Almost 30 years ago, children from all over Poland sat in front of their TV sets to get excited about the adventures of on-screen characters and discover “The Mystery of Sagala”. It was a 14-episode series, produced in the mid-1990s in cooperation with German television.
The title Sagala is a mysterious stone from space. Centuries ago, when the Earth was a paradise, its inhabitants used the power of a magical stone. However, due to greed, they awakened the forces of evil, then Sagala broke into many parts and lost its power. After hundreds of years, one of the pieces ends up in the hands of ten-year-old Kuba Zawilski. The boy has no idea what problems the discovery will bring, but he knows what secret the stone hides and what power it gains. Together with their mother and brother Jacek, they move in with their great-grandfather to hide Sagala from evil forces. When Kuba accidentally turns his mother into a little girl, he must travel back in time to save her. He is helped by his brother and Jarpen, the guardian of the magic stone.
Many famous stars played in the production. On the screen you could see, among others: Małgorzata Foremniak, Robert Gonera, Jan Jankowski, Cezary Żak, Mirosław Zbrojewicz, Paweł Deląg, Anna Seniuk and Dorota Segda. The minor characters were played by Grzegorz Ruda and Marcin Nowacki. It seemed that the series would open the way to their acting career. However, it turned out differently. Today they stay away from show business.
The broadcast of the now cult family saga “Złotopolscy” began on December 26, 1997 and for 13 years it gathered millions of viewers in front of TV sets all over Poland. It was the second original Polish family saga after “Klan”. The viewers themselves decided to implement it – the script was submitted to the TVP telenovela competition. After the broadcast of three pilot episodes, it turned out that the members of the Złotopolski family – headed by the doyens of the family, the twins Dionizy (Henryk Machalica) and Eleonora (Alina Janowska) – won the hearts of TV viewers. The Złotopolski clan consisted of members of two quarreling branches of the family. The first one – living from the family seat in Złotopolice – was headed by Dionizy and included: Dionizy’s son Marek (Kazimierz Kaczor), his wife Barbara (Anna Nehrebecka) and their two sons Waldek (Andrzej Nejman) and Kacper (Andrzej Piaseczny). The second branch – the Warsaw line of the family – consisted of the Gabriels: Eleonora, her son Wiesław (Paweł Wawrzecki) and daughter-in-law Marta (Ewa Ziętek) and their two adult sons, Tomek (Piotr Szwedes) and Mirek (Radosław Elis).
The unforgettable characters of the series include: Marcysia (bravuraly played by Magdalena Stużyńska), the nice policewoman Marylka Baka (Anna Przybylska), the talkative postman Józef (Jerzy Turek), Antoni Pereszczako (Eugeniusz Priwieziencew) and his son Zenek (Bartłomiej Topa), the always elegant Iwona Clark-Kowalska (Ewa Kasprzyk), the Americanized Emil Gilewski (Leon Niemczyk), senator Władysław Biernacki (Marek Siudym) and the always gossipy Elżunia Kleczkowska (Małgorzata Rożniatowska).
The series opened the door to the careers of many actors. Their careers began with roles in “Złotopolski”, among others. Anna Dereszowska, Klaudia Halejcio, Małgorzata Socha, Joanna Orleanska and Tomasz Ciachorowski.
“Foster Family” is one of the Polsat TV series that is still very fondly remembered. The action focuses on the Kwiatkowski family consisting of Anka (Gabriela Kownacka), Jacek (Piotr Fronczewski) and their two biological children: Majka (Monika Mrozowska) and Filip (Sergiusz Żymełka). The couple decides to take care of three children from the orphanage: Romek (Aleksander Ihnatowicz), Zosia (Misheel Jargalsaikhan) and Eliza (Aleksandra Szwed).
Apart from this rather large family, in the series we also meet a friendly policeman who very often stopped by the Kwiatkowski family for coffee, and a couple living in the house next door: Alutka and Jędrula. Over the course of over 300 episodes, stars of Polish cinema appeared many times playing episodic roles.
Despite its comedy form, the series repeatedly smuggled in important topics. In each episode, the characters had to struggle with various everyday problems, but ultimately they managed to overcome all the problems thanks to the incredible strength and support of their family.
Not only viewers have fond memories of the series, which was one of the longest broadcast in Poland. The actors also have fond memories of working on the set and the atmosphere there.
“Everyone came to this set with great eagerness. I don’t remember any unpleasant or stressful situation where anyone felt unpleasant or any bitter words were uttered. And yet we have been working in this group for so many years!” – recalled Monika Mrozowska.
Another very well-remembered series is “Honey Years”, which was created under license from the American programs “The Honeymooners” and “Jackie Gleason Show”. The Polish version immediately won the hearts of viewers – the initial episodes of the series were watched by 7 million viewers. The series has had ten seasons.
Tram driver Karol Krawczyk (Cezary Żak) and Tadeusz Norek (Artur Barciś), who works in the city’s sewage system, are friendly married men in their thirties. They are always looking for opportunities to make a fortune, which usually ends with them getting into trouble and their down-to-earth wives having to deal with their ideas.
After the end of “Honey Years”, there were also “Calkiem nowy Miodowe”, which did not achieve such a huge success and ended after only one series.
“The World according to the Kiepskich” was supposed to be the Polish answer to the great American television hit “Married with Children” (“The World according to the Bundys”), broadcast in the years 1987-1997. The idea to make a series about Ferdynand Kiepski and his family came up in 1997 by four screenwriters – Aleksander Sobiszewski, Janusz Sadza, Igor Nurczyński and Roman Rega. Together they wrote the script for three pilot episodes, which Telewizja Polsat showed to its viewers on March 16, 1999.
People liked the sitcom so much that they immediately started working on further episodes. The first episode of “Kiepski” was titled “The receiver is dead, long live the receiver!” (it was watched by over 6.5 million viewers!). Viewers then met the titular family, the Kiepskis, the main characters of the series. And in dramatic circumstances. What happened? There was an explosion in the TV series apartment. A TV set from the legendary “Rubin” brand went up in smoke. “The World According to the Kiepskis” has delighted millions of Poles for over 20 years, providing them with a large dose of humor and extraordinary energy. Viewers will forever remember the characters’ favorite sayings, their funny habits and conversations that could sometimes bring them to tears.
“Czterdziestolatka” is one of the biggest hits of the Polish People’s Republic. Although almost 50 years have passed since its premiere, it is still very popular with viewers. Due to its popularity, a continuation of the series was created. The production “Forty Years Old. 20 Years Later” premiered on December 4, 1993 on TVP2. It was another attempt to return to the world of the Karwowski family. The main actors returned to the set. There were also new faces, including: Joanna Kurowska, Wojciech Malajkat and Wojciech Mann. The series was supposed to show how viewers’ favorites find their way in times of social and economic changes.
Although the sequel was popular, it did not match the success of the original. However, Jerzy Gruza did not hide the fact that he would like to make another part that would close the series. “‘Forty-year-old’ and ‘Forty-year-old. 20 years later’ they constitute an epic describing two stages – the Polish People’s Republic and the time of political transformation. It would be good to end it today,” said the director. “I regret that television does not produce such series anymore. IN ‘Forty-year-old’ You can find a whole gallery of attitudes and types of behavior typical of those times. It is a compendium of knowledge about the absurdities of the People’s Republic of Poland, a document of the Gierek era showing reality as it really was,” he added.
“Ekstradycja” is the first Polish action series and also one of the first attempts to create it ‘American’ from the spirit of production in our country. The plot focused on the difficult work of uniformed services in the 1990s, when a new threat appeared every now and then. The subsequent challenges were faced by one man – investigating officer Olgierd Halski (played by the unforgettable Marek Kondrat), a brilliant cop who overcomes the stress of work with addiction and an unsuccessful family life. Cynical and reluctant to negotiate, he often comes into conflict with his superiors.
“Extradition” also attracted attention with its cast. In the series, apart from Kondrat, we could see Małgorzata Pieczyńska, Witold Dębicki, Krzysztof Kolberger and Renata Dancewicz, as well as Janusz Gajos, Jerzy Trela and Adam Ference.
Before the series was broadcast on Polish Television, it was released on video cassettes. In some rental companies, the interest in Wojciech Wójcik’s production was so great that it was necessary to make a list of interested people. The series quickly gained cult status, which was confirmed years later by the interest generated by the premiere of digitally restored episodes.
Halski also appeared in the Polish-German co-production “Tarot”, which is part of the thriller series “Tarot”.
The absurd sitcom focused on policemen from the titular police station located somewhere in Warsaw. The creators focused primarily on simple plots, often referring to cult action films. Suffice it to say that among the policemen there is Arnie (Piotr Zelt), who is blindly fascinated by Arnold Schwarzenegger and is not a keen fan of force.
The main character was Constable Cezary Cezary (Cezary Pazura), who was usually at the center of subsequent hurricanes that passed through the unlucky police station. The bishop’s visit, attempts to catch Razor who was terrorizing the area, the appearance of a boxing vice-champion, or Santa Claus offering a million dollars for a night with one of the policemen ended in chaos.
The series has not aged well and today it is difficult to watch some episodes in their entirety, full of unsophisticated humor and unbearably exaggerated acting. However, this does not change the fact that many jokes and sayings have entered everyday language. A good friend still sings the radio operator’s song to this day.