Per Lasson: From Theatre to Scandi TV Star - Mastering Crime Dramas and Captivating Audiences

Good morning, good evening, Screen Rats.

Here we are again with another great episode for you.

Now today, my guest is Per Lasson.

Now he is a Swedish actor.

He's from one of my favorite shows, Tuna Blar Linjen, or The Thin Blue Line, as it's called in English speaking countries.

Those with a keen memory will realize that I've had the director, Sanne Lenken, my old friend on here, and also Silja Jakkert, who is the screenwriter behind The Whole Thing.

So Jesse is one of my favorite characters on that show, and it's mad to like see him on the telly and then like think, oh, he looks like a nice guy, looks like someone good to talk to, and then he sort of came up in those episodes as a great character, and I thought, I wonder if I could speak to him.

And I didn't get any links with the other two.

I just sort of approached him myself on social media and he got in contact, and I was blown away.

We had such a lovely chat.

I didn't know where it was gonna go.

I didn't know him.

I didn't know his theater credits or his past or how famous he was in Sweden, that kind of thing.

So, you know, it was a really good one.

I sort of always fascinated by where these conversations go because I have no concept of, you know, I have no idea.

So this one was very friendly and it felt quite convivial and it was an easy one.

I have to say it was a really easy chat to pair.

He's a great guy, real fun, really liked him.

You'll get that chat very, very soon.

Beep, beep.

Oh yeah, so I almost forgot.

There's a few trigger warnings with this one.

We talk about the police a lot.

There's stuff about suicide.

There's stuff about what the police might encounter, the worst things they might encounter.

You can use your imagination for that.

So, you know, it's an adult podcast.

There's swearing, the usual stuff.

So, you know, no kids, please.

Okay.

So, what can I tell you?

I guess I can tell you about my eBay situation that's been going on.

I had a little sort of rethink about things recently in like what I was going to do musically, the podcast, how it's going, how the comedy stuff is going.

And I realized that back in the COVID time, 2020, I bought myself a new electric guitar, I set an amp, a bass.

I was going to do all this stuff.

And I sort of piled the room full of COVID purchases, which everyone's done.

I know they have, because I've heard Air Fryers Arama.

But mine was mostly musical instruments, little things that I thought I might use.

I was going to sort of get back into things like that.

And to be honest, I don't need a lot of that stuff to record.

If I do come up with a song, I've got a guitar, I've got a piano, I can do everything else online.

I don't really need the physical instruments in the room like other people might.

It would be fun and I'd like to have that, but I don't have the space and I don't have the spare money to be able to do things like that.

Not right now.

So yeah, I was looking at having a sort of clean out, sort of, because I'm watching Sort Your Life Out again with Stacey Solomon, mentioned in a previous episode with Rob Brouse, I just kind of, I felt inspired, even though we've moved all this stuff here, kind of annoying that I didn't do it before, but you know, I've just had a bit of a sort of clear out and sold some stuff on eBay, made a little bit of money, not much, but enough to sort of help with the project that I am yet to talk about.

And it's really, really good.

And I'm streamlining, I'm streamlining my studio.

I don't need all this crap.

I need it to be, you know, things I actually use.

I don't need another thing on my shelf that I purchased with money that I didn't really have at the time to sit there and nag me and just go like, why aren't you using me?

Why aren't you using me?

Why aren't you, you know, I don't want to feel like that.

So I cleared them out.

I got rid of a punch bag.

I'm never gonna fucking use a punch bag.

It was a good idea in COVID, but I don't need that now.

I've joined a gym.

I haven't been there yet either, but you know what I mean?

So anyway, these are the problems we have.

But anyway, let's not moan.

Let's not moan.

Life is good.

There's no rockets in the sky.

There's no earthquakes.

There's no floods.

You know, everything's fine, right?

Things are a bit more expansive, but you know, come on, guys.

Everything's all right.

Miserable British people, aren't they?

No, they're not.

They're lovely.

Very funny people, very funny.

But luckily today, I don't need to speak to one.

I'm speaking to a lovely, lovely Swedish man.

So let's get to that.

Here's me chatting to the brilliant Per Lasson.

Welcome to Television Times, a weekly podcast with your host, me, Steve Otis Gunn.

We'll be discussing television in all its glorious forms.

From my childhood, your childhood, the last 10 years, even what's on right now.

So join me as I talk to people you do know and people you don't about what scared them, what inspired them and what made them laugh and cry here on Television Times.

Thank you for coming on to the podcast.

I really, really appreciate it.

It's a privilege for me.

Oh, thank you.

It's so strange to like watch people on TV and then just see them pop up on my screen.

Yeah, it's very, very strange.

And I will try not to call you Jesse as much as possible.

It's okay.

Are you filming today or?

No, I'm not today.

Oh, today.

How's it going?

It's going really good.

It's the third week, fourth week, I guess.

We're halfway through the block one, episode one and two.

I'm preparing today and tomorrow we're going to do a read through of episodes three and four.

How many episodes in the season this year?

It will be six episodes.

So we're going from ten to eight to six.

Right, right, right.

And this is allegedly the final season-ish, possibly.

Ish, yes.

You never know.

You never know.

Obviously, I've spoken to Sanne and Cilla a lot about Tinnabar Linyon.

And, you know, I don't want to cover the same ground with you, but I did see your Instagram and I saw that, is it Malou who plays Fanny?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So she's back in the show and I'm intrigued to know how that storyline goes with you two.

Obviously, no spoilers.

Obviously, I can't tell you.

Yeah, yeah, you can't tell me anything.

Yeah.

I mean, don't tell me.

I was also kind of psyched.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You were demoted.

They threw me and Jessie under the bus.

I don't quite know what the age gap was, but I did.

The only thing I will say is I really felt bad for your character when, you know, the age gap sort of reared its ugly head when she was sort of talking to your daughter.

You're the person who actually plays your daughter in the bedroom.

And you were sort of like watching on.

Jessie was watching on and she had more in common with the daughter.

And it was so uncomfortable to watch around me.

And they were so like, of course, I was like, oh, my God, I got an intern.

Yes, into a me too guy.

Oh, fuck.

Why?

Why such a nice character as well?

Yeah.

I remember talking to Cilla.

But why does she have to be that young?

Couldn't she be like 28, 30 or something at least?

You know, and no, she's going to be beginning was like 20, 21.

And I was like, of course, she's right.

Cilla, she's always right.

And it was like, then it wouldn't be as big a drama for Jess.

He felt the same pain I did.

Yeah.

See, in both of your eyes.

Yeah.

But I wonder how that works with like older guys, like when they do, I mean, I think we're pretty similar age.

And I think, you know, it's an awkward conversation.

But, you know, when you see these like Mick Jagger types marrying someone who's like 30, 40 years younger, do they not sort of think, I was 38 when she was born or something like that, you know, must go through their heads, or people marry someone younger than their own child.

That must be the strangest thing in the world.

Yeah, no, I had the same situation as Jesse, because my daughter is 18 now.

So it was like, she's actually the same age.

So I could so easily get into that awkwardness.

That was like, oh my God, you know, it's painful.

At the same time, it's like, because Malou is, she's brilliant.

And we had a lot of conversation about this.

And we talked and it was so important that they actually were so in love with each other, that eventually he gives up.

He can't resist anymore.

In the hotel room where it's like a bubble.

And as soon as you get out of that bubble, he feels so bad about himself.

In reality, he just knocks on the door and he's like, no, no, I can't do that.

I used to work in theatre quite a lot.

And I know that tour love exists, and I'm sure it exists in film sets as well, where people get together because you're in such a close family unit.

When you're doing a play and you're touring or whatever, and you feel like they're your family and then, you know, relationships form.

And then when you get away from them, you realize, oh, that was not real actually.

That was just tour love, you know.

Yeah.

I've been working the stage for 20 years.

So I'm also in that yet.

And you get very close because, I mean, you have a long rehearsal and then you play and it's like, you get so into it that it's easily mistaken for the sentiments that you feel for each other.

It's easily mistaken for love.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Totally.

And I told you, I mean, we have real police officers all the time when we record Turnip Rollinia.

And obviously I told them about these things as well.

And they say it's very common.

Really?

Because you experience a lot of trauma together.

And nobody can understand but you in the car.

So you're each other's therapists.

All right.

And like, so you open up like you don't do it because you don't want to share that with your families.

No, you don't want to take it home.

Like if you cut someone down who hung themselves.

And then like two hours later, you fight the organized crime gangs and stuff with shooting and stuff.

When you sit in the car and you've been like, the pulse is up and everything is like, and then you sit there with someone who you have absolute confidence in and you share stuff and you like, and you can laugh about it together.

And it's like, of course it will form the same thing that we experienced in the theater.

So you feel a bond that is closer to anybody else.

It's like when people in the army were like doing services.

They have a certain bond.

If you've been to Afghanistan or together, you have an experience that no one will ever understand but you.

So it forms something.

It's true, like a lifelong friendship.

Yeah, friendship and occasionally love.

Yeah.

One of my best friends is a police officer.

He was an actor in Fern Police.

He said, it's like you hang off your uniform in your cupboard in the police station, and you hang off everything, being called a fascist, spit, seeing small children, watching the mother getting beaten up, those situations.

You just try and put them in that cupboard, in the locker room.

It's like a costume, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then you go home to your family and enjoy that.

Nothing of that reality is home with my family.

God, it must be so hard not to think those things, though, when you're at home.

And my friend was actually, because he said, you shouldn't get numb, but you shouldn't either get emotionally affected so that you can bring it home.

So it's a very thin line to balance.

Your character is obviously a very likable policeman, and I've had this conversation before, but I think generally the police are mostly good, probably not in America, but mostly like every policeman I've met, a policewoman in the UK has been so nice.

And I know they're always bad eggs, but like your character is always trying to do the right thing and just seems very affable and approachable.

And even he gets caught up.

And like that's watching when people do like call your character a fascist or something, when you go on a riot or something like that, riot control, it's just like, but he's not one, leave him alone.

You do come to your defense.

You know, it's really interesting.

And other other characters, not so much.

You do think, oh, he is kind of a little bit like that.

But yeah, your character, it just feels really unfair when Jesse is targeted by the public in that way.

I don't like it.

No, but of course it's the uniform.

From the beginning, it was quite clear that that Scylla didn't want to describe the bad eggs, the extreme, more the average, you know, the ordinary policeman.

And those are most of the time quite nice and they choose to work because they wanted to make a difference.

Yeah, good intentions.

And of course, sometimes it's hard and the patience run out.

I had, I mean, I respected police officers before, but now it's like even more because I spend so much time with the police officers and it's a delicate equation because you must be able to fight, but you mustn't want to fight.

Like karate.

Yeah, to be able to defend yourself, but also the public.

When we had a shooting here in one of the malls of Mauna, everybody fled.

The police officers are going towards their stream of people.

So they are actually going in and they don't know if it's like they want to kill off as many as possible.

They have to run towards the danger.

Running towards the danger.

That's like the firefighters at 9-11, that kind of thing.

It's the same thing.

Everybody's fleeing, but they aren't supposed to go there.

I mean, it takes some guts.

Absolutely.

I have the utmost respect for them doing that job.

Obviously, there's a lot of TV shows that you've been in, not just The Blarlingon or what do we call it, Thin Blue Line.

How do you feel about things like that when TV shows get renamed into English?

It's strange, right?

Yeah, and of course, I know the Thin Blue Line, the British with Ronald Cassidy.

Yeah, it's even worse because the Swedes are the worst in renaming when they try to put a Swedish name on a British or an American show.

It can be so dumb often.

You got an example?

I can't think of any now, but there are several.

Yeah, for me, I don't know when it was, maybe it's got to be a while ago, seven or eight years when I started watching Danish TV.

And I got into, obviously over here, The Killing, The Bridge, which you were in, amazing, season three.

And what other shows was I watching at the time?

It would have been like Borgon, loved Borgon.

Yeah, yeah.

And then that sort of, I guess it was because of The Bridge, where I saw a lot of Swedish actors coming in.

And I thought, oh, what's Swedish TV?

So I started watching Swedish TV and Norwegian disaster movies.

There's so many shows and the renaming gets a bit confusing.

I'm watching one at the moment.

I didn't even know it existed, which has Lars Rantz in it, he's in everything.

And it's called like Face to Face.

But of course, it's not called Face to Face.

It's called something completely different.

I'm a Danish TV show.

But because there is a lot of crossover.

I do see Swedish actors in Danish things, Danish actors in Swedish.

I think that's the biggest crossover, right, of actors.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I haven't done any Danish ones.

It was The Bridge, the co-production.

Yeah, well, it's a Swedish-Danish show.

So good.

It was brilliant.

I enjoyed that.

You've got a bit of a chameleon.

I mean, you look like you look.

I saw you real and I was like, he was that guy in The Bridge.

Because you don't look like yourself.

You can really change your look.

It's quite something.

I mean, that's what I want to be.

Like now, all last year I worked with Ronja the Robber's Daughter, famous children's book in Sweden.

It was like 12 episodes.

It was a 10-night work where I played a robber in the medieval fantasy.

So I had this huge beard and long hair and looked like...

And I loved it to be turned from police officer to armed robbery in the medieval.

To do that.

To change as much as possible so you don't get stuck.

So I'm always the police or the...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The nice guy whose wife died or something.

You don't want to be that guy.

The guy you should feel sorry for.

Yeah, you want to be horrible sometimes.

Yeah, it's nice to change.

And I mean, I've never been driven by it.

You know, as you said before, if you want to...

If you call me Jesse, I mean, everybody calls me Jesse.

Nobody knows my real name.

So when I go to football, I mean like, oh, there's Jesse.

I mean, they don't know my name.

And that was also a big change for me because they decided to not have real famous actors in Turner Berlin.

Because if the famous actor, it's this actor playing Jesse.

When I played Jesse, no one had known me.

Right, yeah, yeah.

So it's like, it's just Jesse.

Yeah, absolutely.

With Gizemi played Leah, I couldn't see her as anything.

I told Silla this when I saw her in the Spotify story.

I was like, oh, that's so strange to see her as someone else.

Even though I know, obviously she's an actress.

But the point is, I think it's really great when, like, less famous actors take on big roles.

Because who wants to see Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise?

You can call him anything you like.

It doesn't matter.

You're just looking at him and you're going, that's Tom Cruise.

It's just American actors acting and they do it a lot.

And I think in Danish as well, to be honest, this thing I told you I'm watching face to face, it's all the same people.

And it's like, oh, I know every single one of these people, but that's kind of the point of the show, I think.

Yeah, and of course in Sweden, I mean, we're not that many actors.

It's like so many casting process before.

During those 20 years when I worked at theater, I tried to get into film and TV.

And I know that the casting agent, the director liked me.

And then it comes to the producers and they want a list actor.

And you can understand it if it's a commercial streaming channel.

But if it's public service, not so much actually.

They're subsidized by the taxes.

They could choose more because it's more interesting.

You don't want to see, I mean, it gets boring.

I mean, the really good actors is not that.

But it's like the persona of the actor could get in the way of the character.

You know the actor already.

Obviously, people suspend their belief.

I think if you get a really big role and you're known for that part and then you suddenly very soon after do something else or have a really, someone does an Irish accent or over here, someone you know what their voice really is and then suddenly they're doing a London accent or something, I find that very distracting because I know that's not their voice.

It's good acting and it's great and everything, but I know that's put on because they look exactly the same.

There's a different noise coming out of their mouth and it's really hard to get past.

Yeah, and on stage, I mean, then you could use so much more bigger expressions because I mean, theatre is a concentrate of life.

It's not life.

I mean, it's not realism.

The theatre is like elevated from reality.

Film is so much more in your face.

You have the close ups.

You can't hide that it's you.

How is that having a camera in your face like that all the time?

How do you get over that?

It'll be really weird, especially when it's so close that you actually have to have the eye line inside the edge of the camera lens.

So you can't see your co-actor.

Oh, right.

Yeah, of course.

It feels so close.

It's really weird.

I tried to adapt to it.

I'm very interested about this.

You put something online.

Whiskey on the Rocks, this TV show coming out next year with Rolf Lassgard.

I like that guy.

He was a man called Ovi.

That's probably one of my favorite movies I've ever seen.

Can't believe they remade it.

What an abomination.

The original is fantastic.

That's about 11 days standoff in 1981 against Russia, which I don't think anyone here would even know about.

But can you tell us a little bit about it?

Are you allowed to?

It was a dramatic period.

And it's strange that they haven't done anything before because it was like...

I mean, the true story was that the Russian submarine, one morning, it stood in a military area on a small, small island.

You know, when a boat goes on the bottom of the...

Oh, it just got stuck.

It got stuck.

And one morning, there's a Russian submarine with nuclear weapons inside the military area in the archipelago south of Sweden.

And it was like, what?

And little Sweden, that was like neutral and everything.

Of course, NATO and the Warsaw Pact got like...

It was like a turmoil with Ronald Reagan and Brezhnev.

So they were all in it.

And it's like...

And it's a bit twisted, like, you know, Death of Stalin style.

Yes, okay.

But we don't play comedy.

It's like kind of the situations get comic anyway, because it's so absurd.

It's more like a very, very dark, dark comedy.

Was this commissioned since Russia became more of an aggressor or was it always on the cards before?

Yeah, no, I think actually the green light came just before the aggression.

But it's, I mean, the timing of it is...

I mean, it couldn't be better.

It's really weird.

And it's, no, it's brilliant.

And yeah, it was, the script is brilliant.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Obviously, I didn't know until I started watching TV shows from that region of the world, but there is a lot of sort of suspicion around Russia generally.

There's that Norwegian show called Occupied, which I watched.

I haven't seen it.

It's quite fun.

And I think there's something in Finland as well.

But the idea of submarines in Europe, I mean, there's probably a Russian submarine.

I live near the coast of Northern England.

There's probably one out there right now.

They're always up to something.

They're always flying their planes really close to our planes, and they're always up to something.

Probably Americans as well.

Oh, yeah, they'll be on the other side.

So they're sharing the bottom of the seat together.

What do you think the surge in people watching Scandinavian television is?

Do you think it's just the pandemic, people at home?

Yeah, I guess, and we had some big successes.

I mean, the Danish had, of course, the killing, because that was before the bridge.

Of course, the killing, it was remade in the United States.

Oh, yeah.

And the bridge was remade, British and France, called the tunnel.

The tunnel, it was so bad.

I haven't seen it.

No, I mean, it's all right, but I mean, what you do, don't do that.

Of course, it's an interesting, I mean, they don't follow the spirit.

Oh, is it like the bridge?

No, I don't think there's any connection.

It's completely separate.

It's just two countries.

Two countries that have a little bit of animosity and fighting over whose territory the crime was committed.

And a lot of cultural differences, sense of humor and stuff.

I guess it's that, and now we pay the price, because we've shot so many TV shows in Sweden and in Denmark.

All the streaming services in the Nordic countries, the EU decided that if you're going to have a streaming service in EU, you have to have 30% of the material has to be EU produced.

Oh, good.

That's good.

If an American channel want to come in Europe, they want to buy an entire streaming service.

Then they get a library of TV shows in which they can put all the Americans on top.

I did want to mention, one of my favorite TV shows last year was, Did You See Clark with Bill Skarsgård?

Yeah, I did.

That was a fun Swedish show, wasn't it?

It was sexy and fun.

It was like the perfect TV show that must have done well abroad.

Yeah, it was very popular.

Well, I had some.

It was really good, but it was based on a true story.

Through the eyes of that character, how he experienced it.

It was like in his mind.

He was this womanizer and just cool talker.

And of course, so it's like just his angle on it.

And it was kind of, you know, weird, like not realist.

It was like, but I loved the attempt and I loved the law of it.

It was a ride.

It was unlike anything I've seen from Sweden, but it was just a fun ride and it was silly and stupid.

It was based on obviously true story.

Like it wasn't serious.

No, it wasn't.

I think if you're watching that, it's like watching Money Heist.

You know, like this is massively heightened for television.

That just would not happen, half the things that happen in that show.

And they just don't care about certain stuff and you know, it's not very politically correct if you want.

It was fun.

It's time for some Potty Potty Pot Pot questions.

What is the first thing you saw on television, probably as a child, that scared you?

I was completely obsessed with horror and still am actually.

And I watched Alfred Hitchcock presenting.

I love those kinds of shows.

Like half an hour.

And some of them were like really scary.

Every party when there was a party at home, I would make off and watch TV.

You have to see stuff that you shouldn't see.

And I saw one of those and I was scared for years after.

And then I saw another one.

I actually saw on British television when the family went to Scotland and in a hotel room in 81 when I was 11, 10 or 11, I saw Alien on British television.

It was a weird film trip actually because on the boat there, the ferry, they show Das Boot in the ferry.

And that's a weird thing to show.

For a ferry.

It's like when they go to the bottom and they are floating.

And you're like, yeah, and I saw that.

And then I saw Alien on television.

And I was horrified for another two or three years and still couldn't, I couldn't keep away.

I had to look at scary stuff and then I couldn't sleep.

And I was a mess till I was like 14, 15.

Do you remember what the episode was?

What the storyline was for Alfred Hitchcock?

I think the one, excepting in the boss was, it was a house, a killer killing nurses.

They suspected the gardener, it was a very sick man in this house and two nurses.

And they were afraid, one older and one younger, and they were expecting the gardener to be that killer.

And in the end, they opened the door, these nurses, and the gardener stands there with staring eyes, and they had this fire poking and just ram it in his chest.

And he just doesn't react.

It just falls ahead and he has an axe in his back.

And then it's like the younger nurse just screams.

And then suddenly you hear a male voice behind you.

And the other, the older nurse, suddenly talks with a man voice and just goes at this young woman, the young nurse.

And she fights off and rips the wig off.

And it's a bald man.

If I skew me dick.

Obviously he's the killer.

And it made such a fucking impact on me.

I've got chills now talking about it.

Really, really.

Because now it's coming back, in a way.

The horror genre has come back.

It's huge, huge, because of Blumhouse and things like that.

And the Flanagan series with the House of Usher.

It's huge, I think it's the biggest genre right now.

I mean, survival, horror, not so much supernatural stuff, it's a bit different now, it's more interesting.

The House of Usher is supernatural.

Yeah, that was weird.

I did see it and I piled my way through it.

My wife had to go to Canada for a family thing, so I just watched it in like three days.

The first episode, I thought, this is rubbish and it had the same music as like Succession, and I was like, what are they trying to do?

Then that thing happened, which I won't say, in the warehouse, in the club, in the dancing.

I was like, yeah, I had to go to bed after that.

I go back to it and of course, the Americans ruined the 15 years of it by putting comedy into it.

It's like standing in one leg in the horror and one leg in the comedy.

Do you mean like Scream and the slasher films?

It's like you don't stand for the genre.

You don't defend the genre.

It's like, yeah, the contract with the viewer is that it should be horrible.

It should be horror.

That's why I started actually that you can cry or laugh and feel terrible watching a film.

Afterwards, you're thankful for all that emotional roller coaster.

Yeah, because you're going through it and you're using it as a device to experience that.

So you don't have to experience it in your real life.

For me, it was like, I get so much feeling or emotions from watching something that they obviously did in a long time.

It was very technical and stuff.

But the contract is that we send something and you should feel this.

It's like manipulation.

And I, as a consumer, want that feeling, an agreement.

Which is strange.

I wanted to be on the other side, to be the one that made hundreds of thousands of people feel something that they're supposed to feel.

So I was 23, 24 when I decided to start with acting.

So I was like, after I finished my military service, I was like, I have to give it a go to try it.

So I go into law school and I turned it down to give it two or three years.

And then I realized you have to work with theater to make film.

And I was, oh, fuck.

It wasn't my cup of tea.

And I was like, OK.

But then, of course, when you start working with it, it's a quiet space.

And I went to it and I learned to love the stage.

But my personal media as a consumer was TV and film.

An actor that can do both well is quite rare, I think, because I won't say who.

Well, I will.

I'll bleep it.

I saw it once, right?

I went to the cinema the same week as I saw him on stage.

I saw him.

I'll bleep him again.

I saw in the film called, I think it's called.

And it was brilliant.

You know that movie?

Fantastic.

Fantastic.

Then I saw him in a production of.

Because I knew the production manager, so he got me tickets.

And it was the worst acting I've ever seen on the stage.

It was so bad.

It was unbelievably bad.

It was like watching a chair.

I couldn't actually, it was like three hours long and it was fucking painful to watch.

And I couldn't understand how someone who could like grab that screen and he has a hell of a presence on screen would be so bad on the stage.

I've never understood it to this day, but I definitely know the difference between a film actor and a stage actor from seeing that performance.

I'm always amazed when people can do both and do it well.

You know, it's incredible.

I mean, more often, I would say it's, I don't know, not more often, but the equal problem is when a stage actor, you know, works in TV or film and everything is too big.

Everything is like you don't keep any secrets.

It's like you just...

You start doing too much.

You need to do a Billy Bob film and do nothing.

Camera acting is so much more to keep your secrets, and it should be on stage as well, but you should leak it more.

That's my opinion, but in Sweden we suffered for a long time by there being a culture about how you should talk, how you should look and sound in front of the camera in feature films that were decided by actors from the natural and dramatic theatre.

Nobody sounded natural.

In England, in the 50s and 60s, you had both on stage with this, everything should be hyper realistic.

It's funny you say that everyone had to have a certain voice and look a certain way, because for this podcast I have to look at old TV and things that I saw as a kid.

Anything from the 70s and 80s over here, all the presenters and all the actors on TV all sound like they're from the 1940s.

They make things like, hello, where?

And even the cartoons will be like, and Paddington Bear went into the city.

It's like, oh my God, they sound like they're from the war.

And there's no accents, there's no Northern accents, there's no, like, it's just literally this RP, Queen's English, you know.

It's like when you're here, when you watch The Crown.

I don't watch The Crown.

It's like, no, of course.

I would explode.

I think I would watch it spontaneously combust.

I tried, I did try, but I just think it's so weird that we have them.

I can't, I'm not even bleeping this out.

I'm keeping them in.

I don't understand why we have a royal family, especially when some of them are Peter fast.

See next time.

Do you have things that you watch together that you are not allowed to watch alone?

Yeah, well, we actually made an exception last week because we saw Unforgotten or something, it's called in English.

Oh yeah, I've never seen that, is that good?

I love British shows, and this about the internal affairs.

Are they like cold cases or something?

Unforgotten is about cold cases, but there's another one about the internal affairs, police.

Like the line of duty?

Line of duty, yeah.

We love them in Sweden.

It's a bit silly, but yeah, I mean, it's good.

They're fun.

The first few seasons were really, really, really, really good.

And there are some, you know, the fall was brilliant in Northern Ireland a couple of years ago.

Jamie Dornan.

Yeah, Jamie Dornan and Gillian Ellison.

Yeah, that was great.

Her part was the best women part ever.

She was like coming in, she was so hot.

Yeah, yeah, it's really good.

And that's one of my favorites all the time.

How can that be the same person as the ex-femme?

She's a really, she's an inspirational actor because she's really, really good in anything.

And she makes different stuff.

And sometimes you don't like the series, but she's always good.

Yeah, that's true.

Who was the first person on television that gave you that fuzzy feeling inside?

The first that comes to mind is Faye from Hill Street Blues.

Joyce Davenport, I think she's called.

Hill Street Blues.

She worked as a prosecutor or something.

I was so in love with her.

Was Hill Street Blues massive in Sweden because Cilla mentioned Hill Street Blues as well.

Yes, it was huge.

And of course, all those, you know, before that was Barretta, Kojak.

Charlie's Angels, those kinds of things.

Yeah, and so, yeah.

I had small brothers and I had to go to bed.

When they fell asleep, my dad said, yeah, you have to wait till they fall asleep.

And they could come down and watch Kojak and Barretta.

Oh, so you got to sneak.

That's one of my questions.

Yeah, yeah, it was.

Certificially, what were you allowed to come down and watch that you shouldn't be watching?

Because that is a struggle, isn't it, as a parent, to like know what is appropriate and what isn't.

Because when we were kids, you were exposed to, you know, shooting, stabbings, rape scenes in cop shows.

Yeah, but now it's so much worse with the incident.

I mean, they can watch whatever they like.

This was still very controlled.

We only had two channels.

Well, Danish channels as well.

Since I was brought up in the south of Sweden, we had three channels, Danish.

And they always have better films, Danish TV.

But I watched everything that I could.

And I also sneaked up.

We had two television sets because I grew up in a farm house.

We were farmers, and there was an upper floor.

And we had a small television there.

So I could sneak up and use air plot and watch when my dad didn't see me.

A television with a headphone output.

Yeah, it was.

That's really funny.

That's actually quite funny, isn't it?

Like having two televisions.

That would have been mad to have two TVs when I was a kid.

It just didn't happen.

You had one TV in the lounge.

And when it died, you got another one.

Yeah, yeah.

We rented TVs.

We actually rented them.

But we didn't go VCR for ages.

So it's like...

I think there was never one in my actual house.

I think it was when I left home, I got one.

I don't remember ever having a video.

Maybe it was like it became a struggle between the two channels.

One wanted to watch a bit because we were like the five brothers and the two adults who wanted to see the news.

So we wanted to see something else.

I mean, I recently bought a second iPad, second hand for my son, just so I could have mine back, you know.

And it's very restrictive, but I put Netflix on 12 plus.

And then I come home and he's watching like 13, 14 year old movies, only nine, nearly 10.

And he's watching like Adam Sandler films with sexual references.

They're going over his head.

But I'm like, that's not a 12.

And I think their age rating is all over the place on Netflix, to be honest with you.

It's either very kiddy or everything.

And the kids stuff is terrible.

I mean, so loud.

It's just like.

Yeah, I know.

It's so loud.

It's so loud and annoying and weird little voices.

And why is every cartoon American?

I insist that they watch Bluey, which is Australian.

We had Peppa Pig for a while, but that's just, it's done to death.

There's a channel here, Channel 5.

And it's always showing like very plasticky toy adverts between every single show.

And my kids want all this landfill and it's just so loud.

They're like, oh news, and it's just blasting out the television.

Oh my God, I don't know what to do.

It's the same time, I think it's like, and now they watch TikTok.

My kids are like 14 and 18, so it's like, and when they get older, it's so amazing.

My daughter is 18.

She has a real big film interest.

So we like to go to the cinemas and if I'm away from home a lot, I leave on Sunday evening.

We go see a 12 or 1 o'clock film and then we eat something.

And I remember she was like 15 when Senate Count came by Christopher Nolan.

Yeah, yeah.

And there was such a game shift because she actually explained to me afterwards, some of those timelines going back and forth.

Confusing film.

And she was like, what was those towers in the water?

I mean, it was like, yeah, now it's because when you can't time travel, you don't end up in the exact right spots.

You have to wait for two years in that tower for the time to be right to enter the world.

So it's like, okay.

And that when your kid explains to you, it's like, wow.

My oldest is into comedy now, which is great.

I can't wait to share some comedy with him.

That's what I want to do.

I want to share all my favorite comedy with him because he really wants to know what it all is.

Like there's barely anything child appropriate.

So now I'm not that afraid of if they understand it, they ask and we talk about it.

But it's kind of, I don't think you should like I watched horror movies when I was like 60 years old.

So I learned English from them.

So I don't think you should protect them too hard.

They will face it anyway.

And then it's like, what the fuck is Dennis too much to handle on the same thing?

I think it's just the violence.

I sound like my own grandmother, but I think it's like the violence in video games and stuff like that now that is more disturbing to me than a sex reference in a film.

I don't care about swearing because they're all going to swear anyway.

So what's the fucking point?

They're all swearing at school.

I'm sure of it because I was.

Yes, of course.

And they will be.

They say everything's a meme.

That's funny.

I go, where'd you get that from?

Oh, it's a meme.

He'll come home and he'll just say something in an accent that's like not appropriate.

I'll be like, okay, don't do the voice.

But the words are fine.

He came home quite recently and said, Dada, do you know what?

Mr.

Boombastic, do you know that song?

And then he started singing the Macarena and I was like, is it the 90s again?

Yes, yes.

The TikTok.

It's still like, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And of course they have access to, I mean, if they stumble upon a film with nudity and sex, and it's like at least artistic.

I mean, in the iPhones or the iPads, it's like, you know, the Internet, there are so much, when you check the history, search history, you have to do that occasionally and say like, Oh, what's this?

And it's like, oh no, it's like, but they, of course, they will explore stuff.

But now there's so much rude and so gross stuff on the Internet, I mean, in porn sites and stuff, it's so easy to get.

Yeah, I mean, you're walking around with everything in the world that's ever existed and every image and every, you want to see any disgusting porn thing that you could even think of, just press a couple of buttons.

I mean, that's pretty bad.

Yeah, every technical development comes with a price.

And it's the same with AI and everybody's so afraid of it, but at the same time, it's like, yeah, I talked to one of the police officers regarding some, it's like 10 police officers, maybe that work with the pedophiles, that, you know, they have to, when they arrest someone, they get like 40,000 pictures and 5,000 videos and somebody has to look through it.

You know, they have to watch it.

Then of course, AI could be brilliant because they have to watch the electrical sockets, if it's filmed in Sweden or in Belgium, you know, and they have to discover in the pictures where it's from.

And then of course, the computer algorithms could find stuff in so much faster.

And then of course, you have to check it, check the results.

But if you're going to look through 40,000 pictures and 5,000 videos.

What is happening to that person?

Of course, the networks, because the networks is all over the world between these pedophile networks.

And then of course, AI is brilliant.

So what you're saying, in essence, let me just make sure that you're okay with this.

What you're saying is AI could actually be the thing that catches Prince Andrew.

Yes.

Okay, rather uncharacteristically, we're gonna have a little chat about some films, including Star Wars, but first, the film Dune.

I watched Dune with the boat.

That's a long, arduous...

Yes, and it was like, in the beginning, it's very, very beautiful, but very slow.

And my daughter was like, oh, man, it's so beautiful.

I thought it was a good film and very atmospheric.

I looked to my son, and he just looked directly at me and was like, what the fuck is this?

In the last hour, there was some sandworms in the action, and there was, okay, now.

Okay, now it's getting interesting three hours in.

The slow beginning, like one and a half hours wasted.

And then the sandworms came, and yes, now it's okay.

Oh my God, that is so funny.

It's so true.

I think my eldest, when he first tried to watch Star Wars, the original one, he was so bored, because nothing happens.

If you remember, nothing happens for a really long time.

It's so boring.

Because you talked about it a little bit, because, you know, your exposure to, you know, fame, essentially, when people go from, you know, like you have in Sweden, this show is very, very popular and you must have experienced a lot of people recognizing you.

How is it, in your words, to be famous?

I live in Stockholm, and just across the street, Bill Skarsgård lives, and he's so much more famous.

It's just like...

Yeah, you can tell him how much you hate Clark.

I didn't hate Clark.

I really love him.

I think he's a brilliant actor.

Yeah, he's fantastic.

And it's like...

I don't notice from people.

My kids notice.

When we were in Malmo, it's a lot more attention.

You get people asking for selfies and things like that.

And I went there on vacation in the summer because I'm from the city of Kutvaland.

Kutvaland?

I love these words.

But when we went here, we went across the square where there's a lot of bars and stuff out in the square.

And I don't notice, but my kids notice that people are secretly filming and they were kind of uncomfortable without cushion.

I don't want to be in the social media or whatever.

And I don't notice.

I'm not serious and I don't notice.

Do you like it though or is it uncomfortable?

No, it's not.

I think it's kind of...

I don't know.

That's really not why I'm doing it.

Because when I go out with a friend and have a couple of pants, and it's like, think about it a bit.

If there were too many points, people would take away.

So it's like...

Yeah, yeah, of course.

You have to be...

you've watched in a way that I don't like.

But of course I like the effects of it.

I get to work a lot more after Tuna Blue Linea.

It's a game changer in that way.

Because I wanted to work with T-Games film, and after 20 years on stage, doing small stuff, and suddenly I get long contracts.

That was my main goal 25 years ago.

And now I get to do it.

You've achieved it.

Well, Per, I mean, yeah, it's been great talking to you.

And I'll definitely be watching your Whiskey on the Rocks TV series next year as well.

And good luck with the rest of the filming of season three.

I will be watching that and telling everybody about it.

And with whatever else you do in the future, I'll keep in touch and maybe I'll meet you.

Yeah, it will be a real pleasure to meet you in person.

Oh, lovely.

Thank you so much, Per.

Thanks for coming on the podcast.

Thank you.

We were all set to leave it there, but then I remembered our little convo at the beginning about unsuitable films on boats and planes.

So I put the mics back on just for a couple of seconds.

So there's a ferry from Newcastle.

There used to be a ferry from Newcastle to Gothenburg, but there is a ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

Well, they say Amsterdam.

And we took it instantly to go to Belgium for a little holiday in half term.

And on the boat, the film they were showing was Jason Statham in The Meg Two.

They haven't learned anything.

They haven't learned.

No, they've not learned anything.

It's like showing a line on a flight.

Have you ever seen one of those on a plane where they show something like inappropriate?

Because I was watching, I think, Donnie Darko on a plane in the first few minutes and a jet engine falls in his bedroom.

Well, you should get tired if you choose a live or like an airplane.

United 93, in-flight movie, executive decision from Kurt Russell.

And some poor, poor Arabic guys killing.

Yeah, or usually just an English, Turkish guy cast as a terrorist.

That was what it used to be.

Yeah.

That was always the case.

All right, man.

Well, I'll let you go.

I've got to go and get my kids from school.

Yes.

Lovely to meet you.

Thank you so much, Per.

That was Per Lasson there.

What a great chat.

I really enjoyed talking to him.

It's so weird to be able to talk to this guy that I watched on TV and loved his character, and then I just happened to be able to speak to him like one-to-one on here.

It just blows my mind how this will work sometimes, you know?

I love Per, he was a great chat, and he really made me think about not worrying so much about what children watch.

Anyway, now to our outro track.

Beep, beep.

Right, today's song is called Myself.

Now, this wasn't on one of my own albums.

This is a project I did with my friend Des Pye on an album called Remote Control.

And we were really worried at the time when we took the photo for the album cover because it was like me in the middle of Peterborough holding a remote control, sort of pointing at the crowd as if I was controlling the public.

But it was around the time of the sort of London bombings and stuff.

So we were really scared that we were going to get like, I don't know, arrested for like looking like we're doing something.

Anyway, it was around that time.

And this was, yeah, it was a song I wrote, I think predominantly.

We had songs that we wrote each and then we sort of added to them.

So I would say this one, Desi added to my song.

He played the bass in it and gave it a sort of certain vibe.

I've remastered it ever so slightly, but yeah, it is what it is.

Make of it what you will.

So here we go.

This is Myself from the year 2005.

Myself, someone hanging around.

That is what you call ambience.

That was Myself from 2005 written by myself and my good friend Desmond Pye.

That was from an album called Remote Control, as I mentioned, a little project we did together.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that, and I hope you enjoyed listening to me talking to Per Lasson.

We'll be back next week with another great guest.

See you then.