At the 49th Göteborg Film Festival, during the TV Drama Vision industry strand, the Danish series Secrets We Keep was announced as the winner of the Nordic Series Script Award. Ingeborg Topsøe, the writer of the show, received the trophy, presented by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond as part of the Nordic Series Awards, intended to honour excellence in Nordic drama series.

The Nordic Series Script Award, previously known as the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, recognises outstanding writing in Nordic drama and is accompanied by a sum of NOK 200,000 (€17,000). The award is given to the main writer of a Nordic drama series.

The 2026 jury consisted of Norwegian actress Agnes Kittelsen, Danish journalist and film and TV critic Nanna Frank Rasmussen, and Henning Kamm, executive producer and managing director of Germany’s REAL FILM Berlin. The jury statement reads: “This year’s winner asks the questions: can intimacy be outsourced? How far are you – as a single individual – willing to go to maintain your position in life? At what cost do you uphold existing power dynamics, both in your private sphere and on a global scale? By confronting us with the harsh realities of human existence – without smothering the audience in numbing escapism – the winner shows that it is possible to combine a compelling, nail-biting whodunit thriller with a strong social commentary.”

Secrets We Keep is a six-part series that follows Cecilie, who seeks answers when a neighbour’s au pair vanishes from her wealthy suburb and subsequently unravels secrets that shatter her seemingly perfect world. Written by Topsøe and directed by Per Fly (Backstabbing for Beginners [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film], Inheritance), the series is produced by Claudia Saginario for Uma Film and is broadcast on Netflix.

Additionally, the Creative Courage Award was presented to the Swedish series Blood Cruise, produced by Alexander Rönnberg (Northern Fable) and Will Tennant (Imaginarium Productions), and commissioned by Johanna Gårdare and Sonja Nilsson Hermele from SVT. The award recognises producers and commissioners who dare to take risks and champion innovative storytelling in Nordic drama.

The Creative Courage Award winner was selected by Liselott Forsman, CEO of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and Cia Edström, head of TV Drama Vision, Göteborg Film Festival. The jury motivation reads: “We want to honour the commissioners and producers who dared to make this extraordinary horror series come to life by combining a family story with a microcosm of Sweden, involving multiplying vampires on a ferry.”

Blood Cruise takes place on board the Baltic Charisma, which sails daily between Stockholm and Helsinki, and on which vampire Edith and her son Walter are fleeing in a clapped-out motorhome. When the ferry becomes cut off from the world, trust is shattered and lives are thrown into chaos, with consequences that could potentially decide the fate of thousands. The series is written by Mats Strandberg and Malin Lagerlöf, and is directed by Jonas Alexander Arnby (When Animals Dream [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Jonas Alexander Arnby
scheda film], The Helicopter Heist [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Daniel Espinosa
scheda series]), while Paramount Global handles the sales.