The Best TV Shows on Yle TV1

The whole story of Urho Kekkonen, the most important statesman during Finland's independence.

The Unknown Soldier miniseries expands the story of the 2017 film of the same name. The World War II series based on Väinö Linna's classic novel closely follows a machine gun company of the Finnish Army on the Karelian front during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union, from mobilization in 1941 to the Moscow Armistice in 1944. It's a story about how camaraderie, humor, and a desire to survive connect men on their journey. War upends the lives of both the individual soldiers and those left on the home front, and leaves its mark on the entire nation.

Invisible Heroes tells the heroic tale of young Finnish diplomats in Chile during 1973’s infamous military coup. Finnish diplomats Tapani Brotherus and Ilkka Jaamala along with Tapani’s wife Lysa Brotherus helped over 2000 left-wing Chileans escape the military junta’s persecution. The Finns acted without official authorization while Swedish ambassador Harald Edelstam was the most visible defendant of human rights with the backing of Sweden’s Prime Minister, Olof Palme.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition, organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and featuring participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner.

The story of DI Kari Sorjonen of the Serious Crime Unit in Lappeenranta, his family, and his investigations into a variety of harrowing homicides around the border area.

Family man Elias Karo takes four journalist hostage at their newspaper’s headquarters, in a desperate attempt to get them to reveal the wrongdoing wreaked on his family during the 90's recession.

A satirical spy comedy. Aleksis Nyqvist, an intern at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is pushed to the head of Finland's newly founded secret service, when a suitable dummy is needed for the position. However, Nyqvist identifies with his role too well and accidentally causes a security political crisis - and soon Helsinki is swarming with secret agents. How is Nyqvist doing?

Himmelblå is a Norwegian drama series which aired on NRK1 in Norway, on SVT in Sweden and on RÚV in Iceland. It is based on the British TV drama Two Thousand Acres of Sky written by Timothy Prager and produced by Adrian Bate.

Police work, boxing and family life in Lapland! Maria Pudas (Saara Kotkaniemi), a former boxing world champion, investigates crimes with her partner Samu Pajala (Karim Rapatti) in Lapland. The life of Maria's cordial and slightly chaotic family (Iina Kuustonen, Eero Saarinen, Katariina Kaitue and Heikki Ranta) changes when Maria's father Esko has a seizure and it is revealed that he has debts of 500,000 euros. In order to save her family, Maria decides to return to the ring once more, and to resolve the situation, only victory matters.

Hobitit is a Finnish live action fantasy television miniseries originally broadcast in 1993 on Yle TV1. Produced by Olof Qvickström, it is based on the events of the books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Finnish peace negotiator Ann-Mari Sundell has recently retired from her post as a crisis response adviser in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Suddenly, she is invited by the UN mandate to lead an international conflict resolution process in Turkey. As the peace talks proceed, Ann-Mari has to reconcile with her past before her personal life comes in the way of the whole peace process.

Years after burning out and falling from grace, a middle aged, 90s handball legend seeks to redeem himself by returning to his childhood club to coach the women's team where he clashes with a new generation of women in a post #MeToo society.

Strömsö is a Finnish television program which premiered in 2002 on FST and TV1, hosted by Matias Jungar and Susanna Ström-Wilkinson. The show concentrates on various household subjects, such as cooking and gardening. Its fifth season started on January 29, 2006. Since the beginning of 2007 the show is hosted by Lee Esselström and Jocke Lax. The show is made at Strömsö, a villa north of the city of Vaasa. The villa was built in the 1860s and served as the summer residence for a merchant family from Vaasa for about 100 years.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (abbreviated UMK) is an annual music contest organised by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. UMK began in 2012 as a new concept for the Finnish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing the original Finnish Eurovision Song Contest qualifying event (Suomen euroviisukarsinta) which had been held since 1961.

The life of Aki Honkala, a blindly dedicated Member of the European Parliament, takes a radical turn during one scandal-plagued election night. The fall from grace is no surprise to anyone but himself. The people have spoken, let the chatter go - but what remains of a man who has lived and breathed politics for most of his adult life?

Rambo, Napoleon and Pippi Longstocking - all rolled into one - and she lives next door. When Ditte Jensen retires with honours from the Danish Secret Service, she moves into an apartment block in Reykjavik, where she plans to tend to her garden and live out her life in anonymity. But Ditte cannot stop being who she is: an elite soldier and a warrior. Soon, the apartment building becomes a battlefield for a better world. With her deep-rooted sense of justice, she sees her neighbours' problems and feels compelled to help - whether they want her help or not. And in her world, the end justifies the means. Always.