Produced in Finland "Unknown Arctic Wars" the documentary reaches a global audience after U.S. entertainment and media giant Disney bought the rights to the series.
Untold Arctic Wars has been produced by Yle in collaboration with the Oulu-based production company NTRNZ and reveals the role of the Arctic region in World War II.
The World War II documentary series is also available on National Geographic, where it is initially broadcast in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The program has also been sold to other Nordic nations except Iceland before production was completed.
The series has been developed since 2018 and has been made for almost two years, which included filming in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom.
According to the series manufacturer Teemu HostikaUntold Arctic Wars is the first international documentary series made in Finland and the first Yle series sold to Disney.
"This is a great achievement for us. We have a very small production company in Finland, Europe and the world, but we are now gaining a foothold in the world market with our own content," Hostikka said, adding that broadcasting and streaming rights are being negotiated with other stakeholders around the world.
"At best, this series is shown around the world, as rights are constantly being discussed. The military history of Finland and the Nordic countries will be widely discussed internationally" he said.
No decision has yet been made on the follow-up
The events of World War II have been covered in hundreds of different documentary series and films, but the story of the progress of the war in the Arctic has largely gone untold.
This has begun to change in recent years, as the events of the Norwegian occupation and the Lapland War have begun to gradually shift from history books to films.
"There have been good signs from the beginning. The topic has interested many. The timeliness of this series in the current world situation could not have been guessed when this could be done years ago," Hostikka said.
Despite the popularity of the series, Hostikka is wary of further opportunities and says that while the option has been considered, no definite decisions have yet been made.
"After World War II came a very interesting period that affected the Nordic countries in the northern and arctic regions. There is still much unresolved and unknown," he said.
All six episodes of Untold Arctic Wars will be available on Yle Arena from Monday 14 February and the first episode of the series on Yle TV1 on Wednesday 16 February.