An 11th-century Viking epic of love, revenge and faith, set in Iceland and starring the original Nordic Noir heroine, Gudrun.

As a young woman growing up in 11th-century Iceland, Gudrun must forge her path through a world of unearthly beauty yet uncompromising harshness. The tale begins in her youth, with her childhood friends Kjartan and Bolli – but the love the two boys have for Gudrun causes a deathly enmity between them that leaves her reeling.

Suspicious of how power and ambition are wielded by men, Gudrun is left feeling increasingly isolated. She longs for the freedom to live her life according to her own rules, beholden to no-one. This epic saga takes her on a journey away from her beloved homeland, risking everything to save her daughter.

An avenging angel forged from violence, Gudrun has all the complexity, vulnerability and single-mindedness of her successors, Lisbeth Salander and Saga Noren. In the ruthless world she inhabits, her steely determination and willingness to manipulate others in the manner of Borgen’s Birgitte Nyborg is what keeps her alive.

Gudrun is based on the famous Icelanders’ saga known as The Laxdoela Saga. Written in the 13th century, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area of Iceland from the late 9th century to the early 11th century.

Born into a world of otherworldly beauty yet unforgiving harshness, Icelandic heroine Gudrun must fight to forge an independent path and live according to her own rules. A tenacious survivor, she has endured much pain in her young life, from widowhood to the death of her lover, the burning of her family home, separation from her beloved daughter, Sigrid, and being cut adrift from her homeland.

Now, after many years away, Gudrun sails once more into Icelandic waters, with a plan to rescue her daughter who is being brought up in the new Christian faith. But her return to the Sacred Land is not the homecoming she had hoped for and she soon finds herself exiled again and heading for the New World, with all its new possibilities and new dangers.

Meanwhile, Sigrid arrives in England to marry a man she has never met. Struggling to understand this strange new land of Saxons and Danes, she must keep her darkest secret well-hidden if she is to survive….

Starring Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders, War and Peace) as Gudrun.
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko (series 1) and Gemma Jenkins (series 2-4).