“Wśród nocnej ciszy” by Jan Holoubek lands on HBO Max as a drama based on a 1976 crime

The series is set on the first day of Christmas 1976. On the way back from midnight mass, three young people are killed under the wheels of a bus: a pregnant woman, her husband and her younger brother. The tragedy sets off an investigation that runs into a wall of silence among villagers.

The production is based on Wiesław Łuka’s reportage “Nie oświadczam się”. Maciej Kowalewski wrote the screenplay, and worked on the first episode with Piotr Konstantinow. The makers do not reconstruct events literally: some storylines are fictionalised, and some wider context has been left out.

Cast and crew

The series has an ensemble lead. Magdalena Biegańska plays Zdzisława Kaleta, a farmer and the mother of the victims, whose determination to find the truth keeps her going. Jędrzej Hycnar plays militia captain Henryk Maczek, head of the Tarnobrzeg regional investigation team. The cast also includes Łukasz Simlat, Tomasz Schuchardt, Adam Woronowicz and Michał Żurawski.

Jan Holoubek is the format director. Maciej Kowalewski directed the fifth episode, and Maciej Sobieraj shot the cinematography. The series was made by Lulu Production for TVN, for the HBO Max platform.

Early reviews

The series is presented as a dark crime drama. Spider’s Web, which gave it 9 out of 10, called it one of the best Polish series this year, while noting that getting through the episodes was not always easy. These are a critic’s opinions, not audience research.

The series arrived on the platform on the anniversary of the events it depicts.