The police series, which like Rocket, has become a super hit in the Arena, is pushing the boundaries of the genre and attracting international markets. Nordic noir has been joined by a lighter genre.
The Nordic noir synchronicity has convinced viewers that even in the smallest village, senseless crimes can happen and the number of serial killers in relation to the population can be unbelievable.
In genre TV shows, genius cops who specialise in criminal psychology know where to focus their investigation as soon as they arrive at the scene of a crime.
In the *Northern Star*, police work is something else entirely.
In this series, you won’t find naked virgins mutilated at the bottom of ditches. In this series, police work is done because everyone has to do something to live.
They are done under a boss who is counting down the days to his retirement fourteen years away. They are done by ordinary blokes during office hours and at the limit of their abilities.
Crimes are also what they are.
There are also serious titles, but the everyday life of police work is a mix of sloppy scumbags, frolics in bear suits, and restaurant customers who don’t pay.
Every crime is based on true events.
– The crimes of the series arise from our human flaws and mistakes. If others make nordic noir, then we make Scandic blanc. It is a little more human, brighter and closer to people.
Three hours one way
Absurd distances and Lapland’s amazing landscapes play a central role in *Northern Star*.
Everything has been taken out of them and with their power the series is also sold to the world. *Northern Star* has already been sold to all Nordic countries and Spain. The series is expected to be the next international Finnish hit.
Director Teppo Airaksinen thinks that concern about climate change is one of the factors why Lapland is of interest to viewers around the world.
In the international market, the series is sold with the idea that it is possibly the largest police district in the world, the *66th North District*.
– Clean nature is now thirsted for in a completely different way than before. It is not a given. There’s no snow either.
In the northern star, we stop here and there at the odd grill kiosks. The rest of the time is mostly spent lounging in the car.
– If you go from Saariselka to Rovaniemi, the journey takes three hours one way. You don’t go there to rescue anyone acutely. In work tasks, you think about where you can stop to pee or where you can get decent coffee, Airaksinen describes.
Irish producer humbled by frost bite in Lapland
Larkin has been making big-budget films and series all over the world, but *North Star* was still an extraordinary experience for him.
– As soon as I got out of the car, the first thing I saw was the pub. It was ridiculous, but then I sat in the sled, and my mind exploded! I had seen postcards and pictures of Lapland, but the reality was even more beautiful. Especially the sunrises and sunsets were unbelievably wonderful.
After surviving the frost shock, Larkin fell in love with Lapland. The producer Konkar was impressed by how well equipped the locals were for filming in extreme conditions.
– When I came to Finland, I immediately went to the camping shop and said, Sell me everything I need! On the worst day, it was -21 degrees, but the Finnish work group was not in the mood. I immediately thought about how wonderful the red blood looks with the white spirit.
Larkin was impressed by the Finnish production method.
Larkin is used to moving heavy equipment when making big movies and expensive sets. He compares his normal job to running a traveling circus; for moving columns formed by trucks and trailers.
The fleet of the *North Star* moved nimbly with a small team. In a tight budget series, it was worth its weight in gold. In arctic conditions, shooting days become expensive, Larkin testifies.
– There are only a few hours of daylight, so everything has to be planned extremely carefully. If the fleet is damaged, for example due to frost, it takes a long time to get spare parts. That’s why all the exterior shots were planned for a one-month shooting period, the interior scenes were filmed in Helsinki.
During the month spent in Lapland, the film crew became a family. According to Larkin, director Teppo Airaksisen played a key role in that.
– Tepo always has time for people. The fact that he has a group of professionals who follow him from production to production shows how desirable a colleague Teppo is. He has a certain non-verbal language and endless positive energy that radiates to everyone
Everything happens at the dinner table
The frame story of *North Star* is drawn around the character of Maria Pudas.
The former boxing world champion, current local police officer and one of the mothers of the family at the center of the story is the national hero of Rovaniemi.
Merging into everyday life is made more difficult by the fact that every local prankster who gets arrested remembers the top moments of the championship game. The fact that the main character is quite an introvert also affects everything.
Pudas dreams of returning to the ring. This becomes possible when the debts of the father’s company fall due.
*North Star* is more a story about family and passion for boxing than a traditional crime series.
Bread and work are shared with the whole bustling family, and it’s not always painless. The father’s company is in debt, which puts Pudas back in the ring.
Otherwise, all family members are more or less involved in Pudas’s boxing work – and in everyday life, just about everything.
Filming dinners for eight people was, according to the creators, natural chatter and genuine chaos. When the meals were filmed on consecutive days, the working group also ate well.
I had to hit it so that it hurts
Saara Kotkaniemi worked hard for her role, but the feedback about boxing was harsh even after all the training.
– Eva said that if I trained full-time for ten years, I could reach the level described in the series. At one point I thought I got through the blow, but Eva mostly described it as a tickle.
Boxing took a toll both mentally and physically.
Karim Rapatti, who plays Samu Pajala, Maria Pudas’s partner, thought at the beginning of the training that he would have an easy time.
The athletic young man had more than ten years of hockey career behind him.
– I thought I would get through easily, but I have never been so absent from anything when I was in boxing training. It was much more difficult and comprehensive than it looks on TV!
Saara Kotkaniemi, who played the lead role, had to put into the pot the lessons she learned from theater school about never really getting hurt in acting.
– In boxing, you have to hurt so that you feel it. It already hurts when the blow hits your own glove, protection. You had to learn to endure the fact that you hurt yourself and you hurt someone else. It strangely helped when Eva and Teppo shouted next to the camera to hit the chin! Hit harder! Then from somewhere came the killer instinct that made everything seem real.
All episodes of the first season can be watched on Yle Areena. On television, the series is shown on Sundays at 21:05 on TV1.