Once a leading pioneer in mobile phone, Finnish company, Nokia is to be the subject of a new tv series. Mobile 1.0 (working title) will be a six-part scripted drama will explore the company’s meteoric rise before its dramatically devastating fall from grace.
According to Variety, Rabbit Films has begun production and the Finnish and English-language series and will launch in early 2022 on Scandinavian streamer, C More. According to the publication, the streaming service has also picked up the first-window VOD rights for the Nordic and Baltic regions. Rabbit Films will be handling the international distribution of the upcoming Nokia drama series shot in Finland and the US.
The show will tell the first-account story of the Finnish electronics company’s exponential growth from a small business into a big hitter of the mobile phone industry. It will be based on extensive research and interviews of the people involved in the history of the company. Nokia’s years from 1988-1990 are covered in the first series of the show, when the technology for mobile phones was in its infancy.
The show follows two lawyers who were willing to take on their counterparts at deep-pocketed multinational competitors; the single-minded engineers developing revolutionary new products, boardroom plots and personal feuds; and a business leader whose courage saved the entire Nokia company, following the tragic death of his predecessor.
The series is written and directed by Jussi Award-winning Maarit Lalli (Almost 18, The Sixth Time). Lalli revealed, “Behind Nokia’s well-known narrative, there are the untold stories of the people whose passion for their work made immense success possible. But there were also personal losses and moments of despair. Now, 30 years on from the first GSM call, and based on first-hand accounts from those most intimately involved in Nokia’s story we can tell the full, dramatic story of the extraordinary events behind its remarkable rise and fall.”
“Nokia is a national treasure but also a huge global brand,” added Minna Haapkylä, producer and head of scripted content at Rabbit Films. “The series unfolds as an epic story of how a small Finnish town and a small Finnish company grew to become the home of biggest mobile phone supplier in the world, and one that changed literally all our lives.”
