{"id":113825,"date":"2026-01-27T13:41:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113825\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:41:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:41:28","slug":"banijay-finland-adds-queen-heist-the-good-widow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113825\/","title":{"rendered":"Banijay Finland Adds ‘Queen Heist,’ ‘The Good Widow’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBanijay<\/a> Finland<\/a>, behind MHz Choice U.S. pick-up \u201cThe Hanko Murder\u201d and popular procedural \u201cMaria Kaillo,\u201d is growing its scripted lineup adding drag queen caper \u201cQueen Heist,\u201d ordered by go-ahead Finnish pubcaster Yle<\/a> as an eight-part half hour, as well as late-life love feature \u201cThe Good Widow,\u201d now in development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth the new titles examine real-life issues \u2013 self-discovery in \u201cQueen Heist,\u201d inter-generational relationships in \u201cThe Good Widow\u201d \u2013 but have a large entertainment drive already seen in \u201cThe Hanko Murder,\u201d a light crime Noir set in a sunny Finland at the picturesque coastal town of Hanko and mixing a murder and a father-daughter relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBilled as \u201cfast-paced comedy,\u201d \u201cQueen Heist\u201d is created by Cristal Snow, a Finnish musician, TV presenter and drag artist and directed by his sibling Viivi Huuska (\u201cToosaTV\u201d) and produced by Max Malka, creator of the first Finnish Netflix Series \u201cDance Brothers,\u201d a production from Banijay Finland where she serves as creative director. scripted.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn it, brothers Aapo and Eetu lose their jobs at a small-town sausage-factory. It\u2019s their lucky break: They accidentally stumble on a life of drag-fuelled criminal escapades, reuniting with childhood friends, as what Banijay describes as \u201camateur thieves in amateur drag, on a road to unexpected self-discovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cQueen Heist\u201d was developed at the Banijay Bootcamp, led by Steve Matthews, Banijay head of scripted, creative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Good Widow\u201d marks the latest from Josefina Rautiainen, whose debut feature \u201cHow to Shout\u201d established Rautainen as a talent to track, picking up two industry nominations .<\/p>\n

\n\tA romcom, \u201cThe Good Widow\u201d delivers what Banijay calls \u201ca liberating, unconventional take on late-life love and desire\u201d \u201cblending sharp humor and inter-generational chemistry.\u201d It turns on Mirja, a 72-year-old widow who defies family and community expectations by forming an unexpected relationship with a much younger man she meets online. Producing is Minna Virkaj\u00e4rvi who scored well with six-season cop show \u201cRoba,\u201d still running since 2012 and miniseries \u201cM\/S Romantic\u201d (2019), a four-time winner at Finland\u2019s Kultainen Venla awards.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJosefina Rautiainen, Minna Virkaj\u00e4rvi <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMaisey Malden<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are ambitiously building a scripted portfolio defined by boldly creative projects, and these two original stories highlight how distinctive Finland can be,\u201d said Malka.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe added: \u201cWith\u00a0\u2018Queen Heist\u2019, Cristal has delivered a joyful romp that was bolstered creatively at Banijay Bootcamp, then commissioned by Yle. Meanwhile, Minna is shaping\u00a0\u2018The Good Widow\u2019\u00a0into a surprisingly funny comedy about choosing life, and romance, on your own terms. Both titles have the confidence and energy to cut through, with the potential to engage audiences in Finland and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBanijay Entertainment\u2019s Nordic slate features\u00a0\u201cFallen,\u201d\u00a0with \u201cThe Bridge\u201d star Sofia Helin, \u201cMy Brother,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0a contender for a Nordic Scripted Series Award, announced Jan. 27,\u00a0\u201cBillionaire Island,\u201d hailed by The Guardian as \u201clike \u2018Succession,\u2019 but with salmon farmers,\u201d medical drama \u201cStill Breathing\u201d from the makers of \u201cOccupied\u201d and \u201cBeforeigners,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0the anticipated \u201cWallander\u201d reboot and \u201cThe Diary of a Ditched Girl,\u201d starring Carla Sehn (\u201cLove & Anarchy\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tBanijay Bootcamp is a creative programme for scripted talent, facilitating collaborative storytelling by pairing in-house development staff with writers in a dynamic residency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat I try and do is let labels be as local as possible. But if I see a project that we believe has that real chance of being an international hit, then I kind of bring some weight behind it,\u201d Matthews told\u00a0Variety\u00a0at 2025\u2019s Series Mania in an article where he drilled down on the nuances, latest wrinkles and contradictions of making local and international TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Banijay Finland, behind MHz Choice U.S. pick-up \u201cThe Hanko Murder\u201d and popular procedural \u201cMaria Kaillo,\u201d is growing its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[50606,21722,50607,9,24,63,122,124,123,50608,50609],"class_list":{"0":"post-113825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-banijay","9":"tag-finland","10":"tag-goteborg-film-festival","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-queens","15":"tag-queens-headlines","16":"tag-queens-news","17":"tag-tv-drama-vision","18":"tag-yle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}