''Četnické humoresky'' is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

crime

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

about a gendarmerie investigative unit, stationed in the city of

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

. The story is set in the period of interbellic

First Czechoslovak Republic The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechosl ...

and combines elements of

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

and

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

. The stories are based on real case files from that era. The series was directed by Antonín Moskalyk and later by his daughter Pavlína Moskalyková Solo. One of the goals of the series producers and showrunners was to show the life of Czechoslovak gendarmes. The series is not entirely focused on law enforcement and criminal investigations; it also shows private lives of the gendarmerie officers. The series ran for 3 seasons, totaling 39 episodes.

Plot

The series deals with fates of gendarmes of Brno gendarmerie station in 1930s as they solve serious and comical cases. The series follows Senior Sergeant and later Chief constable Karel Arazím who gets a newbie Jarý under his wing who becomes his right hand man and eventually marries his daughter Klaudie. The plot of the series ends before the start of World War II, when Arazím's wife Ludmila with her children, Arazím's daughter Klaudie with her baby, Kamila Kliková, Elly Vienna and McGregor fly to England. Originally, Jarý was also supposed to fly, but he decided not to leave the members of the search party alone and jumped out of the plane before it even left the ground. All gendarmes, including Arazim, remain on duty in Brno despite incoming occupation and

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

Cast

Tomáš Töpfer Tomáš Töpfer (born 10 January 1951) is a Czech Republic, Czech film and television actor and politician. He was named Best Actor at the 1995 Alfréd Radok Awards. At the 2006 Thalia Awards he won the category of Best Actor in an Operetta or Mus ...

as Karel Arazím, the

Senior Sergeant A Senior sergeant is often a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many nations. It is usually placed above sergeant. Police in Australia and New Zealand use the rank Senior Sergeant as a rank above sergeant, but below an I ...

of the station, later Chief constable *

Ivan Trojan Ivan Trojan (born 30 June 1964) is a Czech people, Czech actor, widely considered to be one of the greatest Czech actors of all time. With four Czech Lion Award for Best Actor in Leading Role, Czech Lions for Best Actor in a Leading Role, he has ...

as Bedřich Jarý, Arazím's loyal right-hand man * Zdeněk Junák as Josef Ambrož, Chief Warrant Officer * Jan Apolenář as Václav Ryba, K-9 handler * Oldřich Mikulášek as František Řepa, sergeant, porter * Erik Pardus as František Zahálka, sergeant * František Švihlík as Čeněk Němec, staff Sergeant later Warrant * Aleš Jarý as Sláva Jiroušek, staff Sergeant, driver, later shot dead * Stanislav Zindulka as Jan Turko, Warrant, later in retirement *

Viktor Preiss Viktor Preiss (born 13 March 1947 in Prague) is a Czech actor. He popularly known for his roles in ''Hospital at the End of the City'' or ''Give the Devil His Due''. He starred in dozens of Czech films and television programs, including the film ...

as Leopold Skčílek, Warrant *

Petr Kostka Petr Kostka (born 11 June 1938) is a Czech actor. Kostka was born in Říčany near Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 2003, he received Thalia Award for performing Herman in ''Smíšené pocity'' ''Mixed Emotions''. Selected filmography * ''Fetters' ...

as Jaroslav Šiktanc, Chief constable, later in retirement *

Zdena Herfortová Zdena Herfortová (born 8 October 1945) is a Czech film and stage actress. She has performed over 90 theatre roles and 150 television roles. At the 1995 Thalia Awards The Czech ''Actors' Association'' has presented its annual Thalia Awards (Cze ...

as Vladěnka Šiktancová, wife Chief constable Šiktanc *

Alena Antalová Alena Antalová (born 28 July 1972) is a Slovak actress. Biography Alena Antalová was born on 28 July 1972 in Bratislava. Her grandfather was the Slovak National Theatre scenographer Ladislav Vychodil. She studied musical acting at Janá� ...

as Ludmila Horká, Arazím's girlfriend, later his wife *

Libuše Šafránková Libuše Šafránková (married ''Abrhámová''; 7 June 1953 – 9 June 2021) was a Czech actress. She played leading roles in many Czech films and, according to audience polls, was the most popular Czech actress of the 20th century. She is best k ...

as Karlička Formánková, Nurse, Arazím's girlfriend * Olga Krasko as Klaudie, Arazím's daughter, Bedřich Jarý's wife *

Tatiana Vilhelmová Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe. Origin Tatiana is a feminine, diminutive derivative of the Sabine—and later Latin� ...

as Kamila Kliková, pushy and ambitious journalist * Miroslav Donutil as Hugo Líbal, photographer and owner of photo studio * Dana Batulková as Jindřiška Patová, seamstress and owner of fashion store, lover Sláva Jiroušek *

Ivana Vaňková Ivana is a feminine given name of Slavic origin that is also popular in southern Ireland, France, French-speaking Canada, the Mediterranean and Latin America. It is the feminine form of the name Ivan, which are both the Slavic cognates of the na ...

as Elly Vienna, opera singer * Andrea Elsnerová as Anděla Rybová, Cook * Vlasta Peterková as Božena, Cook, later wife Čeněk Němec * František Černín as Ondřej Formánek, Karlička's Son *

Luděk Munzar Luděk Munzar (20 March 1933 in Nová Včelnice – 26 January 2019 in Modřany, Prague) was a Czech actor. He appeared in the Czech New Wave film ''The Joke (film), The Joke'' (Jaromil Jireš, 1969) and starred in the film ''Poslední propadne ...

as Judr. Peřina, Karliška's Father *

Věra Galatíková Věra Galatíková (19 August 1938 – 21 December 2007) was a Czech Republic, Czech actress. She acted in Pardubice following her studies at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts. Galatíková then joined The Drama Club (Prague), The ...

as Anna Peřinová, Karlička's Mother *

Marek Vašut Marek Vašut (born 5 May 1960 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech film, stage, and television actor, best known for his appearances in ''Solomon Kane'' and ''Blade II''. He voiced the character Tommy Angelo for the Czech version of the video ga ...

as Kylián Pádlo, Ministry of the Interior (Czechoslovakia) * Carmen Mayerová as Vendula Chromáková, Housewife at Karel and Ludmila * Ivan G'Vera as Joseph McGregor, Ludmila's brother *and more

Production

Filming of season 1 began on 17 August 1998. Three seasons followed. Season 4 wasn't planned, as the series barracks was demolished.

Episodes

References

External links

* Czech crime television series 2001 Czech television series debuts Czech Television original programming 2007 Czech television series endings Czech police procedural television series {{CzechRepublic-tv-prog-stub