Challenge (television series, 2006)

General Petr Gerasimenko ( Valery Afanasyev ) forms a special group in Moscow that investigates mysterious and mystical crimes taking place in various parts of the country. ^[3] The group is headed by Alexey Khromov ( Dmitry Nazarov ), helped by a young lieutenant Igor Lyamin ( Alexey Shutov ) and criminologist Olga Barysheva ( Natalia Zhitkova ).

Season 1

Film 1 "Both Slave and King" (4 episodes)

Khromov's group was sent to the city of Ozersk to assist the local police in investigating the sinister series of ritual murders. Upon arrival in Ozersk, Moscow detectives are told about the ancient Scythian curse, which overtakes those who disturb the grave mound of the Scythian leader. The fact is that next to each of the victims at the scene of the murder was found one of the objects missing some time ago, found during excavations of that Scythian kurgan not far from the city .... ^[four]

Film 2 “Reflection” (4 episodes)

Khromov's team leaves for the city of Belogorsk to investigate a strange series of suicides of local successful businessmen. In the same way, a Moscow police officer who was sent there to investigate a drug case ends up with him. At first they suspect that the victims were “helped” to die, but yet another victim, right in front of the detectives, rushes under the train’s wheels at the very moment when she had to tell them something important ...

Film 3 “Alien Shadow” (4 episodes)

In the museum of the city of Klimov should pass an exhibition from the French city of Sharoni. Anonymous letters warn about impending theft of exhibits, and to ensure the safety of the exhibition from Moscow to Klimov send a group of Khromov. At this time, a ghost appears in the Klimov Museum, which is associated with a legend of an old noble family who lived in the city before the revolution.

Season 2

Movie 4 “Prediction” (4 episodes)

Khromov and his wife come to rest in a small resort town at the invitation of his classmate - the city prosecutor. At this time, the city shook the murder of a young budding swimmer - a candidate for the country's national swimming team in international competitions. The prosecutor's office ordered to throw all the forces to solve the crime. His wife convinces Khromov not to get involved in the investigation, because he is on vacation and they come for a relaxing family vacation. However, Khromov drew attention to a newspaper article about a city prophetess, who accurately predicted this murder and continues to predict new crimes ...

Film 5 “Incubation Period” (4 episodes)

The scientist was killed, traces of a long-dead person were found at the crime scene. Investigating the crime, the team arrives at the secret Institute of Microbiology in the closed city of Dalnogorsk. It turns out that both the victim and the person whose traces were found at the crime scene were once included in the group of scientists involved in top-secret scientific developments at this institute.

Film 6 "The Victim" (4 episodes)

Khromov, who is now a lieutenant colonel, begins to be surrounded by strange events. At first, several times on his way home from work, he sees a man whom he himself planted several years ago and who had committed suicide in the zone. Then Khromov is turned for help by his former colleague, whom he has not seen for many years. A few hours later he is found dead in his hotel room, and according to the testimony of witnesses it turns out that the murder was committed by a man whose signs coincide with those of Khromov himself. Aleksei Ilyich takes up the investigation of the murder of a comrade, and the traces lead to an ominous Satanist sect located in a remote village.

Season 3

Movie 7 “Zone of Retribution” (4 episodes)

In the city of Ust-Ungur, the police chief was killed. Perhaps the reason for this was a new type of rat, formed at the local radioactive test site. Khromov sends his assistants to Ust-Ungur, soon arrives by himself and ... disappears on the day when his wife comes to him. Now the wife of the detective, who knows him like no other, will have to help Igor and Olga finally unravel the case and find Khromov.

Movie 8: Death Level (4 episodes)

In Ugorievsk, fans of the computer game "Death Level" are dying, and the circumstances of their deaths resemble scenes from the lost game "Death Level"

Film 9 "The Seven Sons of Nga" (4 episodes)

Two oilmen die in the town of Oktyabrsk under strange circumstances. The crime is suspected shaman, who protested against the development of oil in the territory where the holy places of his tribe. Strange deaths continue, each time the dead become a victim of one of the elements of nature described in the mythology of the tribe.

Season 4

Film 10 “Ghost Ship” ^[2] (4 episodes)

Khromov and his assistants accidentally find themselves on a cruise ship, where the leadership of a prosperous publishing house celebrates a corporate holiday. However, unexpectedly, the captain with the team takes the passengers hostage, because he is sure that his son, an employee of the publishing house, was killed by some of them. The captain threatens to blow up the ship if the Khromov’s team fails to find the killer within three days.

Movie 11 "The Lost" ^[5] (4 episodes)

In the town of Ruzaevo, people disappear, having received a music call to a cell phone shortly before. It is suspected that the music activates the process of teleportation.

• Dmitry Nazarov - Major / Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Ilyich Khromov
• Alexey Shutov - lieutenant / senior lieutenant / captain Igor Alekseevich Lyamin
• Natalia Zhitkova - lieutenant / senior lieutenant / captain and forensic expert Olga V. Barysheva
• Valery Afanasyev - Major General Peter Anatolyevich Gerasimenko
• Olga Vasilyeva - Galina Vasilyevna Khromova, wife of Alexey Ilyich
• Nina Yesina - Svetlana Alekseevna Khromova, daughter of Alexei Ilyich

• The “Challenge” series differs from most other modern Russian detective series not only by the presence of a pseudo-political component (in every case there is a suspicion of the mystical nature of the crime, which is brilliantly refuted by Khromov at the end), but also by the “lengthy” plot of each case by as many as four episodes. On the one hand, it allows to show the investigation process in as much detail as possible and keep the viewer in suspense for a longer time until the very ending, on the other hand, according to some critics, the plot becomes somewhat prolonged ^[6] . However, there are other detective series of the 2000–2010s, where each case is told over four (and not one or two) episodes, for example, “New life of the detective Gurov”.
• In many parts of the series, supporting actors of the past and the present played the role of the second plan: Viktor Proskurin (1st film), Yaroslav Boyko and Anna Snatkina (2nd film), Lev Durov (6th film), Vladimir Gostyukhin (7th film), Yevgeny Leonov-Gladyshev (8th film), Vladimir Steklov (9th film).
• Olga Vasilyeva , who plays the role of Khromov’s wife in the series, is in real life the wife of actor Dmitry Nazarov , who plays the role of Khromov.

In each part of the serial by license plates, you can assume the place of action (the numbers are obviously fake, but the regions are real), for example:

• 1 film - 33 region ( Vladimir region , and the shooting really took place in Vladimir ^[7] ). When asked by his wife, how far Khromov is going on a business trip, he replies: “Not far, 700 kilometers” - Vladimir region is much closer to Moscow, Vladimir himself is only 176 km from Moscow.
• 3 film - 69 region ( Tver region ). The role of the museum was played by the Tver Track Palace , in which an art gallery is indeed located. The heroes come to the fictional town of Klimov (which belongs to the Tver region directly mentioned in the film) on the Moscow-St. Petersburg train and leave at the station with typical architecture for the historical Nikolayevskaya railway - Tver station played its role.
• 4 film - 39 region ( Kaliningrad region )
• 6 film - 59 region ( Perm region )
• 7 film - 24 region ( Krasnoyarsk Territory ), also directly refers to the place of action - the fictional city of Ust-Ungur - to the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
• 9 film - 96 region ( Sverdlovsk region )

• "Challenge" on the site "Encyclopedia of the national cinema"
• Page series on the website of the channel "Russia"
• Page series on the site of the First Channel. World Wide Web (unavailable link)
• Alexander Babitsky. “Challenge”: the hard work of investigators // Our film 27.07.09
• Ruslan Akhmetov. Challenging call. Did you watch? // Literary newspaper number 29 (6233) (2009-07-15)
• The series "Challenge": a mystical detective