The Best TV Shows on VARA

Zembla is a Dutch television documentary programme by VARA and NPS. The documentaries are based on in-depth research which can take months. The subjects are often controversial. A documentary in 2001 about fraud in the Dutch construction sector led to parliamentary inquiries. In May 2006 the programme exposed the fact that politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali had lied in her claim for asylum, which led to her resignation from parliament.

Dutch psychological thriller. The story is set in the fictional North Holland (Netherlands) resort of Boedzand. It is April 28. The Aslan family is busy preparing a large party at the Lido, the beach pavilion that they operate. Father Osman is celebrating his 50th birthday. During the evening party, daughter Yasmin disappears. Yasmin's disappearance and the question of where she is and what happened to her has been the common thread throughout the series. The village of Boedzand is completely upside down: all sorts of people are suspected of being involved, relationships are at stake and sooner or later the deepest secrets of the characters are revealed. What happened to Yasmin? Description above is a translated excerpt from Wikipedia (nl), the free encyclopedia, licensed by CC BY-SA. Contributors list on Wikipedia (nl) Vuurzee.

Kinderen geen bezwaar is a Dutch comedy series which takes place in ' normal' Dutch family. The series mainly revolves about what happens in the family. Seven years ago Gerard and Maud learned to know each other by means of a contact advertisement. Gerard is approximately 12 years older than Maud. They got married not long after they met. He cooks, brushes and does the laundry, in fact everything in house and Maud works as psychotherapist with practice at their home. Maud has a daughter Julia from her first marriage. Julia is adored Gerard's son Daan, from his 'previous' life. Daan always tries everything to get Julia, but he succeeds seldom.

In Amsterdam Paradise we're witnessing the development of the relationship between Adam and Eva and see how it’s continually influenced and affected by dozens of other stories set in the city. Amsterdam Paradise is a shimmering mosaic narrative of the city, life and love.

Forensic psychiatrist Fokke Augustinus makes an unexpected career change when he inherits his father's mansion in Groningen where he becomes involved with a criminal organization with a marijuana plantation on his father's land.

In "Floortje To Het Einde Van De Wereld" Floortje Dessing travels to the farthest reaches on earth to visit people that choose to live at such a remote place; out of passion, out of conviction or simply because they follow their heart. Floortje films with them for a few days to listen to their stories and to experience how it is to live at the end of the world.

Alfred J. Kwak is a cartoon television series based on a Dutch theatre show by Herman van Veen and was co-produced by VARA, Telecable Benelux B.V. and TV Tokyo and first shown in 1989. It consists of 52 episodes. The series characters were designed by Harald Siepermann. There are also toys and a comic based on the animated series. The series has been broadcast in many countries and has been dubbed and subtitled in Dutch, French, Japanese, Greek, English, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Hungarian, Finnish, Serbian, Polish, German, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Chinese, Czech, Korean and Norwegian. In 1991, Herman van Veen won the Goldene Kamera award for the cartoon.

Pauw & Witteman is a Dutch late-night talk show, hosted by Jeroen Pauw en Paul Witteman. It is generally focused on current affairs and politics. It is broadcast every weekday at 11 pm on Nederland 1. It is produced by Dutch public broadcasters NPS and VARA. During summer Pauw & Witteman are replaced by Knevel & Van de Brink, a talk show hosted by Andries Knevel and Thijs van den Brink, produced by the dutch evangelical broadcasting company, the EO.

A North Holland amateur soccer team (Swiftboys 8) consists of boys who since childhood enjoy the game itself -only gay captain Bram, a lawyer, takes the trouble to spend time on official club business- less then the camaraderie as none has the making of anything resembling a star player, to put it kindly, so they usually end their season by demotion. The point is having fun on the field, in the locker-room, in the canteen, and whenever something happens in one's life one or more of the others are likely to get involved, which also goes for some players' female partners, while male bonding seems only to stimulate their flirtatious lust. The chairman is a cigar-smoking fat rat, who intends to exploit the various teams using his infrastructure, and comes to employ as barmaid ex-con Nadja, a red-hair harpy nevertheless considered sexy by most straight boys.

After a photographer and a lawyer start a steamy affair, their lives and those around them get entangled in dirty business and family secrets.

A man who works for the tax authorities ends up becoming friends with a dangerous criminal after their daughters become best friends and he accidentally saves his life

Zeg 'ns Aaa was one of the longest running and most popular Dutch sitcoms, situated in the medical practice of a female general practitioner and revolves around herself, her family and her housekeeper. The title refers to the imperative phrase Say Aah, often said by doctors when they want to inspect the mouth cavity of a patient.

Talk show hosted by Matthijs van Nieuwkerk containing a mixture of news, information, television bloopers and general entertainment.

De Kwis is a dutch comedy game show that discusses and highlights the news of the week with a famous dutch person as the quiz candidate