Skam (TV series)

Skam is a Norwegian teen drama streaming television series about the daily life of teenagers at the Hartvig Nissen School, a gymnasium in the wealthy borough of Frogner in West End Oslo and Norway's oldest high school for girls. It was produced by NRK P3, which is part of the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
Despite no promotion ahead of its 2015 launch, Skam broke viewership records. Its premiere episode is among the most-watched episodes in NRK's history, and by the middle of season two, it was responsible for half of NRK's traffic. With season three, it broke all streaming records in Norway, along with viewership records in neighboring countries Denmark, Finland and Sweden, and attracted an active international fanbase on social media, where fans promoted translations.
The series ended with its fourth season in 2017, reportedly due to high production stress.

Hartvig Nissen School

The series focuses on the daily life of teenagers at the Hartvig Nissen School, a gymnasium located in the Frogner borough in Oslo's West End, with the address Niels Juels gate 56. It is Norway's oldest high school for girls and is informally and widely known simply as "Nissen". Originally named Nissen's Girls' School, it was founded by Hartvig Nissen in 1849 as a private, progressive girls' school which was owned by its headmasters and which served the higher bourgeoisie. The school was described in the British House of Commons in 1907 as "the pioneer of higher girls' schools in Norway." It was both the first higher school and the first higher education institution in Norway which admitted girls and women. The girls' school gradually became a co-educational school from the mid 1950s, after four boys were admitted in 1955 alongside hundreds of girls. Its alumni include many famous individuals and two members of the Norwegian royal family. The then relatively new progressive girls' school is also featured in the 1862 play Love's Comedy by Henrik Ibsen.

Premise

Skam follows a new main character each season. While airing, a new clip, conversation, or social media post was published in real-time on the NRK website on a daily basis. Each season has a focus on particular topics that range from relationship difficulties, identity, eating disorders, sexual assault, homosexuality, mental health issues, religion, and forbidden love.
At the start of a week, a clip, conversation or social media post is posted on the Skam website. New material is posted on a daily basis, with the content unified and combined into one full episode on Fridays. The main character differs from season to season, and the fictional characters have social media profiles where viewers can follow their activities. The show allows public interaction over the duration of the episode. The format has since been used in other NRK P3 series, Blank and Lovleg.

Characters

The following are characters in Skam.
¹In season one, David Stakston was credited as playing a character called David, though his name was never spoken in the show. This could be the character Magnus or Stakston was playing a different student. Stakston also makes an uncredited appearance in the last episode of season two.
²In season three, Mikael appears uncredited in a video Isak finds on the Internet of Even.

Central cast

Lisa Teige as Eva Kviig Mohn is the main character in the first season. When we first meet Eva, she recently started dating Jonas, who just ended a relationship with Eva's best friend Ingrid. Her relationship with Jonas is complicated and she finds it hard to trust him, eventually leading her to cheat on him and ultimately leading to their breakup at the end of season one. Eva lives at home with a busy mom and starts at the Hartvig Nissen school in 2015 together with her friends and former classmates Jonas, Ingrid, Sara and Isak. Losing her former best friends Ingrid and Sara due to her relationship to Jonas, she starts up new friendships with Noora, Chris, Vilde and Sana at Nissen. After season one, Eva is mostly shown as an outgoing and promiscuous party-girl.
Josefine Frida Pettersen as Noora Amalie Sætre is the main character in the second season. Noora is shown as a confident, smart and helpful character in seasons one and two. In the second season, it is however revealed that she has some insecurities after all. She lives with two roommates and does not have contact with her parents. Unlike her friends Eva, Chris and Vilde, Noora is not into drinking or hooking up with guys. When the school's playboy William continues to flirt with her despite several rejections, she eventually gets interested in him, but due to her prejudices against him, she finds it hard to accept. They end up in a relationship at the end of season two. In seasons three and four, Noora faces complications in her relationship with William.
Tarjei Sandvik Moe as is the main character in the third season. Isak is a close friend of both Eva and Jonas in season one. At the end of the season, Noora and Eva find gay pornography on Isak's phone, raising suspicions about his sexual orientation. Season three follows Isak's struggles to accept his sexuality. He meets Even, and the two quickly fall in love and begin to secretly see each other. However, Isak unknowingly pushes Even away by revealing that he does not want to be around people with mental disorders, due to traumatizing experiences with Isak's own mentally ill mother. Isak decides to come out to his best friends and tell them about Even. His friends help him getting back together with Even and afterwards to better understand and accept Even's bipolar disorder. In season four, Isak is shown as much happier, as he lives comfortably and publicly in a relationship with Even.
Iman Meskini as Sana Bakkoush is the main character in the fourth season. Sana's biggest struggle throughout the series is to live the traditional Muslim lifestyle and the traditional Norwegian gymnasium-lifestyle at the same time. Sana is shown as decisive and eloquent, but faces constant prejudices from her classmates, her parents and people she meets on the street, which sometimes leads Sana to take irrational decisions. This peaks when Sana anonymously cyberbullies her classmate Sara, who wants to exclude Sana from their russefeiring-squad. Unlike Eva, Noora and Isak, she has a close relationship with her family. In season 4, she falls in love with Yousef, who she initially thinks is a Muslim, but turns out not to be. After initial attempts to distance herself from him, they appear to grow closer later in the season.
Main cast
Marlon Valdés Langeland as Jonas Noah Vasquez, Eva's boyfriend in the first season. He is also Isak's best friend and a classmate of all the main characters.
Ulrikke Falch as Vilde Hellerud Lien, the naive fourth member of the main girl squad. She is the enthusiastic initiator of russefeiring, revy and other social events for the squad.
Ina Svenningdal as Christina "Chris" Berg, the amusing fifth member of the girl squad. She usually avoids most conflicts and emotionally deep conversations.
Thomas Hayes as William Magnusson, the flirt and eventually boyfriend of Noora in the second season. He is two years older than the main cast, but also studies at Nissen in the first two seasons.
Carl Martin Eggesbø as Eskild Tryggvasson, the roommate of Noora in season two and four, and of Isak's in season three.
Henrik Holm as , the love affair and eventual boyfriend of Isak. Even is diagnosed with bipolar disorder at some point prior to season 3.
David Stakston as Magnus Fossbakken, Isak's awkward friend and classmate. In the fourth season he is in a relationship with Vilde.
Sacha Kleber Nyiligira as Mahdi Disi, Isak's friend and classmate. Member of the boys squad.
Cengiz Al as Yousef Acar, the atheist love interest of Sana and a former classmate of Even.
Recurring cast
Herman Tømmeraas as Christoffer "Penetrator-Chris" Schistad, the on-and-off love interest of Eva through all four seasons. He is also classmate and best friend of William.
Cecilie Martinsen as Ingrid Theis Gaupseth, Jonas's girlfriend and Eva's best friend prior to season one. Ingrid is a member of the russefeiring-squad "Pepsi Max", which often rivals the main characters' squad.
Kristina Ødegaard as Sara Nørstelien, Ingrid's best friend and leader of the "Pepsi Max" squad. Sara dates Isak in the second season.
Rakel Øfsti Nesje as Linn Larsen Hansen, the introverted roommate of Eskild and Noora/Isak.
Simo Mohamed Elhbabi as Elias Bakkoush, Sana's older brother and Yousef's best friend and former classmate.
Episodes

Series overview

Season 1

The first clip from season 1 was made available on Tuesday, 22 September 2015, with the combined clips during the week premiering as a full episode on Friday, 25 September 2015. The season consists of 11 episodes; the main character is Eva Mohn. The storyline deals with Eva's difficult relationship with her boyfriend Jonas and the themes of loneliness, identity, belonging and friendship.

Season 2

The first clip from season 2 was made available on Monday, 29 February 2016, with the combined clips during the week premiering as a full episode on Friday, 4 March 2016. The season consists of 12 episodes; the main character is Noora Amalie Sætre. The season is about her relationship with William and deals with issues of friendship, feminism, eating disorders, self-image, violence, sexual violence and the contemporaneous refugee crisis in relation to Norwegian democracy.

Season 3

The first clip from season 3 was made available on Sunday, 2 October 2016, with the combined clips during the week premiering as a full episode on Friday, 7 October 2016. The season consists of 10 episodes; the main character is Isak Valtersen. The season deals with Isak's burgeoning relationship with Even Bech Næsheim and is principally a coming out story that deals with issues of love, sexual identity, authenticity, mental illness, religion and friendship.

NRK TV and NRK P3 used different titles for 7 of the season 3 episodes.