I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for the BBC to deliver on its March 2013 crime press release. While Arne Dahl has aired, three new series (Inspector de Luca, Young Montalbano and The Bridge 2) and two stand-alone films have yet to be shown.

Finally, after a summer of Wallander and Sebastian Bergmann repeats, it looks like things are starting to move. This Saturday – 24 August – will see the showing on BBC4 of the 2010 Norwegian film The King Of Devil’s Island (9.00 to 10.50pm). The film, originally titled Kongen av Bastøy, is based on a true story, and explores Norway’s treatment of youth criminality in the early twentieth century. 

Here’s the BBC blurb: ‘The King of Devil’s Island (dir. Marius Holst) tells the unsettling tale of a group of young delinquents banished to the remote prison of Bastøy, Norway, in 1915. Under the guise of rehabilitation the boys suffer a gruelling daily regime at the hands of the prison governor (Stellan Skarsgård), until the arrival of new boys Erling and Ivar (Benjamin Helstad and Magnus Langlete) sparks a chain of events that lead to rebellion’. I last saw Skarsgård in the film version of Mamma Mia. Something tells me this will be a very different kind of role.

A short review of The King of Devil’s Island and programming details are available at The Radio Times.

I’m not sure when the outstanding series will be aired, as the BBC keeps its cards notoriously close to its chest – hopefully we will know more soon. For those who can’t wait, here’s a trailer for The Bridge 2 from Swedish broadcaster SVT, which looks brilliant. No subtitles needed. Thanks to @AndyLawrence5 for sending this my way.