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A Soviet Whiskey-class submarine, its crew celebrating an officer’s child’s birth, strays off course and crashes into Swedish waters during October 1981. This unexpected event serves as the starting point for exploring Cold War tensions through a comedic perspective.

The series transforms historical events into a stark examination of human error and geopolitical tension. The narrative strips away formal political narratives, exposing the raw, absurd undercurrals of international conflict. By presenting these moments through dark humor, the story reveals the precarious nature of global relationships.

The 1980s backdrop provides a rich environment for examining complex political dynamics. Rendered through a satirical lens, the narrative exposes the fragile mechanisms of international diplomacy, where slight misjudgments could trigger catastrophic consequences.

The submarine’s accidental intrusion becomes a metaphor for the unpredictable and often irrational mechanisms driving global interactions. Each character’s actions reflect the larger systemic pressures and personal vulnerabilities that shape historical moments.

Exclusive: When Whiskey-class Soviet submarine U137 ran aground in Sweden in 1981 it sparked a diplomatic fracas that threatened to ignite a global conflict. With nukes possibly in play, it was no laughing matter. The team behind Whiskey on the Rocks, a satirical take on the Cold War sub drama, beg to differ.

“Whiskey on the Rocks jokes about something as serious as when we stood on the threshold of a third world war, and it’s absolutely the right thing to do because the world needs more humor and self-awareness, not less,” Jonas Jonasson, the Swedish author of ‘The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared’, says, speaking exclusively to Deadline.

He wrote an original story, from which Whiskey on the Rocks has been forged. The ensuing six-part series was tipped for success by Deadline in its European dramas to look out for in 2025. It dropped on Svt over the festive period,...

Next year promises to be a hot one for European productions, with everything from Netflix’s Italian period drama The Leopard to Max Turkey’s The First Göktürk drawing audiences to non-English-language fare. Throw in the second season of young adult crowd pleaser Maxton Hall: The World Between Us and Prime Video Italy’s Jesse Williams vehicle Costiera and it promises to be a bumper 2025. Read on for our selection, and add your own in the comments.

‘Whiskey On The Rocks’

Sweden

We’re starting our tour with Disney+’s first Nordic original series, given that it premieres in select countries and on Hulu in the U.S. on January 22. It began airing on SVT1 in Sweden over Christmas, but we’ll give it a pass given the worldwide launch is etched in for 2025. The political satire — from Patrick Nebout, Henrik Jansson-Schweizer and Magnus Bimberg’s Humanoids — revolves...