark as Linda Wallander; Sarah Smart as Anne-Britt Hoglund; Sadie Shimmin as Lisa Holgersson; Tom Hiddleston as Magnus Martinsson; Barnaby Kay as Lennart Mattson; David Warner as Povel Wallander
- **Runtime:** 1h 29m
- **Release (Ukraine):** 30 November 2008
- **Genres:** Drama, Crime, Mystery
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgqKLaDEAVQ

## Where to watch in Ukraine

Not streaming, renting or buying in Ukraine at the last check.

Also available in: AT, CA, GB, IE, IN, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Satellite Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film 2012: Satellite Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film (nominated)
- BAFTA Television Awards 2010: Best Actor (won)
- BAFTA Television Awards 2009: Best Drama Series (won)
- Primetime Emmy Awards 2009: Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special (nominated); Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (nominated)
- Satellite Award for Best Miniseries 2009: Satellite Award for Best Miniseries (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Killing* (2007): Danish, twenty hours, one case, and a detective in a jumper who never goes home
- *Prime Suspect* (1991), Fi1m 88: Helen Mirren’s Jane Tennison, the British original for a detective worn down by the job — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/prime-suspect.md)
- *Insomnia* (1997): A Norwegian policeman in midnight sun who cannot sleep; Stellan Skarsgård at his most exhausted
- *Hinterland* (2013): Welsh coast, grey light, a haunted inspector; the same mood with less sunshine
- *Spiral* (2005): French police procedure with real teeth, and a cast that ages across its eight series

---
© 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/wallander