1979: The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя)
A five-part television film about Moscow detectives investigating a dangerous gang called “Black Cat”. Rated 8.7/10 on IMDB. YouTube link with English subtitles.
1971-1989: Investigation Led by ZnaToKi (Следствие ведут ЗнаТоКи)
Detective TV series, was very popular during its time. Every episode the ZnaToKi team (stands for their names Znamenski, Tomin, and Kibrit + literally means “experts”) investigate a different crime. First episodes are in black and white, then switches to color. I couldn’t find a version on YouTube with official English subtitles, but it seems like the AI autogenerated ones are actually quite good.
