"Rederiet" is one of the most successful and longest running series in Swedish television history. The story is about a shipping company which conducts passenger traffic on the Baltic sea between Stockholm in Sweden and Åbo in Finland. The story takes place both in Stockholm (mostly in the office of the company) and on board the ship m/s Freja. The company (Dahlénrederiet) has for decades been run by the Dahlén family. But there are other people who try to gain control over the company, which leads to a constant struggle for the power. We also get to follow the life on board the ship, where people fall in love and break up. There are also struggles for higher positions on the ship and some people use their position to make some extra money. And in the middle of all that, there may be troubles with the passengers or with the ship which have to be solved. There will be terrible accidents, deaths, murders, smuggling, theft, infidelity, arson, rape, drugs, insanity and many other terrible... Written by Jens Andersson
In terms of acting, writing and directing this show declined considerably towards 1995-1996, many original characters left and the ideas for new stories were running dry. "Rederiet" however never failed to be entertaining. You didn't take it too seriously, but with characters like Joker (Johannes Brost), Uno (Hans V. Engström) and Gustav (Bert-Åke Varg) it was always funny to watch.
There was some mass protests when SVT decided to cancel the show. But to be honest I think it was time to pull the plug (or change the head writers). I would not mind a reunion movie though!