Ack Värmland

Ack Värmland is the comedy series that had its premier on TV4 during March 2015 and became a success among viewers. The section is full of life advice and zaniness that pops up on the TV screen, mixed with expressions such as "dä ble gôrgôtt" and "gôrsmar in a broad Värmland accent. Or as the casting company describes it: “with genuine Värmland dialect”.

The cliche becomes a success

What is it that made Ack Värmland a success? What is it that makes us fascinated with hanging out at the kiosk, irony and low humour, clichés spiced with a smattering of rural contempt, poor timing and everything being so wrong all of the time. Indeed, it is when the recognition factor is high and we can take a step back and maliciously revel in the misery of others but at the same time know that the heart is in the right place and that nobody actually means any harm. As the character Janne advises Ola to read Lars Norén’s book before assuming the role of a parent in order to understand how good things are for you.

Ett annat av de goda råden som delas ut är att se livet som en kôrv: se den som ett fodral, som man kan fylla med bra eller dåliga grejer.xxx It can be nothing other than good entertainment when such specific and stalwart lessons are delivered in broad Wermlandian surrounded by other local expressions such as ”Gu va stôllit", "dä ble gôr gôtt" och "gôrsmart".

Ack Värmland is not played ins Värmland but in Trollhättan and Vänersborg. But in the series Mia Skäringer who plays Pontus’ (Björn’s) girlfriend and Johan Östling who plays his sister-in-law’s boyfriend Ola.

“We are like a little family and it is really good as actors to feel quite secure”, says Björn Andersson Ling (formerly Starrin),who for once would not have any role in the series. My character is actually a normal, everyday guy, I haven’t done this that much before so it’s a little unusual.

Even Johan who plays Ola will show his everyday side to the audience:

“I thought I would be doing something that could show that I am an everyday guy, so I was in “Hela kändis Sverige bakar”. I thought that I should portray myself as a normal decent guy in the first part, in any case before I left, but then there were other problems when I remains and won the whole bean feast”, says Johan.

But the Wermlandian Ida Hallquistalso makes her acting debut in the series: She plays Mia Skäringer’s spoiled teenage daughter and it is a complicated family history that is heaped up. Hang on for a quick reprise

Intrigues abound

When Anette (Mia Skäringer) is dismissed from her job in the work’s staff canteen and is replaced by a vending machine there is a great deal of bitterness and desire for revenge.  She decides to start a pedicure salon Annette’s Feet together with Fanny (Ida Halquist), her 20 year old daughter who calls herself the company finance manager. They both become pregnant at the same time by their respective boyfriends Ola (Johan Östling) and Pontus (Björn Andersson Ling).

After a messy history Anette Sol-Britt starts work at the salon and the intrigues become a fact. The pregnant Fanny tires of her boyfriend Ola only playing TV games the whole day and the bailiffs come on an unannounced visit and make Fanny and Ola homeless.

Anette angrily regrets being tricked into selling half of the salon to the calculating Sol-Britt and Fanny becomes jealous of her friend Bea who has travelled around America but who is now visiting Molkom.

Fanny’s homeless father, Janne, turns up at Anette’s after years of absence and it ends with him moving into Sol-Britt’s.   Eventually Sol-Britt throws Janne out who has to move in with the helpful Anette.

Fanny starts a blog that Ola does not want to be involved with and Anette suspects that Sol-Britt is trolling in order to get her wishes through. And in the middle of everything that is happening the pregnancies are becoming increasingly noticeable.  Pontus, who is anxious about his role as a father, asks Ola to get them a fatherhood mentor, but the father of five children who Ola enlists may not be the best candidate.....

Anette has had enough of accommodating everyone and being crowded so after an improbable bidding against Sol-Britt, Fanny and Ola move into the house next door to continue to entertain us during season two of the viewers’ favourite, which, if everything goes as planned, will be broadcast autumn 2017.

Humour in Wermlandian when at its best

“Now in season two the odd couple have had a child and it does not feel completely without problems when Ola and Pontus are to have parental leave”, says the series director Ulf Malmros to tv4.se.

The comedy series Ack Värmland is directed by Ulf Malmros and Jaana Fomin, who also wrote the script. Ulf, who himself grew up in Molkom, is a known name in a film context and was nominated for best director for the film Bäst i Sverige and brought home the award for best director with Tjenare Kungen and best screenplay for Bröllopsfotografen.

Actors and characters in Ack Värmland

• Mia Skäringer plays Anette, Fanny’s mother who always does her best but it is still not enough and never receives the respect she deserves. Becoming pregnant and having a child with boyfriend Pontus.
• Ida Hallquist play Fanny, the lazy 20 year old who readily criticises those around her with sharp comments and who sees it as a right to be served and be provided for. She is a hard to impress girl who can hardly see any light in the future and who goes from being a quick-witted teenager with a love-hate relationship with her mother to learning to take responsibility and to put her foot down when she has a child with the nearly twice as old Ola.
• Johan Östling’s character is Ola, a skateboarding computer player who refuses to grow up and take responsibility and  who says that “the soul cannot show ID”. He is pleasant and easily-led, which causes a lot of problems. Ola’s at times laid-back personality is constantly changing in order for him to to slide into life as smoothly as possible so as not to disrupt his freedom and own time.
• Björn Andersson Ling plays Pontus, the guy who is constantly afraid of conflict and who wants to please everyone.. Not least Anette who he worships. He is the guy who thinks that he is mostly in control, but things often go a bit wrong. Pontus puts everything into the role of father as both a new father and stepfather to Fanny, but also sees it as his duty to nurture the same aged Ola.
• Tomas Tjerneld plays Janne. He is the mega entrepreneur who is brimming over with business ideas and does his utmost for most things, but at the same time drives over everything and everybody. He is the man who lacks both boundaries and a sense of responsibility (a real disaster) who suddenly turns up after a decade of absence and mainly moves around through life.
• Sussie Eriksson’s Sol-Britt, is no dream colleague, but is able to worm her way into Annette’s salon as a nail therapist and immediately takes control. She gets a lot of customers and is a gold mine for business, but is almost always ironic and undermines both Annette and Fanny. As the icing on the cake, Sol-Britt begins an affair with Janne who is Fanny’s father and Annette’s incapable ex-husband.
• Hanna Ingman plays Bea, Fanny’s self-absorbed, worldly old friend. After having studied in the USA for a few years she is on a temporary visit to Molkon and she is not happy that Fanny has met Ola.
• Bengt Alsterlind and Lotta Tejle are the neighbours who tear their hair out about the behaviour of the young people on the other side and constantly misunderstand and apply sexual interpretations to what is happening next door.

Foto Per Bäckstrand/TV 4