She is about to graduate from a prestigious university in Milan but dolce vita is not on her mind. Filled with longing, she returns to Poland to pursue her greatest dream. He has just been released from jail. Outraged with the injustice he suffered, he feels like hurling stones at his enemy’s glitzy shop windows. They bump into each other at a shopping arcade. There’s chemistry, especially when another woman, devilishly envious of this love, stands between them. An eventful story is lurking in the midst of a hunt for latest fashion and special offers. All this and more in the new TVP1 series ‘Shopping Arcade’.
The lead characters, who work at or visit the titular shopping arcade, are played by Magdalena Turczeniewicz (Karolina), Julia Pietrucha (Anita), Bartosz Porczyk (Adam), Tomasz Dedek (Tadeusz Woydatt), Grażyna Wolszczak (Barbara, Karolina’s mother) and others. The series will kick off January 30, 2011, airing Monday to Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Karolina comes to the arcade because she wants to open her own design jewelry shop. Adam wants to get even with his step-father Tadeusz Woydatt, the arcade’s owner. Although the latter has a pretty guilty conscience, he is a shrewd businessman who will not allow to be easily discredited. The mall is also a kingdom for Anita, Woydatt’s dear daughter. An innocent blonde on the surface, she bares her teeth when it comes to business and family. The ‘Shopping Arcade’ is an arena where great ambitions, desire for revenge and struggle for money clash. It is a vanity fair as well as a place where you can meet a soul mate. It abounds in intrigue, betrayal, addiction and jealousy as well as friendship, infinite sacrifice and forgiveness. The series follows the lives of the wealthy, who, like the Woydatts, believe they are above the rest. It also tells the story of the Kossowski and Dworzak families, who struggle with recurring crises, and of people on the crossroads in their lives. Although the main characters’ lives are interwoven in the modern temple of consumption and entertainment, they seek answers to some important questions like: Is family a value in itself? Should we pursue our dreams or live here and now enjoying whatever life delivers? The central characters will rather frequently use the words ‘I love you’. Bartosz Porczyk sings about this bazaar of people’s dilemmas and feelings in the series’ theme song which he co-wrote with Łukasz Damrych and for which he penned lyrics.
The supporting cast of ‘Shopping Arcade’ includes Marek Kalita, Marek Siudym, Ewa Bukowska, Joanna Orleańska, Marek Frąckowiak, Maciej Wojdyło, Paulina Chapko, Błażej Michalski, Andrzej Deskur, Szymon Piotr Warszawski, Karolina Piechota and Matylda Kawczak. Also appearing are famous rappers Vienio (Piotr Węcławski) and Waldemar Kasta. The lead director is Ryszard Zatorski, famous for ‘Why Not!’, ‘Just Love Me’, ‘Two Killers’, ‘For Better and for Worse’, ‘L for Love’ and ‘Crime Detectives’. Other members of the directing team include Łukasz Palkowski, acclaimed for ‘Preserve’ and the series ‘39 and a Half’, and Jakub Miszczak, who recently helmed the series ‘License to Parent’.
Interestingly, for the first time in a Polish production, a shopping arcade set has been built, in the series producer ATM Group’s Wrocław studio. A two-storey construction, covering the area of a soccer field, has a dozen or so window displays and a grand fountain hall. The main characters favor a bar at Hubert’s but the drama also plays out in the most picturesque nooks and crannies of Wrocław. Sensational scenes at the end of the first episode were shot on the Tumski Bridge. The series is inspired on the popular Italian format ‘Cento Vetrine’, which has been in production for 10 years.