The best Russian TV series
Contents:
• A list of the 30 best Russian TV series according to the Kinopoisk rating, trailers and a brief description of each of them without spoilers are waiting for you in today's material.
• Foreign goods, of course, are good, but nothing can replace our native, Russian realities on the TV screen.
30. Awakening
Genre: drama, fantasy
Rating Film search: 7,2
Rating IMDb: 7,1
DirectorStory by: Edward Parry
Music: Anton Silaev
• An ordinary Russian investigator at one terrible moment gets into a car accident. His world has split, and literally: now every new day he moves between two parallel universes, in one of which his son lives, and in the other – his wife.
• The seeds of a good American TV series Awake took root in our Russian soil, grew and gave fruit – I must say, very good. To the extent of action, to the extent of philosophy, to the extent of the mysteries of time and space against the backdrop of a simple and close to all basics: the family is above all.
29. Container
Genre: drama
Rating Film search: 7,1
Rating IMDb: 6,7
DirectorPeople: Maxim Sveshnikov, Artem Aksenenko
MusicPeople: Ruslan Tagiev, Andrey Timonin
• Money can't buy happiness, but you want to! So a rich childless couple, dreaming of a child, bought a live incubator to grow their future child. The girl Sasha has a difficult life, so she grasps with both hands the offer of the inhabitants of the mansion – she is not even embarrassed by the demand to move into their house.
• But the couple’s closet is full of skeletons, and the longer the surrogate mother lives in the mansion, the louder they rattle their bones… We should also note the quality of the camera work: each frame asks for a frame on the wall.
28. Ready for anything
Genre: comedy
Rating Film search: 7,1
Rating IMDb: 6,9
Director: Mark Gorobets
Music: various compositions
• It is believed that smart and tongued women are not loved. The programmer and part-time stand-up comedian Katya didn’t care much – why do we need men, if there are so many interesting things around, there is a favorite job and an exciting hobby.
• However, the situation changed dramatically when she discovered that there was not so much time left for reproduction: the clock was ticking, and if not now, then never at all. The film adaptation of the novel "On the Edge of Seriousness" by D. Soifer has not lost either in humor, or in romance, or in lightness.
27. Mosgaz. Trap
Genre: detective
Rating Film search: 7,2
Rating IMDb: 7,5
Director: Sergey Popov
MusicStory by: Anton Schwartz
• Continuation of the audience's favorite stories about the harsh everyday life of Major Cherkasov, who serves in the Moscow MUR on the verge between the 70s and 80s of the last century. In the rating of Russian TV series, they traditionally occupy high places.
• This time, the valiant servant of Soviet justice (as usual, he is unshaven, charismatic and noir; there is also a femme fatale) has a difficult task: to clean the city before the arrival of foreign guests for the Olympics. On the way to the triumph of justice, he has to enter into a fierce battle with the hardened bandit Skull...
26. Seventh Symphony
Genre: military, music, drama, history
Rating Film search: 7,2
Rating IMDb: 7,1
Director: Alexander Kott
Music: Yuri Poteenko
• In besieged Leningrad, it was decided to play Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 – a sign that the city is alive and is not going to give up. But finding musicians is not easy: one went to the front, the second died under shelling, and the third disappeared, and there is no news about him.
• It is impossible to find the old ones and recruit new ones without the help of the NKVD, and a comrade lieutenant was seconded to help the conductor, who, long before the events of the series, came to arrest the musician's wife ...
25. Kidney
Genre: drama, comedy
Rating Film search: 7,2
Rating IMDb: 7,4
Director: Maria Shulgina
Music: Georgy Stefanov
• A girl lives in the world, does not grieve, has a good and, most importantly, profitable job – she is an employee of the inspection, and has the right to veto a point of sale if she does not comply with fire safety rules.
• In pursuit of banknotes, the heroine will stop at nothing – including her own relatives. Yes, but fate puts a pig on her – her kidney failed, and she needs to find a donor. And the kidney of a relative is best for transplantation ...
24. Resurrection
Genre: detective
Rating Film search: 7,2
Rating IMDb: 7,3
Director: Dmitry Petrun
Music: Pavel Yesenin
• A charismatic talent who volunteers to help the police forces catch villains – a familiar plot? And if you place it in pre-revolutionary Petersburg, decorate the frame with janitors with brooms, hot sbiten, ladies in skirts with a bustle and the sovereign emperor?
• So the doctor Voskresensky appeared in the rating of Russian TV shows, who is also a teacher-professor, and an experienced surgeon, and part-time engineer of human souls and a brilliant self-taught detective.
23. Green Mayor
Genre: comedy, drama
Rating Film search: 7,3
Rating IMDb: no
Director: Fedor Balvanovich
Music: Svyatoslav Ilyin
• Environmental problems are now acute, and domestic series cannot stand aside. Thus, an actual novelty called “Green Mayor” was born – a story about a caring student who, returning to his hometown, finds there the dominance of harmful emissions against the backdrop of general indifference.
• The plot is straightforward, but it has its own charm, plus it is addictive – the students' faith in friendship and ecology is constantly being tested, and the anti-green forces in the face of a local seasoned businessman are not asleep.
22. Dad
Genre: comedy, melodrama
Rating Film search: 7,2
Rating IMDb: 6,7
Director: Dmitry Efimovich
Music: various compositions
• Max is an ordinary Russian who works hard, does not see his family, and pays off his children with gadgets if they are dissatisfied with something. However, he also had to subject his family values to analysis when, together with his family, Max goes to visit his father for an anniversary. The long road finally gives the hero the opportunity to take a closer look at the people nearby and decide whether he is doing what he must for them.
21. Food block
Genre: thriller, fantasy
Rating Film search: 7,3
Rating IMDb: 6,2
Director: Svyatoslav Podgaevsky
Music: Sergey Kashirin
• While the whole country is watching with tension the ups and downs of the 1980 Soviet Olympics, something strange is happening in an ordinary pioneer camp somewhere on the banks of the Volga. It is as if the terrible stories that the pioneers love to tell each other around the campfire come to life.
• A high-quality youth horror in the entourage of the Soviet era with excellent camera work and an excellent script – this series is worth watching.
20. Dollhouse
Genre: detective
Rating Film search: 7,3
Rating IMDb: no
Director: Artem Nasybulin
Music: various compositions
• Alexandra is an experienced detective who is already known to the Russian audience from several mini-series. This time, she decides to take a break from her investigations: a handsome doctor appears on the horizon with clear views of Alexandra.
• Everything would be fine, but only evil does not sleep: a doctor's employee is killed, and a rare old doll is found in her pocket. And then the same doll is found in the pocket of the robe of Alexandra's romantic interest. Who is he – an innocent victim of someone's malicious intent or a dangerous killer?
19. Master
Genre: drama, sport
Rating Film search: 7,3
Rating IMDb: 7,5
Director: Stepan Korshunov
Music: Leonid Lener
• The sports drama is dedicated to one of the most titled and famous teams in the history of Russian motor sports – KAMAZ-Master. True, the series does not claim to be historic, it is rather a work on the topic, richly flavored with sports ups and downs, the intrigues of competitors, real male friendship, love polygons and, of course, a great love for motorsport and powerful cars plowing off-road.
18. I'm not kidding
Genre: comedy, drama
Rating Film search: 7,4
Rating IMDb: 6,8
Director-
Music: various compositions
• The next in the top of Russian TV series is a comedy based on real events. Her heroine is Elena Novikova, who, as it were, pulls back the theatrical curtain and lets us, the audience, backstage of her life. And there she stands, a simple Russian woman, who is both a galloping horse and a hut, and even with laughter and jokes. And the fact that jokes are sometimes bitter, and laughter is sad – that's how life is.
17. Lucky
Genre: comedy, drama
Rating Film search: 7,4
Rating IMDb: 7,5
Director: Vladimir Shchegolkov
Music: Alexey Aigi
• In a far northern town where darkness reigns for half a year, a former celebrity becomes a driver by the will of fate. His passengers are special – each has a decisive turn in fate, which can lead either to life or to death. And sometimes it seems that some have already crossed the line separating one from the other ...
• Philosophical comedy-parable about the roads we choose and which choose us, filmed against the backdrop of luxurious northern winter landscapes.
16. Happy End
Genre: drama, comedy
Rating Film search: 7,4
Rating IMDb: 7,4
Director: Evgeniy Sangadzhiev
Music: Oleg Karpachev
• A frank series that touches on one of the hottest topics of our time – erotic webcam broadcasts. But the actors – young, touching, still childishly thin, angular and very talented – save a sharp topic, preventing it from slipping into either vulgar moralizing or shocking.
• Is easy money really that easy? What are you willing to do for them, and where is the line between acceptable and disgusting? Alas, the crossed out words Happy End say that the fairy tale will not happen.
15. Vertinsky
Genre: biography, music, drama
Rating Film search: 7,5
Rating IMDb: 6,9
Director: Avdotya Smirnova
Music: Igor Vdovin
• A film-biography about the famous Russian singer, Igor Vertinsky, covering about 30 years of his turbulent life. The series was filmed at a good level, which is just a feast for the eyes of the viewer accustomed to low-budget productions.
• The visuals are beautiful, the action jumps to Odessa, then to Istanbul, then to Paris. And everything is bright, beautiful, atmospheric, original.
14. An hour before dawn
Genre: drama, thriller, detective, crime
Rating Film search: 7,5
Rating IMDb: 5,2
Director: Igor Zaitsev
Music: Vadim Nekrasov
• In the difficult post-war period, the former intelligence officer returns to his hometown, where he begins to work in the criminal department under the supervision of a difficult boss, ready for anything for the sake of victory. He leads a long-term vendetta with the seasoned criminal Kleshch, a cruel and bloody fight: the bandit does not shy away from violence, and in one of the fights the department suffered heavy losses. So the newcomer had to go behind enemy lines ...
• Familiar plot, right? Yes, yes, this is the “Meeting Place”, only filmed in a modern way: with violence, blood and nudity. This, of course, has its own almost Tarantino charm – it’s not for nothing that One Hour Before Dawn is included in the selection of the best Russian TV series.
13. My Mom's Penguins
Genre: drama, comedy
Rating Film search: 7,5
Rating IMDb: 7,8
Director: Natalia Meshchaninova
Music: various compositions
• To give shelter and parental warmth to children deprived of it is certainly good. But is it possible to save everyone and will you not lose your own, relatives, loved ones? The series tells about a teenager Gosha, whose mother took several children from an orphanage and gives them all of herself – but there is not enough for her son.
• In an attempt to cope with reality, the son goes on stage and becomes a comedian. Now stand-up is a new rap, an opportunity to talk about your problems in a formalized form, elevated to the rank of something like an art. So a smart, subtle series with excellent acting was born (we are sure that the leading actor Makar Khlebnikov will go far).
12. Contact
Genre: drama
Rating Film search: 7,5
Rating IMDb: 7,4
Director: Evgeny Stychkin
Music: various compositions
• Parents and children are a drama that has been repeated for centuries. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the generations, the former policeman Gleb tries to become a friend of his daughter ... at least on the Internet. He blackmails a juvenile delinquent into registering on social networks and giving him a username and password from his daughter's heart.
• Excellent acting work by Pavel Maykov, excellent visuals, a good soundtrack (both "fathers" and "children" will find something of their own there) and even a few Easter eggs for lovers and connoisseurs of the genre.
11. Insomnia
Genre: drama, thriller
Rating Film search: 7,6
Rating IMDb: 7,6
Director: Olga Frenkel
Music: Ruslan Lukyanov
• Everyone knows that to become a psychologist, you need a lot of psychological trauma. The protagonist of the series "Insomnia" has it, and even what it is – read in nightmares every night. But the hero is a hypnotherapist, and not just a simple one, but a genius, able to overcome not only the boundaries of the human soul, but also time and space itself...
• A good mystical-psychological quest, where all the details of the puzzle add up just when the plot requires it. Particularly pleasing is the acting of Gosha Kutsenko, who adequately performed in an unusual role for himself as an intellectual with an esoteric bias.
10. Five minutes of silence. Simbirsk frosts
Genre: drama, action
Rating Film search: 7,6
Rating IMDb: 7,2
Director: Igor Draka and others.
Music: various compositions
• In tenth place in the ranking of the best Russian TV series is the continuation of the story of the search and rescue squad, abandoned by fate and the authorities from the snowy Karelian forests to the banks of the Volga, to Ulyanovsk.
• The guys settled down, made friends and loved ones, and even received a promotion after the accomplished feats. However, fate does not let them rest on their laurels: it turned out that a mysterious cargo was delivered to the plant, and knowledge of this could cost human lives.
9. Strings
Genre: drama, music
Rating Film search: 7,6
Rating IMDb: 7,8
DirectorPeople: Alexander Kessel, Ivan Korvin
Music: Anton Silaev
• Rarely in our open spaces appear musical series. "Strings" tells the story of four students of the Gnessin Academy of Music, who have to deal with sudden fame – the video of their concert has gone viral. Moreover, a new teacher showed up, stern and demanding, and ahead is an international music competition.
• Lovers and connoisseurs of music should choose "Strings" to watch – it was filmed with great love for music, there is a lot of it, and very different – from classical to arrangements of famous rock songs.
8. Nevsky. Hunt for the Architect
Genre: detective
Rating Film search: 7,7
Rating IMDb: 7,2
DirectorPeople: Dmitry Averin, Pavel Smirnov, Ivan Moshnyakov and others.
Music: Vitaly Mukanyaev
• Continuation of the epic about the Nevsky district in St. Petersburg, where Major Pavel Semenov serves. The area is prestigious, just like from the pictures about “their manners”, and the crimes there are large-scale, on a grand scale. One legendary killer named "Architect" is worth something. It seems that Semenov managed to catch him, but everything is not easy – a few years later they find new corpses with the mark "A" next to them.
• Is the Architect alive? Did Semyonov catch the right person? Meanwhile, the FSB is becoming more and more suspicious: what if the killer is Semyonov himself?
7. Your Honor
Genre: thriller, drama, crime
Rating Film search: 7,8
Rating IMDb: 7,1
Director: Konstantin Statsky
Music: Pavel Yesenin
• For the first time, viewers were able to watch the Israeli TV series Your Honor at the festival in 2017. Everyone was shocked by the Shakespearean intensity of the story of an incorruptible, honest and just to the point of cruelty judge, all of whose ideals went to dust as soon as a person close to him committed a crime.
• The series turned out to be so good that the Americans immediately decided to make a remake – just like our domestic filmmakers. They did not stint on the stellar cast – the eminent Oleg Menshikov plays the main role, and the role of the son is a rising talent who has repeatedly performed in the Oleg Tabakov Theater, Vladislav Miller.
6. Chief
Genre: detective
Rating Film search: 7,8
Rating IMDb: 7,5
Director: Mikhail Wasserbaum
Music: Vitaly Mukanyaev
• The unfairly dismissed General Rastorguev spends his days working as the head of the security service of one of the largest banks in St. Petersburg. The work is not dusty, it would seem, live for yourself and enjoy a well-deserved rest, but Rastorguev yearns like a bird in a cage. No wonder they say that there are no former operas.
• The continuation of the franchise, whose films are consistently among the best Russian TV series (in 2021, the last part of the epic was released at the moment).
5. Rugby
Genre: sports, drama
Rating Film search: 7,9
Rating IMDb: 6,9
Director: Anya Mirokhina, Ilya Kulikov
Music: Denis Dubovik
• So we began to shoot sports dramas, however, on the topic of another exotic sport in our country – rugby. The girl has to quit her favorite gymnastics – the relationship with the coach did not work out. The young man leaves the world of martial arts against his will.
• Fate brings them to one club, where they plunge into the world of big sport with all its ups and downs. We add that the series is designed for fans of the CSKA sports club, if you are a fan – look, you will not regret it.
4. Crystal
Genre: drama
Rating Film search: 8,0
Rating IMDb: no
Director: Dushan Gligorov
Music: Sergey Kashirin
• The theme of returning to your hometown after many years of absence is one of the favorites in cinema. However, the protagonist returns for a reason, but at the personal invitation of the governor to catch the serial killer of the boys.
• The maniac hunter has a hard time – not only is the topic of the trip scary, but the ghosts of the past, which he has tried to forget all his life, are crowding around. Will Smirnov survive or will he shatter like a crystal figurine into pieces?
3. Major second
Genre: comedy, drama
Rating Film search: 8.1
Rating IMDb: no
Director: Viktor Shamirov
Music: various compositions
• In the list of Russian TV series, the first in the top three is a romantic comedy. Imagine that you parted badly with your soulmate, so much so that out of anger they tore out the page of the phone book where the same number was. And then, a few years later, fate throws a knee: you, along with the former object of passion, have to work together. Yes, and over a romantic scenario! This is how the two screenwriters had to write a love story, along the way figuring out why their own story did not work out.
• Excellent directorial work, excellent script that raises many important questions – what is trust, sex, honesty in front of each other and whether broken feelings can be glued together.
2. Mediator
Genre: drama, thriller
Rating Film search: 8,1
Rating IMDb: 7
Director: Artem Aksenenko
MusicPeople: Vadim Mayevsky, Alexander Turkunov
• Evil tongues call this film a fantasy – only instead of powerful muscles and a faithful machine gun in a calloused hand, the department of souls comes to the fore. The hero of the film is a real superman from psychology; he can force anyone to do anything, and gradually, so that the subject does not even understand that he has been dancing to the tune of the pick for a long time.
• This is how the hero lives – he sells his talents to wealthy business people, solves their problems, but is he able to solve his own?
1. Vampires of the middle lane
Genre: detective, comedy, fantasy
Rating Film search: 8,2
Rating IMDb: 7,6
DirectorPeople: Anton Maslov, Andrey Bogatyrev
MusicPeople: Ivan Kanaev, Denis Vorontsov, Evgeny Golotenko
• In an ordinary Russian city, on an ordinary Russian street, ordinary people live for themselves – a pensioner, a doctor, a teacher, a policewoman. They go to work, get paid, watch TV… It seems to be nothing outstanding, however, if you look closely, everything is not so simple. One likes to use archisms, the style of clothing of another reminds of the last century, and the third brings bags of fresh blood from work. And it turns out that next to us, on the same streets and in the same shops, very special creatures live – vampires.
• Among Russian TV series, "Vampires" has the highest rating. It has been a leadern cinema for a long time, both in terms of the number of views and people's love. Excellent casting (Yuri Stoyanov alone in the role of a vampire patriarch is worth something), excellent camera work, thoughtful and catchy script – it is not surprising that with such ingredients, an excellently tasty dish appeared on our serial table.
