LASKETTUA AIKAA

Laskettua aikaa (Countdown) is a 10 x 25 min fictional audio drama series I developed and wrote for Yleisradio (Yle), released on Yle Areena in spring 2025 and broadcasted on Yle Radio 1. Directed by Marja Pyykkö and starring Mimosa Willamo and Joonas Saartamo as well as Ukrainian actors Juliana Voronina and Ruslan Gunko, the series explores moral questions of surrogate parenting and human compassion in war time situation. It is set during the early days of the war in Ukraine in 2022.

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The main character is Nora, a young foreign correspondent who travels to Ukraine and becomes involved in helping a Finnish couple trying to have a baby through surrogacy in Ukraine. After the war breaks out, the couple loses contact with the clinic and the Ukrainian woman carrying their biological child. The core theme of the series is human goodness—how people reach out to help one another, even in the darkest of times.

 

For me writing audio was a new thing, and it was fascinating to explore storytelling relying solely on sound, without visual elements that I’m so used to when writing for tv and film. The way audio is used - in headphones, coming straight to your ears - makes the medium really intimate and particular. 

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The story draws on my own background as a war zone journalist. I also did a lot of research and interviewed journalists who have worked in Ukraine, as well as a Finnish couple who has had a baby through surrogacy abroad. Also a large number of Ukrainians were involved in the making of the series – as actors, script consultants and fact checkers. The sensitive nature of the topic required special care, and it was extremely important to me that people directly affected by the events in Ukraine were part of the production.

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You can listen to the series here: (in Finnish)​ https://areena.yle.fi/1-73986307

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