Nordic noir has found its American equivalent, and it has a Delco accent. The state of Pennsylvania has become a hotbed for prestige TV about American neglect and those tasked with making up for it. The most famous of these dramas is the Pittsburgh-set medical procedural The Pitt, but Brad Ingelsby’s Philadelphia-area crime dramas Mare of Easttown and Task, the latter of which has been renewed for a second season, step outside the confines of a single location. They use the state’s lush forests and declining suburbs the way Scandinavians use cold little towns and oceans of snow. The environment is made to look as tough as the cases.
This is the approach taken by Nocturne. Created by writer Rowan Joffé and developed by showrunner John Hlavin, the Apple TV series is based on the book The Sandman by Lars Kepler, the pseudonym for the Swedish husband-and-wife writing team of Alexander Ahndoril and Aelxandra Coehlo Ahndoril. As such, it’s a direct transplant from Northern Europe to the mid-Atlantic. The result may not be breaking new ground, but the changeover still works like a charm.
