No one’s taking a blind bit of notice of Sven Nordin as he walks up Barcelona’s main Las Ramblas thoroughfare. If we were 2,628.3 kilometres further north in Oslo, though, it’d be a very different story on account of the 60-year-old being a bona fide Norwegian TV, film and theatre superstar.

The latest addition to a CV that dates back to 1983 is Valkyrien, an eight-parter about a doctor who, desperately needing money to find a miracle cure for his terminally ill wife, sets up a clandestine underground hospital for criminals.

“It’s a Walter White-style scenario of a good guy doing bad things for the right reason,” Sven proffers over a café con leche. “At its heart is the love story between my character, Ravn, and his wife, Wilma. He goes into an unholy partnership with a younger, criminal guy, Leif, who has this pessimistic, doomsday vision of the world. The way they spark off each other is another big part of the series.”