Salatut elämät

Salatut elämät
Former title card of the series.
Also known as	Salkkarit
Genre	Soap opera Drama
Created by	Jason Daniel Anne Harris Greg Stevens
Starring	Regular cast members
Opening theme	"Tunteisiin"
Country of origin	Finland
Language(s)	Finnish
No. of seasons	14
No. of episodes	2,235 (as of March 2, 2012)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Eerika Vermilä Marika Makaroff Sarita Harma
Producer(s)	Marko Äijö Aku Louhimäki
Location(s)	FremantleMedia studio, Konala, Helsinki, Finland
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	21 minutes (without commercials)
Production company(s)	FremantleMedia Finland
Broadcast
Original channel	MTV3
Picture format	16:9 (January 25, 2010–present) 4:3 (January 25, 1999 – January 22, 2010)
Original run	January 25, 1999 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Romeo & Rafael Despereados (2008) Lillukanvarsia (2010–2011) Tuuliranta (2011–2012)
External links
Website

Salatut elämät (English: Secret Lives) is a Finnish television that premiered on MTV3 on January 25, 1999. It was the first, and so far only, Finnish daily soap opera.

During the series' 13-year run, over 2,000 episodes have been aired. On August 17, 2009, it was announced that Salatut elämät will be on the air until the spring 2015 making the series the second longest-lasting drama series of all time in Finland, only behind YLE TV1's Kotikatu. The series' storylines follow the daily lives of several families who live in the same apartment block in Helsinki. The series primarily centres around the residents of Pihlajakatu and its neighbouring areas. Only two of the original twenty characters still remain in the series, and most of the series' current charactes have made their debutes in 2008 or later.

MTV3 also airs reruns of the series every weekend (Monday-Wednesday episodes on Saturday, Thursday-Friday episodes on Sunday). In the summer, the channel airs reruns of the series; in the summer of 2011, episodes from the season 2006–2007 and 2007–2008 were aired.

Three web spin-off series have been made; Romeo & Rafael Desperados in 2008, Lillukanvarsia in 2010–2011, and Tuuliranta in 2011–2012.

Themes

The series has dealt with subjects such as abortion, drug abuse, alcoholism, homosexuality, incest, animal rights, religious fanaticism, gambling addiction, teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, cancer, eating disorder, school bullying, narcissistic personality disorder and its effects to the family, the search of biological parents, stealing and racism, and therefore caused public debate.

An exceptionally widespread controversy was started by the season finale aired on June 1, 2009. In the episode, a pregnant woman was buried alive and a café exploded during a wedding celebration, which implied death of many main characters. Many, including Finland's minister of communications Suvi Lindén, questioned the show's suitability for school children. FICORA (Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority) decided later that the episode was not suitable for children under the age of 11, but the show's programming slot was late enough to meet the regulations.

During the series' entire run in Finland, a 30-minute episode has aired every weekday in an early-evening slot at 7:30 pm. A new season usually premieres in either late August or early September and concludes by the beginning of June. Normally, the series is on a hiatus during the Christmas holidays, approximately 3 or 4 weeks. The series' episodes are also available online in Katsomo.fi for 30 days after their original airing.

Settings

Salatut elämät's main focus is the fictional street Pihlajakatu, located in Ullanlinna, Helsinki. Other locations include a high school, a hospital, Café Moose and an inn, Amanda, which contains the hotel, arestaurant and a gym Amadeus. R-Kioski, a corner shop owned by Ismo Laitela, is also one of the main settings. Former "main café" was Kentauri which, however, exploded during a wedding celebration in the season finale of the 11th season.

All of the houses and other locations featured in the show are filmed at the FremantleMedia studio in Konala, Helsinki. In real life, Pihlajakatu is Huvilakatu, which is located in Ullanlinna, Helsinki. Salatut elämät has also filmed scenes in Tampere and in Lapland. A few episodes have also been filmed in the Canary Islands and in Lithuania.

Theme song

The original theme song was called Tunteisiin and performed by Anna Hanski but in 2001, the theme was changed to a version performed by Jore Marjaranta. In 2004, the theme song was replaced by an electronic version of the theme music.

Television ratings

Since its first episode aired in January 1999, it has been one of the most popular TV shows in Finland, regularly attracting around a million viewers (1/5 of Finland's population). At the moment Salatut elämät is the highest-rated drama series in Finland, although its viewership has declined during the past few years.

Season	Episodes	Timeslot	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season	Most-watched episode (million viewers)
1.	89	Weekdays 7:30 p.m.	January 25, 1999	June 3, 1999	1999	1.191
2.	123		TBA	May 10, 2000	1999–2000	1.216
3.	168		September 4, 2000	May 14, 2001	2000–2001	1.360
4.	170		August 20, 2001	May 3, 2002	2001–2002	1.308
5.	165		September 2, 2002	May 16, 2003	2002–2003	1.294
6.	160		September 1, 2003	May 6, 2004	2003–2004	1.150
7.	150		September 6, 2004	April 27, 2005	2004–2005	1.226
8.	150	Weekdays 7:30 p.m. (fall 2005) Mondays – Thursdays 7:30 p.m. (spring 2006)	August 30, 2005	May 29, 2006	2005–2006	1.160
9.	150	Mondays–Thursdays 7:30 p.m.	August 14, 2006	May 24, 2007	2006–2007	1.105
10.	190	Weekdays 7:30 p.m.	August 20, 2007	June 4, 2008	2007–2008	1.033
11.	190		August 18, 2008	June 1, 2009	2008–2009	1.043
12.	180		August 24, 2009	May 31, 2010	2009–2010	1.063
13.	180		August 30, 2010	May 27, 2011	2010–2011	0.937
14.	TBA		August 29, 2011	June 1, 2012	2011−2012	0.940 (to date)

Recent characters

Regular cast members

Actor	Character	Duration
Jarmo Koski	Seppo Taalasmaa	1999–present
Esko Kovero	Ismo Laitela	1999–present
Sami Sarjula	Ossi Puolakka	2004–present
Timo Jurkka	Lasse Sievinen	2004–present
Johanna Nurmimaa	Paula Lepistö	2004–present
Emil Hallberg	Onni "Tale" Taalasmaa	2007–2008, 2011–present
Jarkko Nyman	Sebastian Vuorela	2007, 2009–2010, 2011–present
Markku Pulli	Joonatan Sievinen	2007–2010, 2011–present
Anneli Ranta	Helena Kuula	2008–present
Kirsi Ståhlberg	Isabella Holm	2008–present
Sara Säkkinen	Peppi Puolakka	2008–present
Venla Savikuja	Heidi Aaltonen	2009–present
Rufus Rusanen	Severi Lepistö	2009–present
Jasmin Hamid	Katariina Mäkelä	2009–present
Mia Ehrnrooth	Cindy Rintala	2009–present
Mikko Parikka	Jiri Viitamäki	2010–present
Timo-Pekka Luoma	Antti Polvijärvi	2010–present
Petteri Paavola	Elias Vikstedt	2010, 2011–present
Susanna Mikkonen	Liisa Salo	2010–present
Rosa Rusanen	Iida Mustonen	2011–present
Hemmo Karja	Janne Haukkala	2011–present
Riitta Elstelä	Anni Vatanen	2011–present
Pauliina Jokinen	Matleena Rintala	2012-present
Kari Takala	Johannes Rintala	2012-present
Hellevi Härkönen	Martta Rintala	2012-present

Recurring cast members

Actor	Character	Duration
Salli Suvalo	Maria Mustonen	2011–present

Notes

• Onni "Tale" Taalasmaa first appeared in the series from 2007 to 2008 as a baby and was played by Väinö Ahonen, but returned to the series in February, 2011, with a teenage actor, Emil Hallberg.
• The role of Sebastian Vuorela was first briefly played in 2007 by Riku Korhonen, but when the character returned to the series in January, 2009, Korhonen had been replaced by Jarkko Nyman.
• Actor Timo-Pekka Luoma has guest-starred in the series before the year 2010 a few times playing a police officer. He now is a regular cast member and plays the role of Antti Polvijärvi, who is also a police officer.
• The role of Elias Viksted was first briefly played by Niilo Heinonen in 2010, but when the character returned in late fall, 2011, Niilonen was replaced by Petteri Paavola.
• Maria Mustonen fell to the coma after she was run over by a car in October 2011. It's highly possible that Seppo Taalasmaa was the driver, because in the same episode Seppo accidentally ran over something. Maria is now in the nursing home.
• Jenni Vainio (played by Anu Palevaara), an original castmember, left the series in November, 2011. It has not been officially confirmed if she left for good or if she will return later.

Books based on the series

• Miia ja Saku (2000) (Miia and Saku)
• Kallen inttivuosi (2001) (Kalle in the army)
• Siljan Jenkkivuosi (2001) (Silja in America)
• Aamun uudet kuviot (2001) (Aamu's new plans)
• Saku ja suuri suru (2002) (Saku and the great grief)
• Teemun tarina (2002) (Teemu's tale)
• Aamu, Inka ja ihana Ilari (2003) (Aamu, Inka and adorable Ilari)
• Ken ja isosiskon viimeinen kesä (2003) (Ken and big sister's last summer)
• Ami ja ensirakkaus (2004) (Ami's first love)
• Annika ja Amerikan unelma (2005) (Annika and the American Dream)
• Ken ja Sauli kaukana kotoa (2006) (Ken and Sauli far away from home)
• Ossi ja lumikuningatar (2007) (Ossi and the Snow Queen)
• Romeo ja onnentähti (2008) (Romeo and the lucky star)
• Sofia ja salaisuuksien kevät (2008) (Sofia and the spring of secrets)
• Salla ja haaveiden kaupunki (2009) (Salla and the city of dreams)

External links

• Official homepage of Salatut elämät (in Finnish)
• Salatut elämät at the Internet Movie Database