The Russian TV season of 2025 has become a real breakthrough: from nostalgic dramas to bold experiments in the genres of thriller and comedy, the industry has produced hits that captivate with social themes and authenticity.
Our editorial top is the best Russian TV series of 2025, combining spectacle with a deep reflection of reality, nostalgia for the 2000s, and sharp social dramas.
«Outsource»
«» is a dark folklore anecdote that gathers around one table recognizable characters from the songs of 'The King and the Jester' or 'Sektor Gaza': a Casanova doctor, a cunning prison warden, an evil overseer, a philosopher executioner. It's all painfully familiar, folkloric, read from 90s cassettes, where black humor and absurdity gradually displace the initial grimness, turning the series into a kind of company tale that you can only laugh at. Well, it can't be real, but in an anecdote—please.
On February 13, the online cinema Okko premiered the series 'Outsource' starring Ivan Yankovsky. We tell you why it will definitely be talked about in the near future.
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This is a crazy, semi-mythical phantasmagoria that, nevertheless, has its own iron logic and rhythm. A world where everything is outsourced: even the right to control one's own destiny. It masks uncomfortable questions under decadence, irony, and caricature, creating a coherent and aesthetic film with impeccable acting. Ivan Yankovsky here is a new incarnation of Bulgakov's Woland in an era of decay.
On February 13, the online cinema Okko premiered 'Outsource', one of the most anticipated series of the year. We spoke with director Dusan Gligorov about filming in Kamchatka, cinema...
Open materialTop 5 Russian TV series of 2025 from Vitaly Gizatullin:
- Outsource
- Bar 'One Call'
- Cybervillage
- Lesson
- How to Tame a Fox
«Breathe»
The series is about midwife Lera, who believes in natural childbirth and works in an elite Moscow clinic. She has three children, tense relationships with her teenage daughters, and a difficult life as a single mother. Everything goes wrong when a young mistress of an influential businessman gives birth with Lera, and something goes wrong—the child is in intensive care, and Lera is blamed. The businessman launches a real witch hunt, threatening her career, family, and freedom.
The series is good because it has no simple answers or unequivocally bad people. Lera herself is a complex character—at work she is empathetic and sensitive, but at home she can be a narcissistic mother. The heroine played by Marina Alexandrova turned out to be lively and multifaceted, perhaps the best role of her career. The series raises important topics—the imperfection of the healthcare system, the role of women in a patriarchal world—but does so without moralizing, honestly and with understanding.
Top 5 Russian TV series of 2025 from Roman Kovalev:
- Outsource
- Breathe
- Bar 'One Call'
- Magic Precinct, Season 2
- Hypnosis
«Bar 'One Call'»
Who would have thought that in 2025 it would turn out that all this time we needed a sarcastic Danila Kozlovsky, who disappeared from the radar for two years (getting into character, so he actually sat in the bar 'One Call' all this time). It was supposed to be released back in 2023, but it wasn't given a distribution certificate. However, over a couple of years, the show about an establishment where you can call a dead person for a fee by playing Russian roulette matured and finally reached the audience.
After several years of waiting, the series 'Bar 'One Call'' was released on the KION platform, where Danila Kozlovsky gave one of the best performances of his career. We tell you more about the project.
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The premiere is certainly a joyful event. Because the series turned out to be successful and engaging, it's doubly joyful. There were some acting losses, games with deepfakes, and a trivial storyline with a cop played by Alexander Ilyin Jr., but overall, the seven episodes fly by like a bullet. On the other hand, it's probably not surprising that the project about calls turned out to be worthy. The online cinema that released it belongs to MTS. So to speak, they played on their home turf.
Top 5 Russian TV series of 2025 from Evgeny Belousov:
- Magic Precinct 2
- Bar 'One Call'
- Outsource
- Journey to the Sun and Back
- Breathe
«Lesson»
Anton (Yura Borisov) is a rising star. But after a bad experience with illegal substances, he and his girlfriend get into an accident that leads to him being treated in a drug rehabilitation clinic. Anton tries to return to his family, but his pedantic brother Konstantin (Daniil Vorobyov) dictates his terms: the rapper must work as a teacher at a school, otherwise he will lose his inheritance.
There will be no traditional confrontation and relationship between teacher and students here. It's about the maturation of Anton's charges and himself. For the first time in his life taking responsibility, he does not change his personality, but gradually comes to harmony. Winter scenery, yellow light, and grain constitute the recognizable visual style of 'Lesson', balancing between warmth and anxiety.
The online cinema Okko has released a new drama 'Lesson' from the film company MEM Cinema Production. We tell you what to expect from the school of life and whether it's worth skipping the last lesson.
Open materialFor a series about teenagers, the depth of conflict is also notable: addressing childhood traumas, psychologism, and the multifaceted nature of the characters create expressive personalities. It is the attention to detail that makes each student's story complete and finished to such an extent that no secondary character is lost in the endless stream of checkered notebooks, uncomfortable wooden chairs, and tests.
Top 5 Russian TV series of 2025 from Sofia Bikkanova:
- Lesson
- Journey to the Sun and Back
- Outsource
- Nobody Knows About Manpupuner
- Personal Collection
«Cybervillage» (Season 2)
The second season of the adventures of farmer-inventor Kolya (Sergey Chikhachev) with the telling surname Kulibin and his sworn friend Kostya Baragozin (Grigory Skryapkin), who ended up in a mechanical body with the voice of Sergey Burunov, once again proved that with talent and solid exposure, it is possible to make non-embarrassing sci-fi in Russia with a heap of references to world pop culture, but without blind imitation. In the new episodes, the heroes confront the neural network Galya, who has seized power in 'Izhevsk Dynamics' and aims to buy 'Ivanovo Holograms' to secure her position.
The fight against the notorious rebellious AI is now in fashion, and 'Cybervillage' in this sense does not lag behind the trends. In the series by Sergey Vasilyev, through ironic and precise remarks, not only many processes taking place in the country and the world (and such boldness now deserves respect) are captured, but also prevailing moods, such as, for example, (Yu)piterian escapism—an extremely harmful way of escaping from surrounding reality through nostalgic intoxication.
Of course, there is some outright kitsch here and there, like the shabby, almost Comedy Club-style synthesis of 'Bezprintsipnye' and 'The Flintstones' in the second episode, but these not-so-successful moments do not spoil the overall picture. Unlike the popular Balabanov concept in our country, the creators see the source of strength not in 'truth' (which everyone twists in their own way), but in forgiveness. Thus, the finale ends Baragozin's storyline in the only correct way, as he systematically atones for his guilt before his loved ones (and not only) people this season.
Top 5 Russian TV series of 2025 from Nikita Margaev:
- Cybervillage (Season 2)
- Chemistry Between Us
- Old School
- Overheard in Rybinsk
- Dear Relative
«Comeback»
The 2025 series 'Comeback' is a fresh take on the 2000s through the lens of a teenage drama and a thriller about memory loss. The main character, a vagrant nicknamed Kompot, wakes up with a bullet wound in his head in Nizhny Novgorod and wanders the streets until he encounters a group of troubled schoolchildren. They take on the task of trying to help him remember the past, and this dynamic reveals the social ills of the era: alcoholism, gambling addiction, broken families, and street life.
Director Dinar Garipov delicately balances between nostalgia and darkness, relying on authentic visuals—ancient computers, hits like 'Seventh Petal', and muted tones of urban outskirts. Secondary characters, especially the schoolchildren with their traumas and rebellion, add depth, turning the story into a portrait of a generation stuck between childhood and adult cruelty. The soundtrack and atmosphere make the series a truly gripping hit of the year with social subtext.
Top 5 Russian TV series of 2025 from Evgenia Smykova:
- Comeback
- Bar 'One Call'
- The Sovereign
- Stranglers, Season 2
- Eterna
«Old School»
A wonderful gift this autumn was the cozy school series 'Old School'. The interesting mockumentary-style narrative (borrowed from 'The Office', which is also good), charismatic characters, and quality humor helped it win over viewers of all ages.
The success of the series is largely due to the charming Maria Aronova, who played a strict math teacher with outdated Soviet teaching methods, who got a job at a modern elite lyceum. With its interactive whiteboards, team building for teachers, and no bells. A difficult but engaging situation.
To those who haven't yet enjoyed the series, I envy you! You will get pleasure from watching, and it's definitely worth watching. The creators have already renewed 'Old School' for a third season even before the release of the second, which confirms the project's popular success.
Top 5 Russian TV series of 2025 from Evgeny Aniskovich:
- Comeback
- Overheard in Rybinsk
- Cybervillage (Season 2)
- Old School
- Outsource
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