Sweden’s SVT boards ‘Whiskey On The Rocks’ from Patrick Nebout’s Skyverse Nordic

Anna Croneman

Swedish pubcaster has boarded a Cold War dramedy from Stockholm-based Skyverse Nordic, which is being directed by Midnight Sun‘s Björn Stein.

Whiskey On The Rocks (6 x 30 minutes) has been written by author Jonas Jonasson, who previously worked with Patrick Nebout and Skyverse Nordic’s creative producer Henrik Jansson-Schweizer on Oscar-nominated The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared.

Jansson-Schweizer is penning the scripts, with SVT acquiring the script and production development of the show as its main commissioning broadcaster.

The show has been inspired by a notorious incident in 1981 that nearly escalated into a full-blown war between Sweden and the USSR, when a Soviet submarine ran aground deep inside Swedish territorial waters, in the midst of a sensitive Swedish naval exercise.

Anna Croneman, SVT head of drama, said: “We are absolutely thrilled about this project, as it is entertaining in the style of Jonas Jonassons previous works – like The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared – but also layered, with a perspective on history that has strong relevance in this day and time.

“The development, in partnership with Skyverse, and the writer/director-team has been collaborative and fun, and we look forward to taking the next step in the process.”

Nebout, who left Beta Film-backed Dramacorp to launch Skyverse Nordic earlier this year, added that the team is now looking for an international partner “to share our ambition and vision for this quite remarkable incident and to bring it to international screens.”

Skyverse Nordic is a division of Sparkling, a sister company to LA- and Paris-based Humanoids.