I know we like to think of ourselves as the ultimate cultural over-achievers, but per capita there’s no one that punches above its weight quite like Iceland.
“We do it in sport as well, as the English will know!” laughs Baldvin Zophoníasson, who’s still pinching himself in case Iceland’s 2-1 Euro 2016 smiting of Roy Hodgson’s men was a dream. “In the same way that U2 put Ireland on the map, expectations of what you can achieve if you’re from here totally changed when Bjork became an international star.”
Having penned three episodes of Trapped, which last year was watched by 15 times as many French people as there are Icelanders, Baldvin is now flying solo with Case.
A classic Scandi tale of abuse, corruption and scandal, set in the heart of Reykjavik, the action focuses on a wayward alcoholic P.I. as he tries to determine whether a teenage ballerina found dangling from the roof of the National Theatre hung herself or was murdered.
“Budget-wise it’s a much smaller project than Trapped, but at 52% it got an even bigger share of the available audience in Iceland,” enthuses the former music video man. “Netflix has it in every country except for France, Germany, the UK and Ireland. We didn’t think about the export possibilities at all, though. It was made for Icelanders. What makes it interesting to foreign viewers is that it’s different and fresh. The moment you start thinking, ‘Will they get this is the US?’ it becomes like all the other shows.”
Baldwin admits that he was surprised to get the Case director’s gig.
“Trapped hadn’t come out yet, so I was only known for the two art house films I’d done, Jitters and Life In A Fishbowl, which was watched by 50,000 Icelanders when it was released last year,” he resumes. “I don’t normally watch crime series, they’re not my cup of tea, but I loved the gallery of characters in Case and thought I could turn it into something more far-reaching. It’s easier to break the rules when you don’t know what they are!”
One of the most compelling things about the ten-parter is its moral ambiguity.
“The good guys turn into the bad guys and vice versa,” he laughs. “I felt that the ending was a little too obvious, so we re-wrote the final three episodes and blurred the characters even more.”
Case is not for the feint of heart, with the initial hanging scene and ensuing drug taking as graphic as it gets.
"Real people, real cops, real drug addicts, real problems... I wanted the audience to say, 'This can't be real, but it is."
Has Trapped and Case’s double-whammy success opened doors for Zophoníasson internationally?
“Yeah, though I’ve had to shorten my name to Baldwin Z because no one outside of Iceland can pronounce it,” he laughs again. “There are a couple of overseas things which may be happening that I can’t talk about, and a new project, The Trip, being developed here in Iceland.”
The 2017 foreign TV bingeathon doesn’t end there with Acquitted, a labyrinthine whodunit set in the Norwegian fjords also debuting this month on Walter Presents. Due in February are a Dutch tale of dark sexual intrigue, The Swingers and The Team, a pan-European murder investigation yarn, which brings together elite officers from Belgium, Denmark and Germany.
Joining them on the ‘must-watch’ list in March is Eyewitness, another Norwegian crime thriller that’s already been remade for America where audiences remain more resistant to subtitles.
“There are no longer rules as to what people will watch,” Baldvin Z concludes. “If it’s good, it’ll find an audience.”

Case makes its Channel 4 debut at 10pm on January 24 with all the episodes available after that on the Walter Presents strand of channel4.com