The Salatut lämät producer would not do this turn now: “It was terrible”

Has been on the screen for almost 25 years Secret lives has repeatedly amused viewers with his plot twists that bend the limits of realism. The dead have come back to life and children have grown into teenagers overnight, just to name a couple of examples.

Long-term executive producer of the series Marko Aijö not ashamed of it.

– Yes, as I remember, we had one pregnancy that lasted two and a half years. Jenni waited for Niko in prison as well. It couldn’t be finished. Even Gunnar’s (Mustavaara) dementia has been forgotten, Äijö laughs.

The producer says there is a silent agreement between the Salkkares and the viewers that allows such blunders.

– It’s almost magical realism. Sometimes such strange things happen. We have one doctor in town who treats everyone. The worst was one policeman. That’s part of it.

– I think that if the heightened realism were taken away, the series wouldn’t be as funny anymore. I hope they continue on that line even after I leave, Äijö reflects.

Nonsense

As one of his favorite examples, Äijö highlights the joint holiday trip of Eva Tamminen and Monica Mustavaara, which was seen on screen in 2016.

The budget didn’t stretch to the point where the film crew would have been exposed to the southern sun on a fast schedule. The hot seaside scenes were filmed on the inner sandy beach in Konala. The turquoise sea was excavated from the image bank.

– It was so stupid that even I thought for a second that this cannot be done, Äijö reveals.

The scenes became a viral hit.

– It was said that it can’t be this bad even in Salkkarei. We were told that yes you can! the producer laughs.

Äijö says that similar implementations work when the production doesn’t even try to explain that they were done seriously. Especially when you take into account that a whopping 200 episodes of the daily series are made per year.

– Yes, we must be allowed to make mistakes, Äijö says.

The truth gets blurred

You often hear how the line between truth and fiction blurs in the minds of the viewers. For example, in August, Iltalehti reported how the actor Kristian Harjua Axel Milliam was blamed for his character’s actions.

Äijö thinks that the phenomenon is perhaps stronger around Salkkarei, because the series is simply made more than other programs.

– The characters become so familiar to people. When Esko Kovero goes to the cash register of a store, an easily surprised person gets confused that “there is Ismo, what am I doing?”

Äijö believes that younger Actors get more confused reactions, because their fan base is also younger.

Rumbles

Over the years, Salkari has dared to do one thing and another. No topic has been on the forbidden list, you just have to think about the ways of handling it: on what visual level can you handle, for example, sexuality, violence or anxiety?

Since the beginning, Salkkarei has been shown in the prime time slot on weekdays at 19:30. Due to the running time, the age limit for the episodes has been kept at a maximum of 12 years.

Still, the uproar has not been avoided. In particular, the closing episode of spring 2009, when the restaurant Centauri, which was full of Pihlajakatu residents, exploded and Paula Sievinen, who was recently pregnant, was buried alive, shocked many.

Some of the reversals have also made the production think about the limits of suitability.

– [Spin off -sarja] Pihlajakatu’s naughty aunts it’s so warlike that it goes to the limit, would it be possible to do such a thing today, Äijö ponders.

However, there was no need to regret anything. Or maybe something, for a slightly different reason though. Äijö would not do one plot twist now.

I wouldn’t do it

In the final episode of 2013, Seppo, Helena, Peppi, Sergei, Sebastian and Isabella boarded a plane that was hijacked by Heiskanen. The plane fell in the middle of the Siberian wilderness.

At least that’s what the viewers were led to believe. In reality, the scenes were filmed in southern Finland. The winter had exceptionally little snow, and the production team drove around Uuttamaa looking for the white ground.

Äijö describes the whole Siberia plot as a nightmare.

– It looked like we were at a summer house. There, the characters were dressed in bright blue outfits that had been slightly worn. It looked like the Smurfs were on an adventure in the forest, Äijö updates.

– You should have believed that Siberia teaches, it’s not worth going there. If Napoleon and Hitler didn’t manage there, how would we have managed there? Maybe we were imagined to be superior.

– It was terrible. At that time I thought that if the audience can stand this, the series has been blast tested, Äijö laughs.

Like in Hollywood

Äijö, on the other hand, mentions Marianna Kurje’s story in its entirety as her favorite story line. I’m Kareen the character she played was mentally ill and ended up stealing her friend’s identity, faking pregnancy and murdering Elias Vikstedt’s character in the series.

The character left the series in 2017 when Marianna and her Raakel mother drowned.

– The way Oona Kare made that character got under the skin all the time, clichéd. It had something almost Hollywood glamor at its best.