Elixir: a location tour of Flanders

Produced by Topkapi in the Netherlands, together with Menuetto in Flanders, this eight-part drama series centres on Isabelle Rombauts, who is unexpectedly appointed chief executive of the family-owned company Rombauts Pharma. While rising to the challenge of running an international drug company, she is soon confronted with serious malpractice and must weigh her own conscience against the interests of her influential family.

“For Elixir, Flanders provides above-the-line talent, a lot of Flemish crew, post-production facilities, and then the filming happened across the whole of Flanders,” says Hans Everaert, the producer at Menuetto.

Out of 78 shooting days, 46 took place in Flanders, taking advantage of the wide range of locations and landscapes on offer in the region. For the headquarters of Rombauts Pharma, location scouts proposed The Circle, a futuristic office building in Kortrijk that belongs to high-tech imaging company Barco.

This contrasts with the opulent splendour of the Winter Garden of the Ursuline nuns near Mechelen, and the old and new buildings of the Eilandje, Antwerp’s redeveloped docks. “We also shot in West Flanders, in East Flanders and Ghent, and in Limburg, so pretty much the entirety of Flanders,” says Everaert.

Flemish actor Wim Opbrouck (In Vlaamse Velden, Arcadia) plays Ludo Rombauts, the head of the family, who is forced to pass control of the company to his inexperienced daughter Isabelle (Hanna Verboom).

“Wim is the perfect fit as pater familias, as he lends a particular gravitas that this role needed. His 30 years of experience speaks for itself”, says Korteweg. 

Meanwhile, matriarch Riekje Rombauts is played by Katelijne Damen (Girl, Piece of My Heart). “Katelijne is a very experienced actress in her own right, whom we had the pleasure to work with in several other (co-)productions at Topkapi”, says Korteweg. “We are truly thankful to have these actors play these parts.”

Original music for the series was composed by Steve Willaert, a prolific writer of scores for film and series such as Salamander, Chantal and Piece of My Heart. “Our director Dana Nechushtan has worked several times with Steve over the years because of his ability to create different musical styles, which is especially important for series,” says Korteweg. “And Steve has delivered again for Elixir.”

The production of Elixir was supported in Flanders by Screen Flanders and the Belgian Tax Shelter. According to Korteweg, this support has been invaluable for Elixir in particular, and for Dutch productions in general.

Elixir is among the first batch of series produced under the New8 partnership, which brings together public service broadcasters from Germany, the Netherlands, Flanders, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway to create top-quality drama built on public service values.

The series was helmed by Topkapi and Menuetto, in close collaboration with commissioning broadcasters BNNVARA and NTR in the Netherlands. But the whole partnership got behind it.

“The fact that eight European public broadcasters have decided to fund this series speaks volumes about the quality and international appeal of this story,” Korteweg says. “This first-ever New8 series has been released in several countries already, with a greater international roll-out still to come.”

Belgian co-producer Menuetto elaborates on making Elixir.