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It’s been just over six months since Deadline launched our fortnightly Global Breakouts strand, in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. We therefore thought it high time that we remind you of some of the prospective hits we’ve profiled over the past half-year. From a Sopranos-esque Israeli drama to a buzzy French action movie to the next big Dutch format, scroll on for the best of the 2023 Breakouts.

Nordland (Denmark)

Our first Scandi drama of what we are sure will be many came from Denmark, where young filmmaker Kasper Møller Rask had followed the Coen Brothers’ lead by forging a crime series, with just a hint of irreverence, for local network Dr. “I wanted to make a young person’s crime show for my 15-year-old self,” Rask told Deadline, before spotlighting how his show was anything but the next Stranger Things.

Exclusive: Buchwald has signed Nordland ‘99 creator Kasper Møller Rask.

The Danish auteur will be represented by the New York and LA-headquartered agency in all areas.

Rask wrote and directed young adult breakout series Nordland ’99 for Danish public broadcaster Dr’s SVoD platform.

Nordland ’99 featured as Deadline’s first Global Breakout series from Scandinavia. The dark crime show is set in a small provincial town, where Lukas, Kris and Alex hang out, party and try to keep boredom at bay. But beneath the surface, a darkness lurks in the town. When Alex disappears after a party, Lukas and Kris ally themselves with Alex’s sister Emma, and together they start searching for their missing friend.

Speaking to Deadline in May, Rask said Nordland ’99 is the show he wished was on TV when he was growing up. It was in the Official Selection at the latest Series Mania...

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here bringing you a rundown of all the biggest headlines and analysis from the international film and TV universe. Read on.

Bad Week For ITV Carolyn McCall and Phillip Schofield

Abuse of power?: Anyone at ITV who thought the Phillip Schofield drama would all blow over quickly was living in dreamland. Late last Friday afternoon, just as we were all putting down our pens for the Bank Holiday weekend, the man who had just left This Morning in a hurry after two decades on the sofa used a lengthy mea culpa to confirm what so many had believed to be a rumor for so many years – that he had had an affair with a much younger colleague during his lengthy stint on the daytime stalwart. Media eyes had already been trained on This Morning and Schofield’s public-not-public spat with former co-host Holly Willoughby...

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” or so the Shakespeare line goes. Since the start of 2022, the infamous Hamlet phrase feels apt when one considers the state of the country’s renowned TV and film industry, a sector that originated such Nordic noir classics as The Killing and Borgen.

As the writers strike rumbles on stateside, the Danish entertainment industry has been suffering from its own stasis, which has shaken networks, streamers, producers, actors and crew. The Danish production sector is now dealing with a massive decrease in work of up to 50%, according to estimates from knowledgeable industry sources, while controversial government legislation known as the Cultural Contribution Act is central to the future health of the sector.

So how did we get here? Primary to the chaos was a major commissioning freeze by leading streamers Netflix and Viaplay and the state-owned TV2 over a residuals row with Create Denmark,...

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

This week we’re heading to Denmark, where a youth-skewing Coen Brothers-inspired crime drama has been dominating local broadcaster Dr’s streaming charts. Nordland ’99 follows the dark twists and turns of a teen friend group living in a small, provincial Danish town, and is the show that its creator wishes was on screen when he was growing up. With the once-thriving Danish TV sector mired in creative clashes and regulatory difficulty, we’ve shone a light on a very local success.

Series Mania has always been about discovery: Of drama series as an art form, in its early days from launch in 2009; then of key players on a burgeoning international premium TV scene.

Series Mania’s International Panorama now catches a new wave of creatives transitioning from film to scripted TV – Israel’s Yaron Shani with “Innermost,” Spain’s Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo with episodes of “Apagón”; and highlights notable emerging auteurs: Denmark’s Kasper Møller Rask, Canada’s Alexis Durand-Brault, Spain’s Fran Araujo, Pakistan’s Assim Abassi and Germany’s Jakob and Jonas Weydemann.

But for having already bowed at national festivals, some of the 12 titles below could well have been in the running for a Competition berth.

Below, the Series Mania’s rich 2023 International Panorama:

“Apagón,” (“Offworld,” Spain)

One of Variety’s Best International TV Shows of 2022, a realistic, sophisticated disaster thriller from Movistar+ and Buendía Estudios...

Dr Sales has closed a deal with Walter Presents on the popular drama series “Carmen Curlers.” The company has picked up the show for the U.K. and Ireland, as well as taking North American rights for PBS Masterpiece.

Based on true events and kick-starting in the 1960s, the show chronicles the invention of the electric curler in Denmark. It also focuses on its female workers, making their own money for the first time in their lives, and societal changes, already lurking around the corner.

“I am absolutely delighted to welcome ‘Carmen Curlers’ in the Walter Presents collection of the very best international drama,” says executive director Walter Iuzzolino, calling it “a warm, incisive, emotionally absorbing piece with a gorgeous vintage aesthetic and a truly remarkable script.”

“I was not surprised to hear that it was such a massive hit in Denmark: a wonderful alternative to Nordic crime, this show...

Also world premiering is HBO Max series ‘Spy/Master’ and Indian drama ‘Roar’

Italian crime drama The Good Mothers is among the seven titles selected for Berlinale (February 16-26) Series strand.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The Disney+ series is directed by the UK’s Julian Jarrold, whose credits include Kinky Boots, Becoming Jane and Brideshead Revisted, and Italian filmmaker Elisa Amoruso. The Good Mothers is a UK-Italy co-production and follows three women trying to bring down the Italian mafia.

The first two episodes of the six-part series is one of five series world premiering at Berlinale.

These...

Dr Sales, the commercial arm of the Danish broadcaster, has teamed with the up-and-coming Danish-Swedish banner Nevis Productions on “Nordland ’99,” a sinister crime series set in a fictional town in rural Denmark.

Directed by rising talent Kasper Møller Rask (“Lemon World”), the show is being produced by Iben Søtang (“Lemon World”) and Anni Faurbye Fernandez, whose credits include Scandinavia’s biggest TV hits, from “The Millennium Trilogy,” to “Wallander,” “Wisting,” and “Atlantic Crossing.” The pair are producing “Nordland 99” at Nevis Productions.

Set at the turn of the 21st century, the stylized series unfolds in the aftermath of the disappearance of 18-year-old Alex. His friends, Lukas and Kris, team up with Alex’s sister Emma to find their missing friend. Both Alex’s ex-girlfriend, the town’s pusher, and Emma’s family have information that they suspect may be connected to Alex’s disappearance. Their journey will lead them to uncover terrible crimes and secrets.

The talented Nordic filmmaker is developing a brand-new 6x30 show set in a small Danish suburban area in 1999. Young Danish filmmaker Kasper Møller Jensen is currently developing a new 6x30 TV series, entitled Nordland ’99. Møller Jensen debuted as a director with his short Resort in 2016, and one of his latter films, November (2018), was nominated for the Best Short Award at the Roberts last year. The script of Nordland ’99 is being penned by the director himself in tandem with writer Jacob Katz Hansen (the TV series Ragnarok and Anton 90), and promises to be a mysterious and suspenseful coming-of-age series set in a small Danish suburban area in 1999. The story revolves around a group of high-school friends who embark on a hazardous journey to find their missing friend. Speaking about the project, Møller Jensen disclosed to Cineuropa: “Imagine that Stephen King wrote the children’s books...