BRANAGHIS 51, and his hair is also nowlargely grey. But it is neatly cut, and hewears a sensible blue linen suit with a dark

shirt. Branagh has none of the booming, overlyprecise verbal tics that some actors develop, andthat perhaps betrays his mastery of his craft.Even Branagh's knighthood ("a surprising and

wonderful thing") is, he says, a testament to thework of others. "You know, the first thing thatflashed into my mind when 1 received the letter,was this image of the credit sequences of the filmsI've made, which are full of hundreds, sometimesthousands of names," he says, of a career thatincludes playing Henry V in 1989 and directinglast year's Marvel superhero flick Thor. "I justthought that this ends up being an acknowledge-ment of all of that."But despite Branagh's modesty ("Just Ken,

please," he admonishes good-naturedly whenaddressed as "sir"), Mankell is quick to returnhis compliments. "I have never talked about thisbefore, but I have been thinking about the factthat Kenneth is a very well-trained classicalactor," he says. "Last year, I saw Ken perform in aChekhov play here in London, and I think he I>

Wallander come back to a character like this, who is on tele-Sunday 9.00pm BBCt vision - but with these unusual ambitions of----------------- trying to match up to what Henning suggested so

wonderfully in the books."Indeed, despite having been knighted in the

Queen's Birthday Honours list just days beforethis interview took place, Branagh remains reso-lutely deferential to Mankell as they talk.

Physically,they are an unmatched pair. Mankellis taller and, at 64, older. He has the air of theartiste, and wears a black suit over a jazzy black-and-white print shirt. (A triangle of his tummypeeps endearingly out from underneath.) A pro-Palestinian activist who spends much of his timerunning a theatre company in Mozambique,Mankell also has striking Heseltinian hair, thoughwhiter and more unruly.

SIR KENNETHBRANAGHand HenningMankell are making small talk. And it'sa long way from the dark, cold, Swedishworld of Kurt Wallander, the fictionalcharacter who brought them together.

"If by any chance you need a little house, we havea house in the south of France - in the oldAntibes," says Mankell, as they both settle intoarmchairs. "Youcan always make a call.""Well, I will make a call, that'd be lovely,"says

Branagh, either delighted or very polite. "Wewentthere for the first time, to St Tropez, for a weeklast year, and we were amazed that it had suchcharacter still.""In the old city, where there are no tourists,

there are people who go to work, go to school,"says Mankell. "But ifyou walk 150 metres, you areround with the tourists."And then, barely missing a beat, they settle

down to business. Mankell is in London for thelaunch of the third series of BBCl's version ofWallander, in which Branagh stars as the epony-mous detective. Mankell wrote the massivelysuccessful novels on which the series is based, andhe retains a hand in the BBC production -"Henning is willing to talk when we wish to askquestions," explains Branagh. Hence Mankell'seasy familiarity with Branagh, with whom he hasnow been working (on and off) for four years.

For Branagh, who made his name in films andon the stage, sticking with a series for this long isa real departure. So how did it feel, to return foranother three feature-length episodes? "Well, I'dlove to know what Henning thinks," says Branaghdiffidently. "But I was saying to him earlier today- and I really meant it - that I was excited to comeback. Because it's unusual, in my creative life, to

<J carries this with him into movie-making - this capacity of showing,always, how complicated human beingsare. Because if you don't have that capac-ity, you can't do classical theatre. And itmakes a difference, because there areother actors who only do film."The character of Kurt Wallander may

not quite be Hamlet, but he is certainly acomplicated human being. In his blankSwedish way, he combines first-ratedetective skills with an almost completeinability to maintain personal relation-ships. More deliciously for the viewer,those personal travails seem to stem fromthe emotional damage inflicted by thehorrors ofhis police work.

"In one of the new episodes, Wallander saysto his colleague, 1think I'm really quite a cheer-ful person; which causes great hilarity whenpeople see it;' says Branagh. "But I agree withhim! I think he is quite a cheerful person. It'sjust he doesn't often get the chance. But whathe does engage with is that he takes his life quiteseriously. He's not embarrassed by thinking -and occasionally expressing himself - aboutwhat you might call 'deep things';'

FILMING IN THE southern Swedish countyof Scania, says Branagh, adds toWallander's solitude. "To look out of a car

in Scania, you see a painting on the horizontal -one windmill, one tiny farmhouse, acres of beetor grass," he says. "Everything is dramatic,framed, composed ... God somehow in a littlecinema laboratory decided it's very good if youkeep things flat,"Wallander's unflinching introspection -

garnished, of course, with large helpings ofviolence and gore - proved a literary hit forMankell. From the publication of the first bookin 1991, it multiplied into a series of 11 novels(including one with Wallander's daughter, Linda,taking the lead). The books have been translatedinto more than 40 languages, and sold over 40million copies worldwide. Today, those basicingredients have mushroomed beyond Mankell'spen into a hugely successful genre, known asNordic Noir. It spans Stieg Larsson's Millenniumtrilogy (and their film adaptations, includingThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), as well as thehit Danish TV detective series The Killing andthe more recent Swedish/Danish co-production,The Bridge."In the 70s, in Sweden, we had

suddenly a very good tennis playercalled Bjorn Borg," says Mankell. "Hecame out of nowhere. And then all ofa sudden we had many good tennisplayers. Nothing succeeds likesuccess. Obviously I have been aninspiration for many writers. I think inthat sense you could say that I have been

• a sort oflocomotive, Wallander is thelocomotive. TheKilling, I watched,

RadoTmes 7-13 July 2012

"Ken has this capacityof showing, always,how complicatedhuman beings are"

it is very good. [Danish political thriller series]Borgen is also very good. But then, I can assureyou, there is a lot of s**t."Mankell is too diplomatic to name and shame,

and Branagh has only praise for The Killing."Yes, I enjoyed it hugely, I saw both series," hesays. "The thing that I was fascinated to watchis that it allows quite a lot of room to simplyobserve the characters thinking and being. Iwas happy not to be told everything, eventhough it's also very suspenseful." Branagh alsoacknowledges that long running time of TheKilling - the first series lasted 20 hours - helpedcreate that atmosphere.But, he says, British TV drama should only

UPCOMING ADAPTATIONSPARADE'S END 88CZA five-part drama adapted by Tom Stoppardfrom a quartet by Ford Madox Ford, thought bymany to be one of the literary masterworks of theearly 20th century. It stars Benedict Cumberbatchand Rebecca Hall (below), plus Anne-Marie Duff.

THE SCAPEGOAT ITV1Lavish adaptation of the Daphne du Mauriernovel. Set in 1952, it depicts the meeting of twovery different men (both played by MatthewRhys), who look almost identical.

Blake Morrison'sshocking study ofmale jealousy isbrought te the 'screen. RupertPenry-Jones is

fhe star.

adopt a similarly lengthy approach if theright series comes along. "Only if youfind that subject matter, only if you findthe people who want to write it,"he say'S."And we have different writers -

Jimmy McGovern's an example, withsomething like The Street, exploringthings in an important way, not maybeat that length."Branagh points out, though, that each

episode of Wallander lasts for a full90 minutes. "People are ready to listen tothe silences, as long as we are earningthem, and it doesn't become a manner-ism," he says. "For me, every Wallander isa one-off experience. It could be moreraw, or more real, or more simple - or

more of a chance to let the audience do thethinking and feeling. We take a long time in therun-up to each series. I read the final Wallandernovel The Troubled Man not long after it waspublished. Then my wife read it a little while ago,and loved it ..."Mankell interrupts, surprised. "You're

married?""Yes," says Branagh, then quite hotly, "Yes,

lam!""Yeah?""Yeah, yeah. Yeah.""Youwere not married last time we met;' says

Mankell, firmly."No, I was, I was," counters Branagh, who

wed art director Lindsay Brunnock in 2003."Congratulations!" says Mankell."Thank you very much;' says Branagh, before

ploughing on. "This last time was the first timeshe came out to Sweden - thank God - andcreated a great house for us," he says, and then,finally, returning to his theme: "We had endedup talking about The Troubled Man, so I'dalready had two hits of experiencing that:'

As WELL AS that laconic pace, saysMankell, the best Nordic Noir has aconscience. "I know that these guys who

write TheKilling, they do the same as I do. Theyask themselves, before they start writing, 'Whatdo we want to tell about our society?" heexplains. 'We are living in a world where some ofthe most dominant businesses are selling weap-ons, drugs, and trafficking. Out of the fivebiggestbusinesses in the world, three are absolutelybased on criminality. To hold out a mirrorof crime, to talk about society today, it is a veryefficient way to tell a story;'And for the British version of Wallander, says

Branagh, the same resonances hold true. "Wethink, 'What is a version of the current Swedishattitude to, say, immigration or prostitution orthe severity of criminal punishment?' Inevitably,all of those reflect back into our own system,and it makes us compare and contrast;' he says."There's always something to think about, interms of problems that are dark and importantand immediate and scary."Neil Midgley

1.9

PICK OF THE DAY Wallander 9.00pm BBCfDRAMA OF THE WEEK There is a shocking moment at thestart of this new Kenneth Branagh Wallander story: Kurtsmiles. Yes, the miserable Swedish detective, the man who iscut to the soul by the horrors of his job, actually looks happyand even quite healthy. He's moved in with that perfectly nicewoman he met at the end of the last series, Vanja (SaskiaReeves), and they are settling into a new home in the country.

But this is Wallander and such uxoriousness cannot last,even though he claims, to general uproar: "I'm basically quitea cheerful person."lt's gone within minutes when Wallanderdiscovers a skeleton in his back garden. This is after he'sstarted investigating the disappearance of a young womanwho's thought to have been pushed off a ferry into the BalticSea. Soon the Wallander pallor is back, along with the airof torment that hangs above him like a black chandelier.Branagh is great, as always, and you'll be entrancedby the Scandi gloom. Alison GrahamPartners In crime: page 16