Branagh in need of light relief (From Brentwood Weekly News)

Branagh in need of light relief

8:06am Friday 6th July 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

Kenneth Branagh has joked that he'd happily watch a box set of Carry On films to lighten up after filming the dark detective drama Wallander.

The actor - who was recently awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours - plays Kurt Wallander in the BBC One show, based on the books by Swedish author Henning Mankell. And he admitted he was also a fan of fellow Scandinavian show The Killing.

Kenneth said of the Danish series: "You suddenly watch three in a night, then four, then think, 'Blimey, it's midnight!' But having seen The Killing and done this, personally I'd be happy watching a box set of Carry On films for a while."

He added: "Who knew Scandi crime would turn out to be a genre? People seem to like battered, thinking, feeling people coming up against crime and everything that it embodies."

The 51-year-old turned down a CBE in 1994, but there was no such hesitation over the knighthood.

"You think of all the people in your 30-year career who you've worked with, and you know they would be so made up, as indeed they have been at the acknowledgement of that work, so it seemed the right thing to say, 'I appreciate that'," said the actor.

The star is also planning to direct an adaptation of a Tom Clancy book called Jack Ryan.

"It's a prequel to how you might have seen the character as played by Ben Affleck and Alec Baldwin. It takes him from Wall Street where he's working covertly and then into a global adventure that puts lots of scary things at stake," he revealed.

:: Wallander starts on BBC One on Sunday, July 8.