Airplane & Naked Gun duo tie with BBCS for Nordic noir spoof

The comedy duo behind Airplane and The Naked Gun have teamed up with BBC Studios for a spoof Nordic comedy.

David Zucker and Pat Proft have tied with BBCS Nordics and Helsinki-based indie Ilkkas’ Creative Studio (ICS) on the project which centres around the intergovernmental police agency the Nordic Police Force (NoPoFo).

The 10 x 30-minute series centres on three elite agents as they attempt to solve gruesome and ritualistic murders typical of Nordic noir.

Each episode is self-contained and focused around a different crime. The police team travels around different Nordic countries, from Denmark’s seedy professional curling community to an earth-spirit cult in the volcanoes of Iceland, looking into a different cast of supporting characters, from a Hans Christian Andersen obsessed murderer to one who creates ice sculptures out of his victims.

Zucker and Proft, who have collaborated on cult comedies including The Naked Gun franchise, are exec producing the series.

Zucker is also behind parody film Airplane! alongside Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, while Proft is responsible for Top Gun spoof Hot Shots!

The creative team also includes ICS’ creative director Ilkka Hynninen (Lakeside Murders) and chief executive Ilkka Rahkonen, who founded the indie this month, and exec producer Randi Siegel, who represents Zucker and brokered the deal with APA and Cohen Gardner LLP.

The series was created and written by stand-up comedians Mika Eirtovaara and Riku Suokas, and screenwriter Heikki Syrjä (Lakeside Murders).

Hynninen said: “Nordic Noir is a gift to parody, with its fantastical crimes and high doom-and-gloom quotient.”

Head of BBCS Nordics, Jan Salling added: “It’s a genuinely pan-Nordic project that has strong international appeal as well.

“It also has that wonderful left-field vibe that is the hallmark of Finnish creativity. I love that Nordic Noir is now so firmly embedded in the global consciousness that it’s ripe for spoof.”

Hynninen previously founded indie Aito Media, with Rahkonen as his partner and business director.