Many remember the radio theater written by Maria Gripe and Kay Pollack in 1976, and which has been constantly repeated in Sweden. It is also popular in Norway, notes Norwegian director Atle Knudsen, who heard it on a vacation in Småland, nine years old.
I became extremely fond of the story, he says and tells that he got permission from Kay Pollack to film it seven years ago.
Also Tomas von Brömssen – who now plays the helpful priest – got hooked on the series.
We were all sucked in as a family. That summer was all about "Tordyveln", because it was so good. When they called now I said "yes, yes, yes - I can play Tordyveln too if needed".
"Best mystery"
The story takes place in 1976, in Ringaryd in Småland, where the three young people Annika, Jonas and David find a chest with hidden letters in the attic of an old abandoned pension. In the letters, it is told about a 3000-year-old Egyptian statue that was brought to Ringaryd but disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
The three main actors Hjalmar Löfmark Yilmaz, Moa Nåsander and Einar Alvarado Lönberg had not read the book – but their parents were familiar with it.
I think the parents will influence the children to watch this, says Hjalmar Löfmark Yilmaz, who has never played theater before but was discovered in the school corridor.
Now they have all gotten into the story.
It is one of the best mysteries I have heard of. Time and time again, you find something new to solve, says 13-year-old Einar Alvarado Lönberg.
No mobile phones
The series takes place in the 70s and the young people appreciate the retro feel. Here, no mobile phones are seen – which Einar Alvarado Lönberg thinks felt "very cozy". Moa Nåsander believes that the whole family can watch together.
It's a great mix between love and relationships in youth and for adults it's a question of fate or chance. For children, there is the mystery – so it's a whole family book, she says.
She herself remembers how her mother read books by Maria Gripe to her in childhood. Then it was the almost uncomfortable mystery that she got hooked on.
It gave the pull and drag in her books.
She gets support from Tomas von Brömssen, who thinks that the mystery touches the subconscious. It is far from the children's character Sommarskuggan in SVT, he thinks.
This is terribly good if you compare. It's so well done that the horror is really there.
Elin Swedenmark/TT
Facts: "Tordyveln flyger i skymningen"
TT
"Tordyveln flyger i skymningen" was a summer vacation series on the radio from 1976 by Maria Gripe and Kay Pollak. The play has been repeated several times on the radio. The story was published as a book in 1978. The new SVT series premieres on July 11.
