The Best TV Shows on ČT1

A Prague police unit reopens time‑critical cold cases before the statute of limitations runs out, pairing a seasoned loner with a principled young detective to re‑examine old evidence and pursue new leads across real city locations.

Set in Czechoslovakia, the drama follows the lives of its characters against the backdrop of real historical events that shape their personal stories. To evoke period atmosphere, the series intersperses authentic clips from vintage Czechoslovak film newsreels, using their original commentaries or newly recorded historical voice-overs by Vladimír Fišer. A narrator, initially voiced by Vojtěch Kotek and later by Matěj Hádek, provides continuity and reflection, guiding viewers through changing times. Under the guidance of screenwriter Rudolf Merkner, each episode’s script weaves family and individual dramas into key moments of Czech and Slovak history: political shifts, cultural trends, and social transformations from the 1960s onward.

Finding the body of the regional politician Karas, killed in the spirit of medieval torture and carefully arranged in a strange scene, unleash police hunt for a sadistic perpetrator. He puts investigation team in the way of a complex series of murders that shake the local region and criminologists themselves.

This time the detectives deal with the case of a murdered professor. One day a cleaning woman finds him shot to death in his own study. The detectives will thus investigate whether the murder is connected with the victim's persistent effort for the removal of the University's quaestor because of the latter's strange machinations during the reconstruction of the University building. And they'll also want to know why the murderer took the great risk involved in killing the victim on the university soil. The search for the answer to the question who could wish the death of the peculiar but honest professor will take them farther than they have expected.