The 1500th episode of “First Love” (an ATM Grupa S.A. production) will air on Polsat on May 1. The series has run on Polsat for almost eight years.
“First Love” is the most-watched prime time series and one of the two Polish series (alongside “M for Love”) that regularly enjoy an over-thirty-percent market share in the 16-49 demographic*.
The anniversary episode will advance the stories of two couples: Ewa (Aleksandra Prykowska) and Błażej (Paweł Krucz) and Malwina (Agnieszka Wielgosz) and Wojtek (Piotr Głowacki). The key event will be Grażyna’s (Grażyna Wolszczak) tumor surgery.
Starting from the 1500th episode, the series will have a new title sequence. To mark the anniversary, “First Love” will be featured in the upcoming episode of the TV show “Się kręci”, which will air on Saturday, April 28 at 10.45am on Polsat. The series’ actors including Aneta Zając, Maria Pakulnis, Grażyna Wolszczak, Maciej Tomaszewski, Paweł Okoński, Łukasz Płoszajski, Michał Koterski, Agnieszka Wielgosz, Urszula Dębska, Mateusz Banasiuk, Błażej Michalski, Anna Szymańczyk, Aleksandra Prykowska and Martyna Kubicz have been invited to the show’s studio located in the movie theater Kultura in Warsaw at 21/23 Krakowskie Przedmieście. Fans of the series have been invited too.
Over the years, “First Love” has featured numerous exciting stories. One of them has been the story of the central characters, Marysia (Aneta Zając) and Paweł (Mikołaj Krawczyk), which has continued to enthrall audiences since the series’ debut. The two tied the knot after two unsuccessful attempts only for Paweł to cheat on his wife with a former friend, for which Marysia repaid him in kind – she fell in love with her lecturer and training supervisor Dr. Stasiak (Bogdan Brzyski). When her lover was murdered, Paweł became the main suspect. As a result, Marysia and Paweł had a bitter falling-out and got divorced. This, however, did not stop them from getting intimate and Marysia got pregnant with a daughter. In the meantime, Paweł met Anna (Agnieszka Włodarczyk), and Marysia met Hubert (Michał Czernecki). Paweł and Marysia are no longer a couple but Paweł is looking after his former wife and his daughter following Hubert’s death. When “First Love” took off, its central characters were students. Now Marysia, Paweł and their friends are in their thirties. In the meantime a younger generation entered the stage, but the chemistry and friction between them is just as intense.
In addition to drama and love, the series has its share of thriller moments. A recent one was the death of Hubert, who was shot dead by a gang. Before this happened, Paweł, suspected of murdering Stasiak, was held in jail, where he was harassed by a fellow inmate, Manuel (Wojciech Medyński). What fallowed was a long spell of score settling, which continued even after the men were released from jail. Manuel was finally shot dead by police after he shot Anna, who covered Paweł with her body to protect him. Luckily, Anna came to no harm. In turn Artur (Łukasz Płoszajski) was saved from death by a hip flask he carried in his breast pocket, which stopped a bullet fired by a mafia hitman. Another blood-curdling moment came when Ola (Dominika Kojro) was assaulted by a knifer. Not surprisingly, Paweł will soon be in trouble once again; this time for fighting illegal boxing matches.
The series has been shot in numerous Polish and international locations. Marysia and Paweł honeymooned in Croatia – in Stari Grad on the island of Hvar. After they split, Marysia went to Berlin, where she worked in an art gallery. The series’ characters also went on trips to the Owl Mountains and went rock climbing to the abandoned quarries in Strzelin. Some scenes were shot underwater (at swimming pools in Teatralna Street and in the Maria Magdalena Hotel in Wrocław and in the Adriatic Sea in Croatia), on a boat on the Odra river, in the Wrocław Zoo, in the ropes course in Złoty Stok, on the roof of the Renoma department store in Wrocław and in many other locations. The series’ studio shots are currently filmed on new sets in ATM Grupa S.A.’s Wrocław studio.
Other “First Love” highlights have included a fashion show in Sabina’s (Urszula Dębska) fashion house, a dance competition entered by Adam (Marcin Krajewski) and Milena (Natalia Lesz), and concerts by Sasha Strunin, Vintage, and Marysia and Paweł.
More than 2000 actors and celebrities have appeared in “First Love” since the series’ debut, including (apart from those mentioned above) Krzysztof Ibis, Przemysław Saleta, Bartosz Żukowski, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Wojciech Mecwaldowski, Tamara Arciuch, Katarzyna Glinka, Rafał Mroczek, Maja Frykowska (Frytka), Leon Niemczyk, Mirosław Baka, Małgorzata Socha, Marieta Żukowska and many others.
It takes 100 people to produce each episode of “First Love”. The series’ current head writer is Grażyna Wilczyńska and the director is Krzysztof Łebski.
