Is Netflix’s Temple series based on true story? Explained

In November this year, Netflix added Temple to its catalog. Created by Mark O'Rowe and starring Mark Strong, Carice Van Houten, and Daniel Mays, among others, this British medical crime drama series ran for two seasons from September 13, 2019 to December 9, 2021.

The series originally aired on Sky One, and its arrival on Netflix has now exposed it to a larger audience. Temple revolves around Daniel Milton, an outstanding surgeon who starts providing illegal medical care to people to fund his research that will enable him to cure his wife, who is suffering from a life-threatening condition.

Viewers are wondering if the engaging series is based on a true story. Well, the series is not based on a true story. Rather, it is based on the Norwegian drama Valkyrien.

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Temple is not based on a true story

The British crime drama series’ inspiration lies not in a real-life story but in another series. The series is based on Valkyrien, a 2017 Norwegian TV series that was first broadcast by NRK1. The 8-episode Norwegian series ran for one season, from January 1, 2017 to February 12, 2017.

Essentially, Temple is the remake of Valkyrien. Created by Erik Richter Strand, the Norwegian show was an original production whose screenplay was written by Strand, Thomas Seeberg Torjussen, Bjørn Ekeberg, and Katherine Valen Zeiner.

In Valkyrien, Sven Nordin plays Ravn Eikanger, an excellent surgeon who gets upset and bitter when his colleagues refuse to allow his terminally ill wife to receive an experimental treatment. Out of frustration, Eikander fakes his wife's death and takes her to a temporary clinic set up in the abandoned subway station Valkyrie.

Thus, the character played by Strong in Temple is inspired by the one played by Nordin in the Norwegian series.

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Temple: Plot, cast and crew

The synopsis of the series on IMDb reads:

“UK version of the Norwegian show about a surgeon who is determined to save his dying wife to the point of agreeing to treat criminals and others for cash in his highly illegal secret underground clinic.”

The executive producers of the series include Liza Marshall, Mark O'Rowe, and Mark Strong. The music of the series was composed by Matthew Herbert. While season 1 of Temple premiered on September 13, 2019, its second season premiered on October 28, 2021.

The cast of the series includes:

• Mark Strong as Daniel Milton
• Daniel Mays as Lee Simmons
• Carice van Houten as Anna Willems
• Catherine McCormack as Beth Milton
• Lily Newmark as Eve Milton
• Tobi King Bakare as Jamie Harris
• Wunmi Mosaku as Mercy King
• Craig Parkinson as Keith Sullivan
• Chloe Pirrie as DI Karen Hall.
• Ryan McKen as DI Rob Moloney
• Siena Kelly as Michelle Wilson
• Claire Rushbrook as Gloria Wilson
• Theo Solomon as Sebastian King
• Kate Dickie as Eleanor
• Anamaria Marinca as Suzanna
• Turlough Convery as Simon Reynolds.
• Mark Bazeley as Michael Chander
• Sam Hazeldine as Jack Lorean

Speaking to Brief Take on November 15, 2020, Strong remarked that his character in Temple, Daniel Milton, was a morally complex person. He said that throughout the story, the character made ethically challenging choices that complicated the audience’s perception of him.

The actor added:

“…What I loved was that he’s essentially a conflicted individual trying to do something for love, you know? For the love of his wife and to save his wife, but just ends up getting himself into deeper and deeper trouble as he tries to choose the right thing to do.”

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