''Bordertown'' ( fi, Sorjonen) is a Finnish

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

and

Nordic noir Nordic noir, also known as Scandinavian noir or Scandi noir, is a genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular ...

television series created by Miikko Oikkonen and starring Ville Virtanen as detective inspector Kari Sorjonen. The first season, which consisted of eleven episodes, premiered in Finland on 16 October 2016 on Yle TV1. Season two, containing ten episodes, premiered on 7 October 2018, and season three, containing another ten episodes, premiered in December 2019. In addition to its home country, the series has received praise internationally; fans of the series include American author

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, Hollywood actress

Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...

, and ''

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

'' star

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

Overview

Detective inspector Kari Sorjonen is one of the most respected officers at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Finland when his wife barely survives brain cancer. Sorjonen is a

high-functioning autistic High-functioning autism (HFA) is an autism classification where a person exhibits no intellectual disability, but may exhibit deficits in communication, emotion recognition and expression, and social interaction. HFA is not included in either th ...

and exhibits traits related to

savantism Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calcu ...

. The character is based on British writer

Daniel Tammet Daniel Tammet (born Daniel Paul Corney; 31 January 1979) is an English writer and savant. His memoir, ''Born on a Blue Day'' (2006), is about his early life with Asperger syndrome and savant syndrome, and was named a "Best Book for Young Adult ...

and also resembles an '

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

'-type

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. Sorjonen takes a new job, initially leading SECRI, the Serious Crime Unit, in the city of

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...

South Karelia South Karelia ( fi, Etelä-Karjala; sv, Södra Karelen) is a Regions of Finland, region of Finland. It borders the regions of Kymenlaakso, Southern Savonia, South Savo and North Karelia, as well as Russia (Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Obla ...

, Finland. He moves his family to the town near the border with Russia for a more peaceful life. Things turn out to be less than calm there, however. Interwoven with casework from SECRI, Sorjonen attempts to be a devoted husband to a wife recovering from a health scare, as well as a devoted father to a daughter. His work often takes precedence over family concerns, something his wife and daughter wrestle with throughout the series. Although singularly focused on his investigations, Sorjonen clearly has a closeness not only with his family but also with the other team members of SECRI, especially Niko, Lena, and H. P.

Cast and characters

Main

* Ville Virtanen as Detective Inspector Kari Sorjonen *

Matleena Kuusniemi Matleena Kuusniemi (born 24 September 1973) is a Finnish actress. She attended the Helsinki Theatre Academy in the 1990s, and has since starred in several films and on television. Kuusniemi is known for her role as Pauliina Sorjonen in the televi ...

as Pauliina Sorjonen *

Anu Sinisalo Anu Sinisalo (born 3 March 1966) is a Finnish actress. She has acted in drama television series as well as in films. She won Best Actress of the year at the annual Finnish Golden Venla TV awards for her role in TV drama '' Bordertown'' as Detecti ...

as Detective Constable Lena Jaakkola * as Katia Jaakkola * Kristiina Halttu as Detective Superintendent Taina Perttula * as Janina Sorjonen *

Ilkka Villi Ilkka Villi (born 4 August 1975) is a Finnish actor and writer, best known internationally for his work in the video game ''Alan Wake'' as well as the crime drama series '' Bordertown''. He has played a variety of roles in theatre, television, a ...

as Detective Constable Niko Uusitalo

Recurring

* Max Bremer as Coroner Hannu-Pekka Lund * Matti Laine as Risto Susi-Huhtala *

Jasmin Hamid Jasmin Hamid (born 18 February 1984, Helsinki) is a Finnish actress, politician and investor. As an actress, Hamid is most known for playing a character named ''Katariina Mäkelä'' in the popular Finnish television soap opera Salatut Elämät. Ha ...

as Jenna "Jänis" Luhta *

Janne Virtanen Janne Virtanen (born 16 November 1969) is a Finnish former strongman who won the World's Strongest Man championship in 2000. He was runner-up in 1999 and finished third in 2001. His other championships include four-time Finland's Strongest Man ( ...

as Robert Degerman *

Mikko Leppilampi Mikko Johannes Leppilampi (born 22 September 1978 in Pälkäne, Finland) is a Finnish actor, musician, and TV host. He is the son of Jukka Leppilampi (born 1954), a Finnish gospel musician. Leppilampi is considered to be one of the most promis ...

as Mikael Ahola *

Laura Malmivaara Laura Pauliina Malmivaara (born 26 October 1973) is a Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the na ...

as Anneli Ahola * Niina Nurminen as Johanna Metso *

Elias Salonen Elias is the Greek equivalent of Elijah ( he, אֵלִיָּהוּ‎ ''ʾĒlīyyāhū''; Syriac: ܐܠܝܐ ''Eliyā''; Arabic: الیاس Ilyās/Elyās), a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century BC, mentioned in several holy ...

as Elias Ström * Eriikka Väliahde as Satu-Maria Porttila *

Svante Martin Svante is the shortening for the Swedish male first name Svantepolk. It originates from Slavic ancestors of first prominent Svantes in Sweden. The Slavic languages have the name which is rendered as Sviatopolk in Russian, Swiãtopôłk in Kashub ...

as Gösta Liljeqvist * Satu Paavola as Veera Niemi * Maria Kuusiluoma as Jaana Erkki * Johan Storgård as Tuomas Heikkinen * Robert Enckell as Paul Degerman

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2018)

Season 3 (2019–2020)

Development and production

''Bordertown'' is produced for

Yle Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

by Fisher King Production and Federation Entertainment. The series was presented at the

MIPTV Media Market MIPTV (french: Marché International des Programmes de Télévision) is an event which takes place annually in Cannes, France, using the facilities and infrastructure which the town has developed over the years to host other important events suc ...

in Cannes on 3 April 2016, where it competed in the MIPDrama Screenings for the "Coup de Cœur" award. International distribution rights were acquired from Federation Entertainment in October 2016 by

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

for Germany, CanalPlay for France, and VRT for Flanders (Dutch-speaking Belgium). The series was sold to "over 40 countries". ''Bordertown'' was renewed for a second season on 25 April 2017, with Kuusniemi, Sinisalo, Susi, Ainali, and Villi also reprising their roles. Filming began in Lappeenranta on 8 August 2017 and wrapped in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

on 7 November 2017. The series was renewed for a third season in September 2018, with filming starting on 13 December 2018. The season premiered in December 2019, and it has been labelled as the final one.

Release

Broadcast

''Bordertown'' premiered on Yle TV1 on 16 October 2016. The debut was watched by 1.1 million viewers and set a record for a Finnish series. Total viewership for season one was an average of one million viewers. Season two premiered on 7 October 2018 (it was originally scheduled to premiere on 14 October). Season three premiered on 1 December 2019.

Home media

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

acquired rights in February 2017 to

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

the series in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Netherlands. Streaming of season one became available on 31 March 2017, followed by season two on 2 February 2019, and season three on 11 May 2020. Season one was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

in Germany by EuroVideo on 14 February 2019, followed by season two on 11 April 2019.

Awards and nominations

''Bordertown'' won the 2017 Golden Venla Awards for Best Drama Series, Best Actor (Ville Virtanen), and Best Actress (Anu Sinisalo).

Continuation

', a film based on the series, premiered in the autumn of 2021 and featured the characters from the television series. The film, an independent work, was produced by Fisher King Oy. International distribution is also planned.

acquired rights on 1 December 2021.

References

External links

* * * {{Netflix title 2016 Finnish television series debuts 2010s crime television series Finnish drama television series 2010s Finnish television series Yle original programming Finnish police procedural television series Laestadianism in popular culture