If you’re a fan of Scandi Noir across all mediums, like approximately 98% of SBS viewers*, chances are you’ve come across the novels of acclaimed Swedish criminologist and police whistle-blower Leif G. W. Persson or one of the many adaptations thereof, .
He’s so in demand, most of his books have been optioned by Hollywood, but writing partners Hans Jörnlind and Aron Levander were relieved to discover the titan of crime fiction has plenty more wicked ideas stashed away in the darkest corners of his keen mind.
“He scribbled down a couple of pages, and we basically took it from there,” Levander (who is also a writer on Jordskott, now ) says of what would become their hit, Stockholm-set show The Truth Will Out.
‘The Truth Will Out’ co-writers and co-creators, Aron Levander and Hans Jörnlind. Credit: Viaplay
It stars Robert Gustafsson of The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared fame as Peter Wendel, the reluctant detective, recently returned to work after a family bereavement, who’s tasked with heading up an unloved Cold Case department. He hopes to recruit the finest, but actually he winds up with competing misfits Caijsa, an alcoholic under investigation for dubious decisions who’s depicted by actor Louise Peterhoff, and the cranky Jorma (Christopher Wagelin), who has similarly been bumped from the Violent Crimes unit and isn’t happy about it. Before long, the team is embroiled in a political cover-up involving a prisoner who may or may not be a serial killer.
Jorma (Christopher Wagelin) on the case. Credit: Baldur Bragason
You might expect the showrunners to feel immense pressure stepping into Persson’s well-worn shoes, but Jörnlind says they took it in their stride.
“We saw it as a great opportunity,” he says, just before dropping a bombshell that I thought might have led to them being exiled from Scandinavia. “Aron and I have never been big crime series fans, so we wanted to approach it in a different way, writing a show that has darkness inside of it, a reality, but also contrast it with a certain amount of humour, and trying to make that mix work was really important for us.”
Which is where Gustafsson’s comic chops come in, Levander says. “One of the main perks of casting a comedy actor is that they have this really wonderful timing that can be used for more than just punchlines.”
Gustafsson’s deadpan delivery is particularly noticeable in the opening episode of the first season (streaming now , with season two coming later this year) when a gruff Peter, annoyed by the low calibre of applicants to this new unit, has to contend with Barbro, a hilarious clerk, depicted by the revered Ia Langhammer, who would rather get him to screen her Tinder possibilities.
Peter (Robert Gustafsson) and Barbro (Ia Langhammer). Credit: Baldur Bragason
“Me and Hans nearly fell down when we saw his reaction to that moment in the dailies,” Levander says. “He executed it by relaxing 5% in his face, basically no reaction, but it made the whole scene wonderful. And it worked. You didn’t need more.”
The plot is based loosely on the far-out story of Sture Bergwall, aka Thomas Quick, , having falsely confessed to countless murders he never committed. The Truth Will Out paints around the edges of this startling untruth. “We wanted to use the [Thomas Quick] case as the backdrop, but create our own story that’s connected to reality in a thematic way, about what happens when the justice system fails and the effects it has on the victim’s relatives,” Jörnlind says.
Plenty has already been said about the Bergwall case itself. “He was behind bars for a good 20 years before a heroic journalist started to dig into these investigations and realised that he was just a liar,” Levander reveals of Persson’s inspiration. “The case has been turned upside down in books and series, but the angle we took is, how could that happen? What are the consequences of a judicial screw-up like that? The liar isn’t important. The real killer is, [as is] the legal conspiracy.”
Peter (Robert Gustafsson) in ‘The Truth Will Out’. Credit: Baldur Bragason
Sitting down to plot out a new mystery winding itself around the shocking case’s collapse, Jörnlind and Levander relished focusing on the ragtag characters. “We have this bunch of underdogs, ill-equipped for solving the toughest crimes that nobody else has been able to crack, and that’s the premise that me and Hans fell in love with,” Levander says.
Jörnlind adds that it’s not that far from the truth. “The reality is, when they started to form these cold case groups in Sweden, even if the leader would like to have the best detectives, nobody was letting go of them, so you are kind of left with the misfits, and that came with a lot of opportunities to make a bit comedy in this drama,” he says. “After a while, they kind of become this weird family who have to work together, and it’s a fantastic dynamic.”
Barbro (Ia Langhammer) and Peter (Robert Gustafsson) in ‘The Truth Will Out’. Credit: Viaplay
The comic asides of Gustafsson and Co. amplify the intrusion of the show’s darker twists, and sometimes these disparate tones overlap with absurdly sublime precision, like when Peter’s huffy perfectionism and insistence on using a specific cucumber knife (who knew that was a thing?) suddenly implicates him in the murder of a lawyer.
“It’s such a quirky detail,” Levander agrees, but one that works. “Early on, we spoke to Robert about how Peter wants to control his world, and he said he has this theory that if you have chaos internally, you tend to have an extremely neat, polished and clean external life. So because of the turmoil inside Peter’s head, he needs to have that perfect suit. And of course he would also be that guy that has a particular cucumber knife.”
*figure may be exaggerated, but it can’t be that far off…
Season 1 of The Truth Will Out is now streaming . Season 2 is due to arrive later this year.
STREAM FREE AT SBS ON DEMAND
The Truth Will Out - season 1 episode 1
