Bäckström (Swedish TV series)

Bäckström is a Swedish television crime drama series, which was broadcast on C More Film from 23 March 2020. It is based on Leif G. W. Persson's book series about police inspector Evert Bäckström. An American TV series, Backstrom (2015), is based on the same character, but transposed to Portland, Oregon. For the Swedish show Evert is depicted by Kjell Bergqvist, across three seasons of six episodes each. Season one's action is largely set in Stockholm and its surroundings, filming began in Gothenburg in March 2019 with Jonathan Sjöberg and Amanda Adolfsson directing three episodes each. Sjöberg was also the main scriptwriter with Dennis Magnusson. Assisting in each season are Evert's colleagues Ankan (Agnes Lindström Bolmgren), Toivonen (Pekka Strang), Kristian (Filip Berg), Adam (Peshang Rad) and Peter (Rolf Lydahl). Evert mentors his upstairs neighbour Edvin (Elvis Stegmar).

During the first season, which is based on Persson's Kan man dö två gånger? (English: Can You Die Twice?), Evert's team investigate the death of Jaidee (Sandra Yi Sencindiver), who supposedly died in Thailand during the 2004 Asian tsunami. However, Edvin found Jaidee's skull, with a bullet hole, on a Swedish island. Evert has to contend with various suspects, including his celebrity TV rival, the lawyer Tomas (Jens Hultén), scout leader Haqvin (Johan Widerberg) and Jaidee's husband Daniel (Linus Wahlgren). Season two, based on Den sanna historien om Pinocchios näsa (2013, English: The True Story of Pinocchio's Nose) has Evert discovered at Tomas's murder scene. Besides solving that crime, Evert searches for a unique child's toy and musical box, shaped as Pinocchio, while obscuring its significance from his colleagues and evading his enemies. The third season is based on Persson's characters with its action mostly set in Palma de Mallorca (Palma), Spain. Besides solving a local murder, Evert hopes to resolve the historical murder of his first love, Sally.

Premise
Season one:

In mid-2019 Edvin brings a human skull to Evert, which he found on Ofärds Island. Toivonen wants Evert to investigate an armoured car robbery but Evert refuses: he only does homicides. Ankan takes on the robbery case while also assisting Evert. When Evert brags on national TV to his rival, Tomas, that the robbery is simple, he annoys both Ankan and Toivonen. The latter appoints Hanna to supervise Evert. Toivonen also assigns injured policemen, Olsson and Olzzon, to assist Evert. With Peter's help Evert find's the rest of the skeleton inside an overgrown root cellar – it has been there for eight years. DNA analysis determines that the remains belong to Jaidee. However, Nadja has discovered that Jaidee died during the 2004 Asian tsunami, in Thailand. Jaidee's corpse was identified by her husband Daniel and her DNA checked by a Swedish police team led by Hanna's father.

Edvin suspects his scout leader Haqvin and finds photos: one shows Haqvin yachting with Jaidee, another links Daniel, Haqvin and Tomas. Evert starts a relationship with publicist Tina. After visiting Thailand, Evert believes that Jaidee and Daniel formed a threesome with bar girl Jada. When Jada died in the tsunami, Daniel and Jaidee used the opportunity for insurance fraud. Thereafter Jaidee posed as Jada. By mid-2011, Jaidee wanted to leave Daniel. Tomas advised Daniel to stop Jaidee as they would both face fraud convictions. Tina betrays Evert to her Russian mafia debt collectors, who want him to stop investigating their robbery. Although wounded, Evert survives the encounter. According to Evert, Daniel shot Jaidee, dumped her corpse on Ofärds and disposed of the rifle in a nearby sea trench.

Season two

Evert suspects Tomas of working with Tina and the Russian mafia. In a drunken state, Evert barges into Tomas's home waving his gun but he discovers Tomas is dead. He goes to the drinks cabinet, where he finds Pinocchio hidden in a wine box. He puts it back and returns to the lounge. Evert notices bullet holes and, with a cloth, picks up another gun. Adam and Kristian enter. He orders them to call in Ankan and Peter. The team analyse the crime scene, shots were fired but Tomas was beaten and strangled. Toivonen removes Evert from this investigation as he had threatened his rival earlier. Ankan appointed to lead. Evert consults Gurra about Pinocchio, which is a unique Fabergé-designed children's musical box owned by Nicholas II and said to be cursed. Its estimated worth is SEK 300 million. Evert decides to hide information about Pinocchio, while tracking down its previous owners. Evert's first suspect, Hans, who was assaulted by Tomas, dies when he falls from his upper storey onto Evert's taxi. Hans's phone shows he was being threatened.

Personal trainer Martin helped transfer Russian icons and Pinocchio for Tomas. He asks Ankan for help but she is sidetracked by girlfriend Carla throwing a surprise birthday party. Martin is attacked and hospitalised. Gurra tells Evert that a Finnish noble family were previous owners of Pinocchio. Evert and Toivonen fly to Helsinki to meet Sigge and his bodyguard Aapo. Evert deduces they confronted Tomas in his home. Tomas shot at them. Aapo and Tomas fought, Tomas was left injured and the Finns departed without the musical box. Ankan suspects Evert is lying about Pinocchio. Russian henchman Boris sends threatening messages to Evert. Ankan and Evert investigate art dealer "Dubrovnik", who accepted offer from Tomas to buy the artefact. Evert misdirects Ankan and Carla. He approaches the seller who drives off. Adam and Kristian discover a stolen bike, which leads to Tomas's recently acknowledged child, Nike. Evert and Ankan determine that Tomas's domestic partner killed him and stole Pinocchio. Ankan recovers it but hands it to Evert. Evert delivers it to Boris's boss Ivan. Boris is about to shoot Evert, but he is saved when Tina kills Boris.

Cast and characters

 * Kjell Bergqvist as Evert Bäckström: homicide detective inspector, TV celebrity show Spanning (English: Reconnaissance) panellist, has unsurpassed success in solving cases, disparages superiors, colleagues and rivals
 * Agnes Lindström Bolmgren as Annika ”Ankan” Carlsson: Evert's former protégé, serious crimes unit detective, Evert's second-in-charge
 * Pekka Strang as Pentti Toivonen: Finnish-ancestry, raised in Södertälje, Stockholm Police Chief, Evert's and Ankan's boss
 * Filip Berg as Kristian Olsson: uniformed police transferred to Evert's unit, attempts to woo Ankan
 * Peshang Rad as Adam "Olzzon" Oleszkiewicz: uniformed police transferred to Evert's unit
 * Małgorzata Pieczyńska as Nadja Högberg: Russian-born forensic pathologist
 * Rolf Lydahl as Peter Niemi: crime scene investigator, forensic scientist. Separates from wife
 * Elvis Stegmar as Edvin Kostić: Slobodan's son, Evert's neighbour and protégé, amateur sleuth, sea scout. Attempts to reconcile Evert and Tina. Holidays with Evert in Palma
 * Victoria Dyrstad as Clara Nord: police detective, Ankan's love interest, Nationella operativa avdelningen (English: National Operations Department) (NOA) agent, separated from Ankan, jailed as murder suspect
 * Jens Hultén as Tomas Eriksson: high society lawyer, Spanning panellist, Evert's rival. Killed in season 2 (seasons 1–2)
 * Helena Bergström as Teresia "Tussan" Carlsson: Ankan's mother, Eugene's love interest. Returns to Palma, Miguel's lover, becomes Evert's lover (seasons 2–3)
 * Helen Sjöholm as Tina Bonde: celebrity manager, including Gurra, Tomas and Evert; becomes Evert's love interest until she betrays him. Saves Evert's life by killing Boris, jailed. (seasons 1–2)
 * Anders Mossling as G Gurra (Gustav G:son Henning): high society collectables broker, Evert's associate, star of TV show Antique Dealers (seasons 1–2)
 * Arbi Alviati as Boris Borovskij: Russian mafia, "Tsar" Ivan's henchman. Killed by Tina (seasons 1–2)
 * Lisa Lindgren as Programledare Spanning (English: Reconnaissance presenter) / Lisa Kvarnström: host of celebrity TV show, Spanning (seasons 1–2)
 * Lars G. Wik as Sven "Nudeln" Severin (English: "Noodle" Severin): Lost property officer, demoted for accusing Evert of theft. Dubbed "Noodle" by Evert after he seduced Sven's wife. Seeks revenge against Evert (seasons 1–2)
 * Baxter Renman as Unge Evert (English: Young Evert): nine-year-old boy, Sally's neighbour and best friend; finds her corpse (seasons 2–3)

Season one only

 * Livia Millhagen as Hanna Hwass: former Financial Crimes Unit, Deputy Chief Prosecutor appointed to lead Evert's investigation, Erik's daughter
 * Linus Wahlgren as Daniel Johnson: Foreign Affairs diplomat, aspirant ambassador, Jaidee's husband, Tomas and Haqvin's friend
 * Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Jaidee Kunchai/Jada Jing: Thai-born, Swedish resident, Daniel's wife. Declared dead from December 2004 Asian tsunami in Thailand. Actually killed in mid-2011. Assumed "Jada Jing" identity after tsunami until her death
 * Johan Widerberg as Haqvin Furuhjelm: inherited fortune from his arms dealer father, completed law degree, sailor, Edvin's scout leader, Daniel and Tomas's former friend
 * Johan Kylén as Gerhard Rönndahl: MiMi's husband, restaurateur
 * Vee Vimolmal as Naphaporn: restaurant chef, Gerhard's love interest
 * Victor Gadderus as Slobodan Kostić: Edvin's father
 * Staffan Göthe as Erik Hwass: Hanna's father, former head of National Criminal Police, which supervised identification of Swedish tsunami victims
 * Sahajak Boonthanakit as Akkarat Bunyasarn: Bangkok police Chief Inspector, assists Evert
 * Hanna Ullerstam as Anna: Daniel and Jaidee's accountant
 * Lars Andersson as Roland "Stålis" Stålhammar: former policeman, Evert's contact

Season two only

 * Lola Zackow as Jannicke Svenzon: news reporter
 * Marcus Vögeli as Martin Hansen: personal trainer, Sanna's foster brother and accomplice
 * Malin Crépin as Sanna Svärd: lawyer, Martin's foster sister, Tomas's colleague and domestic partner
 * Stephen Rappaport as "Dubrovnik": art dealer, offers to buy Pinocchio
 * Jens Ohlin as Ronny "Eugene": aspiring writer-poet; Tussan's love interest
 * Michael Segerström as Cornelius: lawyer, Tomas's colleague
 * Sergej Merkusjev as "Tsar" Ivan: Stockholm Russia mafia boss, pursues Pinocchio
 * Peder Falk as Baron Hans Ulrik von Comer: art dealer, king's former friend, Tomas's associate, rival for Pinocchio
 * Vega Distner as Sally: eleven-year-old girl, Evert's childhood friend, murdered
 * Anna Sise as Lucy Nyström: Nike's mother, electric bike owner
 * Adja Krook as Nike Nyström: Lucy and Tomas's daughter, connects with Tomas in his last months
 * Jaqueline Ignacio as Ms Anoo: Tomas's major creditor
 * Robin Stegmar as Hannes Nyström: Lucy's husband Note: Robin is the father of Elvis Stegmar who portrays Edvin.

Season three only

 * Julia Marko-Nord as Xenia Wall: NOA boss, supervises Palma undercover operation
 * Thea Sannert as Sally: Evert's friend, murdered (Note: second actress to portray same character)
 * Srdjan Nedzipovski as Miguel Romero: Palma-born, undercover policeman, Tussan's clandestine lover
 * Mira Lydahl Bodell as Alice: Peter's daughter, befriends Edvin, Spanish-speaking
 * Léonie Vincent as Jennifer p.k.a. "Eliza": Xenia's undercover agent in Albert's gang as Iris's driver, Lisa's clandestine lover
 * Görel Crona as Iris Gripensköld: Sally's cousin, reclusive Palma resident, works with nephew Albert
 * Mattias Silvell as Karl Mellerud: Swedish celebrity chef, money launderer, drug dealer, works with Albert
 * Lia Boysen as Beatrice: Tussan's Swedish-born friend, funds Tussan's golf club project
 * Kjell Wilhelmsen as Lasse K: money launderer, works for Beatrice
 * Panos Koronis as Detective Morales: Palma's police, investigates Miguel's murder
 * Yannis Kokiasmenos as Padre Buñuel: local priest, Miguel's confidate
 * Nikos Poursanidis as Ricardo Costa: Miguel's cousin, runs nightclub as front for money laundering and drug dealing
 * Francisco Sobrado as Conny Stångberg ( Radić): Former gangster, Stockholm lawyer, restaurant owner, buys restaurants soon after they were blown up
 * Christoffer Aigevi as Albert Örn (a.k.a. Orel (Czech); Eagle (English)): Swedish-born drug lord, based in Palma, works with his aunt Iris
 * Carita Ivanova as Elizabeth "Lisa" Radić: Södertälje-born to Czech parents, Conny's sister, shot in back by Orel (English: Eagle), Jennifer's clandestine lover
 * Maria Nefeli Douka as Ana Costa: Ricardo's wife

Production
Bäckström was produced by Yellow Bird Productions for C More and TV4 in co-production with Film i Väst and ARD Degeto. Banijay Rights distributed the series internationally. The first season's directors are Jonathan Sjöberg and Amanda Adolfsson. Sjöberg is also the main scriptwriter while Dennis Magnusson has co-written two of episodes. Georgie Mathew is the producer. It consists of six episodes, based on Leif G. W. Persson's books Kan man dö två gånger? (2016) (English: Can You Die Twice?) and parts of  Den som dödar draken (2008) (English: The One Who Kills the Dragon). It was filmed in Gothenburg and Bangkok.

Second season of six episodes was directed by Andreas Öhman and Manuel Concha with three each. Filming began in early 2021 in Gothenburg and Stockholm. It is based on Persson's book, Den sanna historien om Pinocchios näsa (2013) (English: The True Story of Pinocchio's Nose). Scripts were co-written by Magnusson and Sjöberg.

Reception
Joel Keller of Decider reviewed Bäckström season one and praised Bergqvist's portrayal of the titular character, "[not] as a crank or a grump but as a guy who is fascinated with murder, thinks finding out who killed a person is one of the most important things to do, and seems to have an overall lust for life." Keller also considered Stegmar's role of Edvin, "a bit of a precocious snot-nose, but the kid is the only character besides Bäckström that has any sort of personality." What She Said Talk's Anne Brodie also considered it, "a nifty, new detective series" and observed that Bergqvist's character's "hidden talent, believe it or not, is empathy... He 'feels' situations that sometimes lead him to clues."