Vi på Saltkråkan

Vi på Saltkråkan (1964) Sweden

The series tells the story of a family fromStockolm, consisting of the widowed author Melker Melkersson (played byTorsen Lilliecrona ) and his four children: 19-year-old Malin (played by Louise who assumes the role of mother in the family, the imaginative 13-year-old Johan, 12-year-old Niklas who is calm and down-to-earth, and 7-year-old Pelle, who loves animals of all kinds. The Melkersson family spend their summer holidays as well as some winters on Saltkråkan, an idyllic place symbolising the unspoilt archipelago. The year-round inhabitants of the island are sometimes amused by the ineptness of the city dwellers, but they become fast friends with the Melkersson family: when the idyll is threatened, such as when the house the Melkerssons rent is being sold, the islanders rise to help their friends keep their summer paradise.

The Melkersson children become friends with the local kids:Tjorven (actually Maria) Grankvist who is the same age as Pelle and who owns a huge Bernard dog named Båtsman, her older sisters Teddy and Freddy who teach Johan and Niklas to row and sail, and Stina, a gap-toothed Stockholm girl who spends her summer holidays with her grandfather, and who tells endless stories to the long-suffering adults around her. (Astrid Lindgren added the character of Stina to the script when Olle Hellbom had met Kristina Jamtmark and thought that she would make a good addition to the group of children.)

The 13 episodes of the TV series were re-made into a movie in 1968, but the original TV series is re-run almost yearly in Swedish television, and some of the actors have become very closely associated with their characters in the series. The series has been translated into German, and was popular enough to be broadcasted over 20 times until now.