News

ITV Studios Finland has begun production on a local adaptation of “Cold Feet,” the beloved British comedy-drama series that ran for five seasons between 1997 and 2003 before launching a hit reboot 13 years later.

Produced for MTV and set to premiere in 2026, the 8 x 42” series (“Rimakauhua ja rakkautta” in Finnish) is written by Marika Kuortti (“Roomies”) and directed by Ville Jankeri (“Forest Giant”). Cast includes Minka Kuustonen, Saga Sarkola, Linda Wiklund, Joonas Nordman, Aku Sipola and Nicklas Pohjola. The executive producers are Maria Kangas and Pete Paavolainen for ITV Studios Finland.

“Cold Feet” will follow the lives of three couples in their thirties who are struggling to put their wild youths behind them in the face of middle age, a journey that none will get through easily. Riding the highs and lows as they fight, flirt, struggle with self-esteem, forge lasting friendships and enjoy newfound feelings of happiness, the couples will try...

Nordic Crime Commission

C More has commissioned a second, six-episode season of ITV Studios Finland’s glossy detective drama “Helsinki Crimes” (aka “Harjunpää”). The first season of Helsinki Crimes became one of C More’s most-watched crime series to date. After its launch on Netflix last year, in regions across Cee, Benelux, Austria and the Nordics, the series was one of the top ten most-watched series, and the third most-watched in Finland.

In the new season, Chief Constable Timo Harjunpää, portrayed by Olli Rahkonen, and his murder team investigate bloody clashes between street gangs, love scams and a wave of burglaries.

The series is adapted from Matti Yrjänä Joensuu’s series of novels and is written for the screen by Harri Virtanen (“Deadwind”) and directed by Matti Kinnunen (“Cargo”).

The first season of Helsinki Crimes also sold to Australia’s Sbs On Demand, AMC Networks International’s SundanceTV in Spain,...

“Helsinki Crimes,” ITV Studios Finland’s contemporary Finnish detective series, has been sold to Australia’s Sbs On Demand, AMC Networks International’s SundanceTV channel in Spain and Walter Presents in Ireland and the U.K.

Oble, the Paris-based production and distribution company, co-produced and is repping “Helsinki Crimes” in international markets.

The series, which is based on the bestselling novels of award-winning Finnish writer Matti Yrjänä Joensuu, follows the journey of a renowned detective, Timo Harjunpaa, as he investigates a wave of serious crimes in present-day Helsinki, in the height of summer.

The eight-part glossy crime series, which has been modernized by ITV Studios Finland, has been a hit since it premiered on C More’s streaming service in February. Olli Rahkonen (“Olli Mäki”) stars as detective Timo Harjunpaa and Olga Temonen plays his partner Onerva Nykanen.

“’Helsinki Crimes’ is not your traditional police procedural. Harri Virtanen’s interpretation...

ITV Studios Finland and French production and distribution group Oble have partnered up on “Helsinki Crimes,” a new Finnish crime drama which will debut at Goteburg TV Drama Vision.

“Helsinki Crimes” is an eight-part crime series based on Matti Yrjänä Joensuu’s bestselling novels. Set in contemporary Helsinki in the height of summer, the series revolves around Timo Harjunpää (Olli Rahkonen), a popular detective known for his honesty and empathy for the victims, as well as the criminals. He and his partner Onerva Nykanen (Olga Temonen) are investigating a wave of murders taking place in Helsinki.

The show was produced by Maria Kangas and Pete Paavolainen at ITV Studios Finland and was commissioned by the broadcaster MTV3 and streamer CMore which are presenting the series at Goteborg’s TV Drama Vision. “Helsinki Crimes” will premiere later this year on CMore.

“There are many police procedural TV shows but there are...

I have said for years now that the Nordic countries have a unique sensibility that make them perfect for noir tinged crime cinema. And coming in very much on the dark side of the spectrum - the dark, atmospheric and very bloody side - is Olli Saarela's big screen adaptation of Matti Yrjänä Joensuu's serial killer novel Harjunpää ja pahan pappi, released internationally as Priest of Evil.Here's how Amazon described the novel:

After a strange succession of deaths at Helsinki tube stations, the police are baffled: no one has seen anything and the tapes from the CCTV show nothing. Detective Sergeant Timo Harjunpaa of the Helsinki Violent Crimes Unit has seen more than enough of the seamier side of human nature in his career, but the forces of evil have never before crossed his path in such an overwhelming fashion. It emerges that his adversary is a...

Perhaps emboldened by the massive, global success of the film adaptations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium novels - though only The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has been released so far here in North America all three are now out, and raking in cash, in other parts of the world - and forced to sit on the outside looking in at the dominantly Swedish / Danish produced pictures, Finland is looking to their own history of crime fiction as cinematic fodder.

One of Finland's most popular writers - and most critically acclaimed - is Matti Yrjänä Joensuu, and Joensuu's most famous creation is detective Timo Harjunpää. And now director Olli Saarela is bringing Harjunpää to the big screen.

In production now is Saarela's adaptation of Joensuu's Harjunpää ja pahan pappi, a novel translated and released under the English title of Priest Of Evil. Though I can't find any English language information on the film version,...