EXCLUSIVE: Trom creator Torfinnur Jákupsson is launching a UK indie and has unveiled a Nordic Noir set in London’s Canary Wharf on its debut slate.

The Scandi creative, who opened the first film and TV studio in the Faroe Islands, has launched London-based development company Red Herring Story, which will develop high-end scripted and unscripted thrillers with an international co-production focus. Red Herring will be a UK affiliate of Jákupsson’s Faroe Islands-based GRÓ Studios.

Red Herring launches with “a slate of socially conscious crime narratives,” it said, with one of its first projects being a corporate crime thriller set in London’s Canary Wharf, delving into greenwashing, global finance, and political influence, which the company termed a “Nordic Noir in the city.”

Red Herring Story is also introducing its Faroese equivalent Roykstovan, a reimagined writers’ room inspired by Faroese storytelling traditions. Historically, the ‘roykstova’ was the communal heart of the home, where people gathered to spin yarn and tell stories for both entertainment and survival.

Jákupsson is the creator of Trom, a Faroese crime procedural that was picked up by networks across Europe including the BBC. He has previously detailed to us his bid to put the Faroe Islands on the global film and TV map.

Jákupsson said: “Red Herring Story gives us a direct London base to foster closer collaborations with UK broadcasters, streamers, and co-production partners to bring those projects to market, as well as to expand our UK slate. Red Herring Story aims to bridge the Nordic storytelling tradition of atmospheric investigative thrillers with the sharp, dynamic intensity of British drama. Our focus is on culturally relevant stories with a strong sense of place that also resonate beyond borders.”