''Blackport'' ( is, Verbúðin) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic television

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

miniseries, written by

Gísli Örn Garðarsson Gísli Örn Garðarsson (born 15 December 1973) is an Icelandic actor and director. He is one of the founders of Vesturport, a theatre and film company based in Reykjavík, and is also sometimes a scriptwriter and producer. Before focusing on ac ...

Björn Hlynur Haraldsson Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (born 8 December 1974) is an Icelandic actor and director. Björn was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, and graduated from the Icelandic Arts Academy in 2001. He co-founded the theatre company Vesturport the same year. In spri ...

and Mikael Torfason and produced by

Vesturport Vesturport is an Icelandic theatre group, founded on 18 August 2001. The group has performed plays in the United States, Europe and Australia. In 2011, it received the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities for its complete work, innovative charac ...

in association with

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization. Operating from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional cent ...

. The first episode of the eight part series premiered on the

RÚV (TV channel) RÚV is the main television channel of RÚV, the Icelandic public broadcaster, launched in 1966. The free-to-air channel broadcasts primarily news, sports, entertainment, cultural programs, children's material, original Icelandic programming as w ...

on 26 December 2021.

Synopsis

The series takes place from 1983 to 1991 and follows a married couple, Harpa and Grimur, who buy an old trawler with their childhood friends and build a small fishing empire in a village in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coas ...

of Iceland. All goes well until the Icelandic government starts enforcing new restrictive fishing quotas which turn their lives upside down and result in a feud of jealousy, greed and betrayal.

Cast and characters

* Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir as Harpa *

as Jón Hjaltalín *

as Grímur * Guðjón Davíð Karlsson as Einar * Unnur Ösp Stefánsdóttir as Freydís * Anna Svava Knútsdóttir as Ella Stína * Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir as Tinna *

Selma Björnsdóttir Selma Björnsdóttir (born 13 June 1974), also known as simply Selma or Selma Björns, is an Icelandic actress and singer born in Reykjavík, best known internationally for representing Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest in both 1999 and ...

as Gunný * Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Smári *

Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon (born 21 April 1972) is an Icelandic actor, comedian, radio host and screenwriter. He was named the ''Funniest Man in Iceland'' in 1999. He is known for his portrayal of Ólafur Ragnar in the television series Næturv ...

as Gils * Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir as Jóna Margrét * Sverrir Þór Sverrisson as Pétur *

Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson (; born 22 November 1963) is an Icelandic actor who has worked extensively in Icelandic cinema. He has had roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's '' Englar alheimsins'' (''Angels of the Universe'') and Baltasar Kormá ...

as Torfi *

Jóhann Sigurðarson Jóhann Sigurðarson (born 21 April 1956) is an Icelandic actor, voice actor and singer. He is known for his role as Leifur in '' Trapped'' and ''The Minister''. Career Jóhann graduated from the Icelandic Drama School in 1981. He has been in ...

as Sólon *

Jógvan Hansen Jógvan Hansen (born 28 December 1978 in Klaksvík, Faroe Islands) is a Faroese singer, musician (violinist and guitar player) and actor who won the first ever Icelandic version of ''The X Factor'' in 2007 with 70% of the popular vote. His album '' ...

as Þrándur *

Benedikt Erlingsson Benedikt Erlingsson (born 31 May 1969) is an Icelandic actor and theater director, theater and film director. He graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 1994 and has been with the National Theater of Iceland for most of his career. He h ...

Steingrímur Hermannsson Steingrímur Hermannsson (pronounced ; 22 June 1928 – 1 February 2010) was an Icelandic politician who served as prime minister of Iceland from 1983 to 1987, and again from 1988 to 1991. Early childhood Steingrímur's father was Hermann Jó ...

* Björgvin Franz Gíslason as Hemmi Gunn * Björn Stefánsson as Laddi/Elsa Lund

Episodes

Production

Filming started in 2020 and took place in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

and in the

Reception

According to a poll by ''Prósent'', 57% of the Icelandic population watched the first episode of the show with 88% giving it a positive review. Following the shows première, Independence Party parliamentarian

Ásmundur Friðriksson Ásmundur Friðriksson (born 21 January 1956) is an Icelandic politician. He has been a member of Alþingi for the Independence Party since 2013. References {{reflist External linksBioat Alþingi The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Ice ...

criticised the show for its portrayal of the rural people of Iceland.

Awards

In September 2021, the series won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Series Mania festival. In November it won the jury prize at the Serielizados Fest in Spain. On 2 February 2022, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond announced that Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Mikael Torfason, writers of Blackport, where the recipients of the 2022 Nordic TV Drama Screenplay Award.

References

External links

Verbúðin
at

* {{IMDb title, id=14440878 Icelandic-language television shows 2020s Icelandic television series Icelandic drama television series Television shows set in Iceland RÚV original programming