The Bridge’s Sofia Helin untangles Saga’s complex emotions
Sofia Helin
Actress
Saga Norén is not your usual TV cop. As Scandinavian detective drama The Bridge returns to BBC Four, actress Sofia Helin talks about the challenge of playing an intense, exhausting and surprisingly emotional role. How will she cope with a new partner, a new case and some old demons..?
I adore Saga so much. She means a lot to me. She’s been the most exhausting character to play. I have to be so intense and so concentrated.
When I first had to play her, it was difficult, because I realised I had to do something completely different from what had been done before. And also I had to dare not to give anything back to my colleagues. That was hard.
And when people are new, or if I meet someone new on set, they just start to laugh because I’m just staring at them like Saga. I think they are uncomfortable.
Sofia demonstrates her character's trademark stare in scenes from series three
We have a convention in television about how to play a police officer, since we’re doing so many crime dramas. We have a way of being kind of a bit cool and dark. And I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be someone different. And not trying to be cool. Yeah she’s cool, but not traditionally so.
Saga has always been logical. But she gets more and more unstable during this third season of The Bridge, and more and more emotional.
I admire her for always trying. I think she’s trying so hard with her personal life, and in her relationships, to be something she can’t be.
Of course I find Saga a very annoying person too. I could never stand being around her. And she’s also an exhausting person. She’s too intense. But it’s fascinating to be so good at what you do like she is. I admire her for that.
Saga must work with a new Danish partner - and confront her past - in the new series
Whenever I create a character, I always try to think about them from top to toe. How she moves, how her eyes move, her mouth. And it’s the same with Saga, but then she was so different from me, so I had to think hard. I thought a lot about her hips. I tried to make her stand straight. And then I wanted her to be really intense and a bit too much. So she’s constantly going too close to people, going too far forward.
She’s very lonely. I feel so bad for her. I really really do. And she’s getting lonelier. In one way, she’s lost love.
Deciding to turn Martin in at the end of last series was very hard. Their relationship was something new to her. And he stayed by her. And he could stand her way of being. So that was hard. Now she’s all by herself.
Danish detective Martin and Swedish detective Saga shared a unique understanding
She tries to function without Martin. But she almost doesn’t get through it. Now, this series, her past is coming too. And she can’t run anymore. So she has to face everything that happens, including her mother coming…
What sort of a new partner does Saga need? That’s interesting. She would need someone who’s a bit like Martin. But I don’t want to reveal what happens, and what kind of partner she might have – I’ll spoil it!
Sofia Helin plays Saga in The Bridge.
The Bridge, series three, starts with a double-bill on Saturday, 21 November at 9pm on BBC Four. Each episode will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.
Read The Bridge writer Hans Rosenfeldt's blog on writing his favourite scenes.
Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.
