Varying Degrees of Real Life

This month on MHz Choice, we feature many flavors of real life showing up on your TV screens. There are series based on real events, characters based on real people and some straight-up true crime.

Based on real events. In 1994, Ilpo Larha (played by Elias Salonen, A Good Family) held the residents of an entire apartment building hostage in Lahti, Finland. The Siege (premiering October 8, 2024) is a gripping drama series that chronicles the true story behind Larha’s two-year journey from ordinary taxi driver to contract killer to hostage taker. Throughout the 55-hour long ordeal, Chief Inspector Esko Heinonen (played by Jussi Vatanen, Man in Room 301) is the negotiator in charge of resolving the situation as peacefully as possible. The pressure on Heinonen is extreme and climbs steadily higher as the standoff captures the attention of the whole country.

Based on real people. As long-time subscribers know, German comedies have their own style of smart and delightful humor. (Homicide Hills, anyone?) Miss Merkel (premiering October 22, 2024) is the latest example of German crime comedy as it imagines former chancellor Angela Merkel (Katharina Thalbach, Sophie’s Choice) as a bored retiree in the rural village of Uckermark. Along with her reluctant bodyguard Mike (Tim Kalhof, The Queen’s Gambit) and her pug Helmut, she decides to have a second act as an amateur sleuth solving local murders! Hilarity ensues.

True Crime. MHz Choice has three true crime series premiering in October. Each series focuses on crimes or events that shocked and then riveted an entire country. Starting with Italy in 1997, Marta Russo: Murder at Rome University (premiering October 1, 2024) is told in Marta Russo’s own words from her diaries. The series reconstructs her life as much as the context of her death.

The Missing Heiress – Betrayals on the Riviera (premiering October 15, 2024) goes further back in time to Cote d’Azure, France in 1977. Agnes Le Roux came from a wealthy family that ran the successful luxury casino Palais de la Méditerranée. She was rich. She was stylish. And she fell for the wrong man. Her lover, Jean-Maurice Agnelet, has always maintained his innocence while other members of the family (including his own son) have more recently brought new evidence to light. This tragic story contains pieces ripe for a titillating mystery – family drama, mob money, jealousy and new insights.

The final true crime series is a grisly one. In the 1990s, a series of murders and mass suicides in France, Switzerland and Canada were tied to the doomsday cult of the Order of the Solar Temple. La Secte (October 29, 2024) re-examines the flawed investigation, which was never fully resolved.

Explore more true crime series on MHz Choice.

There is more premiering this month on MHz Choice

Our first series from Slovenia is a moody one. The Lake Trilogy (premiering October 22, 2024) is, as the title implies, based on a popular trilogy of novels by Tadej Golob. Episodes 1-6 adapt Golob’s novel “The Lake”, episodes 7-9 are based on the novel “Lenin Park” and episodes 10-12 are based on “Valley of Flowers”.

Chief Inspector Taras Birsa (Sebastian Cavazza) is the protagonist throughout and seems magnetically drawn to difficult cases. The series begins with the murder investigation of a young woman found on the shores of Lake Bhoni, which is beautiful even in a partially-frozen state. Taras is soft spoken and introspective. He works to solve the case while grappling with a mid-life shift of being an empty nester with his wife.

There are also several popular returning series to look forward to in October: the third and final season of Danish thriller The Eagle (premiering October 8, 2024), two new episodes of French mystery fave Under Law & Grace – plus the ongoing weekly premieres of Murder In…

In addition, The Eagle Season 1 and Bordertown Season 1 will also be available dubbed in English on October 8, 2024 and October 22, 2024 respectively. And as with all series on MHz Choice dubbed in English, the original subtitled versions are also available to watch!

ICYMI (In Case You Missed it)

With so much to peruse through we wanted to highlight a couple of stand-out movies and shows that may have slipped under the radar since the Topic catalog became available on MHz Choice. The below movie and series are each based on real events.

Bridgend

This movie is set in a small Welsh village where there have been a string of mysterious suicides.

Dark Woods

This German thriller is inspired by the real-life case of a police officer’s search for his sister and a smart young detective who becomes instrumental in the investigation.

There’s more of course. See the full list of all series from Topic.