The hit BBC drama “The Replacement” is set for a Finnish adaptation produced by Helsinki-filmi (“Tove”) for local streamer Elisa Viihde.
The Elisa Viihde original series has started filming in the metropolitan area of Helsinki under the helm of filmmaker Jyri Kähönen (“Sorjonen,” “Trackers”). It will launch on Elisa Viihde Viaplay streaming service in 2022, and is being represented in international markets by Sony Pictures Television.
Created by Joe Ahearne and Nicole Cauverien, “The Replacement” is an intense psychological thriller about the fear of losing one’s professional and personal life.
The Finnish adaptation is a three-part series penned by Mia Ylönen (“Tom of Finland”) and Tuuli Hostikka (“Tove”). The cast includes Maria Ylipää (“Arctic Circle”), Pamela Tola (“Ladies of Steel”) and Olavi Uusivirta (“The Sixth Time”). Sara Paavolainen and Eero Saarinen feature in other key roles.
The series will follow Ella, an architect who is about to get the greatest opportunity of her career, when she is forced to leave her duties at the architectural bureau to a replacement due to her maternity leave. The replacement, Paula, seems perfect, but her enthusiasm slowly begins to become an obsession.
“The COVID-19 pandemic grew the demand for quality series, and we were looking for new ways to produce them,” said Ani Korpela, head of content business at Elisa Viihde. “As a localized, Finnish adaptation of BBC’s original drama, ‘The Replacement’ is a good example of experimenting a new way of production by a mini-series.”
Kähönen said the series will boast “strong, versatile female characters” and will tell a “unique and relatable story.”
Mia Ylönen, producer at Helsinki Filmi, said “The Replacement” sheds light on the “inner layers of the human psyche like Hitchcock’s movies and undermines the setting of family life.”
