Netflix has commissioned the new Polish original Skóry (Stiffs), a six-episode scripted series from Jan Holoubek and Kasper Bajon, produced by Fremantle Polska, that explores the “Skin Hunters” case that shocked Poland in the early 2000s.
Holoubek and Bajon are known for High Water and Heweliusz. In Skóry, set to premiere in 2028, they turn their attention to an infamous case in Poland when an investigative report revealed that ambulance service employees had been selling information about patients’ deaths to funeral homes, and some had deliberately caused patients to die. Tomasz Patora, author of the nonfiction book Skin Hunters: Secrets of the Crimes at the Łódź Ambulance Service, served as a consultant during script development. The directors stress that the series itself is a work of fiction, not a journalistic reconstruction of the case.
“What interests us is how greed can drive someone to commit a crime,” Bajon, director and writer of Skóry, said. “What drove these people? Why couldn’t they stop, even when human lives were the price? The lure of easy money and the expectation of instant rewards are not confined to the past—they are impulses we still recognize today.”
“This is not only one of the most notorious criminal scandals in Poland’s recent history, but also an extreme example of the moral collapse of a public service,” added Holoubek, director. “And yet, I still feel that this story has never been fully told. It is difficult to comprehend its scale or understand how it could have happened. I believe, however, that revisiting it may offer a way of reckoning with the past and paying tribute both to those who lost their lives and to those who suffered for years because of these atrocities. It is also our responsibility to show the broader social and economic realities of Poland’s transformation—a context that cannot be separated from these crimes.”
