The television premiere of the series "Dear Willy" will take place on REN TV on November 1.

The four–part political detective story "DEAR WILLY" tells the story of the secret friendship of two main geopolitical rivals in Europe - Soviet Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev (played by Sergei Makovetsky) and West German Chancellor Willy Brandt (Kirill Kyaro), who saved the world from a nuclear catastrophe during the Cold War. The roles in the series were also performed by Sergey Marin, Alexey Rozin, Vladimir Konkin, Andrey Gradov, Wilma Kutaviciute, Igor Chernevich, Martin John Cook, Alexandra Bogdanova, Alexander Shtendler, Marietta Tsigal-Polishchuk and others.

The project was created by REN TV, Format TV and Studio Chekhov companies, KION and PREMIER online cinemas with the support of the Institute for Internet Development (ANO IRI).

Directed by Vladimir Shchegolkov, produced by Vladimir Tyulin, Anatoly Tupitsyn, Igor Prokopenko, Sofya Mitrofanova, Ilya Burets, Maxim Filatov and David Kocharov.

The action takes place in the 1960s. The world is on the verge of nuclear war. Soviet intelligence becomes aware that the United States is preparing to launch a strike from military bases located in Germany. Realizing that a retaliatory ultimatum would trigger a catastrophe, Soviet Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev (Sergei Makovetsky) decides to enter into a secret agreement with German Chancellor Willy Brandt (Kirill Kyaro). Both politicians are at risk: if their contacts become known, one will be expelled from the party, and the other will be impeached. The operation must be conducted in the strictest secrecy, so that even the KGB would not know about it. Brezhnev sets the task of finding a person not from the "system". The choice falls on German journalist Valery Pletnev (Alexey Rozin), who is married to Kira Zheltovskaya (Marietta Tsigal-Polishchuk), the star of the Kabachok 13 Chairs program beloved by the general Secretary, and Vyacheslav Vardanov (Sergey Marin), a former KGB officer. So unlike each other, two people united by friendship and a common goal – to recruit the first person of West Germany, embark on an unprecedented mission. The CIA is trying to disrupt their plans, and the head of the GDR state security, Erich Milke (Alexander Kodanev), is also giving the command to eliminate the Moscow guests.

The plot of the series is based on historical materials that documentarian, writer and presenter of the REN TV channel Igor Prokopenko has been collecting for 20 years: documents, numerous interviews with the inner circle of both Leonid Brezhnev and Willy Brandt, politicians, intelligence officers. The script was written by Igor Prokopenko in collaboration with Dmitry Novoselov. Every character in the series has a historical prototype.

The REN TV channel will show all four episodes of the project on November 1, starting at 16:55.

The next day, November 2, at 23:55, the topic will be continued by the documentary historical investigation "FIVE MINUTES BEFORE WORLD WAR III," which tells about the secret diplomacy, big politics and the personal courage of two world leaders – Leonid Brezhnev and Willy Brandt, whose friendship changed the course of the Cold War.

For the first time, the viewer will see unique archival documents, rare chronicle footage and exclusive interviews with eyewitnesses of those events: diplomats, historians, intelligence officers. The author of the project, writer, journalist and documentarian Igor Prokopenko, has been collecting materials for more than 20 years. His personal meetings with German politicians Egon Bahr and Markus Wolf, Soviet intelligence officer Vyacheslav Kevorkov and other participants in the events became the basis of this honest and in-depth story.

The documentary "FIVE MINUTES BEFORE WORLD WAR III" is not just a story about the past, it is a story about us, about today's world, which has again come to a dangerous line.