Fortitude

A British-American co-production set on a remote Norwegian island in the Arctic Circle (shot largely on location in Iceland), and featuring an international cast, this white-out crime thriller begins as a murder mystery. The town of Fortitude is called "the safest place on Earth" because crime is almost nonexistent (the local cops are more focused on search and rescue). The island governor (Danish actress Sofie Gråbøl) has announced a new multimillion-dollar project to attract tourists, but now a local biologist (Christopher Eccleston) has been brutally murdered. As the island sheriff (Richard Dormer) fumbles around with the investigation, Britain sends their own man, an American (Stanley Tucci) working for Scotland Yard, to "help" with the case, which puts everyone's backs up in a town where all seem to have dark secrets and ulterior motives. Eventually morphing into a biological thriller with horror movie dimensions, this Nordic noir—with dark shadows of suspicion in a blinding white landscape—features a superb cast that also includes Michael Gambon, Luke Treadaway, Sienna Guillory, and Verónica Echegui. Fortitude aired in the U.S. on the little-known cable channel Pivot, so this set will be the first chance most viewers have to see the show. Compiling all 12 episodes from the 2015 first season, extras include behind-the-scenes interviews with cast and crew. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)