The Autocrats
television series

The Autocrats (Finnish: Itse valtiaat, stylized as Itse Valtiaat) is a Finnish animated political satire TV series, which takes the viewer behind the scenes of the early 2000s politics of Finland and aired between 2001 and 2008. The series was produced by Oy Filmiteollisuus Fine Ab and was made using 3D computer animation. The original idea for the series came from producer Olli Haikka. 233 episodes – comprising approximately 30 hours of footage – were aired.
Politicians who appeared in the series
Tarja Halonen
Pentti Arajärvi
Paavo Lipponen
Erkki Tuomioja
Antti Kalliomäki
Eero Heinäluoma
Presidents Mauno Koivisto and Martti Ahtisaari – appeared as an epilogue to every episode, sitting on a park bench.
Mauri Pekkarinen
Seppo Kääriäinen
Anneli Jäätteenmäki
Esko Aho
Matti Vanhanen
Tanja Karpela (Tanja Saarela)
Paavo Väyrynen
Sirkka-Liisa Anttila
Sauli Niinistö
Ben Zyskowicz
Suvi Lindén
Ville Itälä
Jyrki Katainen
Ilkka Kanerva
Suvi-Anne Siimes
Päivi Räsänen
Anni Sinnemäki
Episodes
(Original airdate)
The Autocrats pilot
Demo: Eskon lähtö (14.4.)
Spring 2001 (1st season)
1. Pääministerin mahtikäsky (14.4.)
2. Erkki vastaan Paavo (21.4.)
3. Saukko älä jännitä (28.4.)
4. Lex Niinistö (5.5.)
5.
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