Swedish Television's Christmas calendar () previously Swedish Television's Advent calendar () is a Christmas calendar television series mainly for children, broadcast by Sveriges Television (Sweden's national public television broadcaster) since 1960 and has developed into an essential part of contemporary Swedish Christmas tradition.

Every series consists of 24 episodes (with a few exceptions), broadcast daily 1–24 December. The theme for most series have some connection to Christmas. Prior to 1971, it was called . Sveriges Radio also has a tradition of broadcasting a similar series on the radio each year and prior to 1973, it was always the same series on the radio and on television (with a few differences in adaptation, depending on the medium), but since then, it has been a different series on the radio and on television. In the beginning, the series began on Advent Sunday, but nowadays, it always starts on 1 December; it has always ended on Christmas Eve (24 December). Thus, for instance, the 1967 series had only 22 episodes, since the Advent Sunday of that year was 3 December.

Along with each series, there is always the opportunity to buy a paper calendar with a window to open each day. These are available in most Swedish retail outlets, shops, supermarkets etc. and the windows usually contain images of something to do with the plot of that day's episode.

Every series from 1988 onwards has been released on DVD, as well as some series before that. From the 1980s, all but the 1980 and 1987 series have been released. From the 1960s, the 1967 and 1969 series are available and from the 1970s, the 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1979 series are available. Until 2011, the older series were released by Pan Vision, but from 2012, distribution has been taken over by Scanbox Entertainment. There are usually two or three new series releases in the autumn each year.

List Year Title English translation DVD release date Notes 1960 Titteliture Titteliture TBA The premiere was on 27 November (Advent Sunday) and not 1 December, but the series still contained 24 episodes, since Swedish Television did not broadcast on Wednesdays at this time. 1961 Julbåten Juliana The Christmas Boat Juliana TBA 1962 Tomtefamiljen i Storskogen The Santa Claus Family in the Big Woods TBA 1963 Den tänkande brevbäraren The Thinking Postman TBA This calendar is also known as Brevbäraren vid TV-gatan (The Mailman on Television Street; in radio, it was called Brevbäraren vid Radiogränd [The Mailman in Radio Alley]) and the mailman was played by Stig Grybe. 1964 Lill-Stina på reportage i Storskogen Little Stina on report in the Big Woods TBA 1965 Farbror Pekkas handelsbod Uncle Pekka's Shop TBA The at the time very popular Pekka Langer had a shop in the woods. 1966 En småstad vid seklets början A Small Town at the Beginning of the Century. TBA In radio, it was called En jul för 50 år sedan (A Christmas 50 years ago) and it was set just before World War I. 1967 Gumman som blev liten som en tesked The Little Old Lady who Became as Small as a Teaspoon Birgitta Andersson played Teskedsgumman (Mrs. Pepperpot) and Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt played her husband. The series began on 3 December (Advent Sunday), so there were only 22 episodes and not 24. In 1973 there were new episodes made in colour. This series was simply called Teskedsgumman, but it was not a Christmas calendar. 1968 Klart spår till Tomteboda All Aboard for Tomteboda TBA 1969 Herkules Jonssons storverk The Labours of Hercules Jonsson The boy Herkules Jonsson was played by James Dickson, while his dad "Bara Jonsson" was played by Tage Danielsson, who also wrote and produced the series. This was the first time the calendar was made in colour. The series contained 25 episodes instead of 24, since it began on 30 November (Advent Sunday). 1970 Regnbågslandet The Rainbow Land TBA 1971 Broster, Broster! Broster, Broster! TBA The series concerned a family, expecting a new family member at Christmas. As the other children in the family did not know whether they would have a brother or a sister, they combined the two words into "broster". 1972 Barnen i Höjden The Children in the Heights 1973 Mumindalen Moominvalley This was the first time the calendar was broadcast on Swedish Channel 2, which not everyone in the country could watch at the time. This was also the first time there were different calendars in radio and on television. 1974 Rulle på Rullseröd Rulle at Rullseröd 1975 Långtradarchaufförens berättelser The Lorry Driver's Stories TBA Beppe Wolgers played the lorry driver, who was told various stories by hitchhikers. 1976 Gumman som blev liten som en tesked The Little Old Lady who Became as Small as a Teaspoon Rerun from 1967. 1977 Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter Five Ants Are More than Four Elephants The original series was broadcast in 1973 and 1975. This series contained parts from the original one, with sequences of "window opening" with the three main characters Magnus, Brasse and Eva added. The windows of the calendar were not numbered, but had letters on them. Since each episode concerned one of the letters of the Swedish alphabet, this calendar had 28 episodes and therefore started on 27 November (which happened to be Advent Sunday). The window openings and parts of the episodes themselves are included in the DVD box with the original series. 1978 Julius Julskötare Julius, the Christmas Caretaker Björn Skifs played Julius. 1979 Trolltider Troll Times Birgitta Andersson and Eva Rydberg played the main characters, two trolls. 1980 Det blir jul på Möllegården Christmas on the Mölle Farm TBA 1981 Stjärnhuset The Star House Sif Ruud told Johannes Brost about Greek mythology. 1982 Albert & Herberts julkalender Albert & Herbert's Advent Calendar A Christmas spin-off from Albert & Herbert, which in turn, was a Swedish remake of the British series Steptoe and Son. 1983 Lille Luj och Änglaljus i strumpornas hus Little Eluy and Angel Light in the House of Stockings Staffan Westerberg made this calendar where his figures of Lillstrumpa och Syster Yster (Little Sock and Sister Skittish) turned up for the first time. 1984 Julstrul med Staffan & Bengt Christmas Troubles with Staffan & Bengt 1985 Trolltider med trollkalender Troll Times with the Troll Calendar Rerun from 1979. 1986 Julpussar och stjärnsmällar Christmas Kisses and Star Explosions 1987 Marias barn Mary's Child TBA 1988 Liv i luckan med julkalendern Life in the [Calendar] Window with the Advent Calendar 1989 T. Sventon praktiserande privatdetektiv T. Sventon, Consulting Detective 1990 Kurt Olssons julkalender Kurt Olsson's Advent Calendar 1991 Sunes jul Sune's Christmas Also had a spin-off in the 1993 film Sune's Summer. 1992 Klasses julkalender Klasse's Advent Calendar This is the only time the Calendar has been broadcasten live, since people could make phone calls to it. The episodes were unusually long (30 minutes) and it began on 29 November (Advent Sunday), so there were 26 episodes all in all. 1993 Tomtemaskinen The Santa Machine 1994 Håll huvet kallt Keep Your Head Cool 1995 Jul i Kapernaum Christmas in Capernaum Each episode consisted of two parts – one with a continuous adventure played by actors and one with free standing episodes with puppets. The entire series was published on VHS, but the DVD edition only contains the continuous adventure. 1996 Mysteriet på Greveholm The Mystery at Greveholm This was the first Christmas calendar that had its own website. 1997 Pelle Svanslös Peter No-Tail This series had a spin-off in the movie Pelle Svanslös och den stora sKattjakten (Peter No-Tail and the Big Treasure Hunt) in 2000, where the K in "sKattjakten" is capitalised as a note to the fact that all the characters are cats (Swedish "katt"). 1998 När karusellerna sover When the Carousels Sleep It was filmed in Liseberg 1999 Julens hjältar The Heroes of Christmas 2000 Ronny & Julia Ronny & Julia 2001 Kaspar i Nudådalen Caspar in the Now-Then-Valley 2002 Dieselråttor & sjömansmöss Diesel Rats and Sailor Mice 2003 Håkan Bråkan Håkan the Trouble Maker This series had a spin-off in the movie Håkan Bråkan & Josef in 2004. 2004 Allrams höjdarpaket Allram's Hit Parcel The main characters Allram Eest and Tjet (two puppets) made their debut in the series Allra mest tecknat in 2002. 2005 En decemberdröm A December Dream 2006 LasseMajas detektivbyrå LasseMaja's Detective Agency This was the first Christmas calendar broadcast in HDTV (720p). It had a spin-off in the movie LasseMajas detektivbyrå – Kameleontens hämnd in 2008. 2007 En riktig jul A Proper Christmas 2008 Skägget i brevlådan The Beard in the Mailbox 2009 Superhjältejul Superhero Christmas The main characters Supersnällasilversara and Stålhenrik made their debut in Swedish Television's children's show Bolibompa and then had their own series Supersnällasilversara och Stålhenrik in 2004. 2010 Hotell Gyllene knorren The Golden Twist Hotel This series also had a spin-off in the movie Hotell Gyllene Knorren – Filmen in 2011. 2011 Tjuvarnas jul The Thieves' Christmas 14 November 2012 2012 Mysteriet på Greveholm: Grevens återkomst Mystery at Greveholm: Return of the Count 13 February 2013 This series is a sequel from the 1996 years Christmas calendar, Mysteriet på Greveholm. 2013 Barna Hedenhös uppfinner julen The Hedenhös Children Invent Christmas 5 November 2014 This series is based on the books by children's author Bertil Almqvist 2014 Piratskattens hemlighet The Secret of the Pirate Treasure 5 October 2015 This series was filmed in Croatia, becoming the first Sveriges Television's Christmas calendar program to be mostly filmed outside of Sweden. 2015 Tusen år till julafton A Thousand Years until Christmas Eve TBA 2016 Selmas saga Selma's Story 2 October 2017 2017 Jakten på tidskristallen Hunt for the time crystal TBA 2018 Storm på Lugna gatan Storm at Calm street 7 October 2019 2019 Panik i tomteverkstan Panic in Santa's Workshop 7 December 2020 2020 Mirakel Miracle 4 October 2021 2021 En hederlig jul med KnyckertzAn Honest Christmas with Knyckertz 24 October 2022 2022 Kronprinsen som försvannThe Crown Prince who disappeared TBA 2023 Trolltider – legenden om BergatrolletTroll Times - the legend of the mountain troll 4 November 2024 Reboot of the 1979 Sveriges Television's Christmas calendar. 2024 Snödrömmar Snow Dreams TBA 2025 Tidstjuven The Time Thief TBA Year Title English translation DVD release date Notes

See also Jullovsmorgon Sommarlovsmorgon Sveriges Radio's Christmas Calendar

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Further reading

External links