# High Water
**High Water** (Polish: *Wielka woda*) is a 2022 Polish limited drama series for Netflix, in six episodes, about the July 1997 Millennium Flood that threatened the city of Wrocław. It was directed by Jan Holoubek and Bartłomiej Ignaciuk and premiered on Netflix on October 5, 2022.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *Wielka woda*[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/high-water) |
| Format | Six-episode limited drama series, TV-MA, episodes of about 43 minutes[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/high-water) |
| Premiere | October 5, 2022, on Netflix[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water) |
| Subject | The July 1997 Millennium Flood, which hit Poland as well as parts of the Czech Republic and Germany, and threatened Wrocław[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water) |
| Directors and writers | Directed by Jan Holoubek and Bartłomiej Ignaciuk; written by Kasper Bajon and Kinga Krzemińska; produced and originated by Anna Kępińska[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water) |
| Lead cast | Agnieszka Żulewska, Tomasz Schuchardt, Ireneusz Czop, and Tomasz Kot[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water) |
| Reception | 10 million views within roughly a dozen days of release; a top-ten non-English language series in 78 countries; 84% on Rotten Tomatoes[3](https://www.polishculture.nl/en/2022/11/02/high-water-a-polish-hit-series-on-netfilx/) • [4](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/netflix/netflixs-1-show-la-palma-hasnt-gone-down-a-storm-with-viewers-here-are-3-better-disaster-thrillers-with-over-80-percent-on-rotten-tomatoes) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and characters
The series is set in July 1997, when scientists and local government officials in Wrocław face life-and-death decisions as a destructive flood wave approaches the city. Jakub Marczak (Tomasz Schuchardt), an ambitious clerk who heads the municipal government, recruits the hydrologist Jaśmina Tremer (Agnieszka Żulewska), whose own history is troubled, to assist in rescuing the city. At the same time, Andrzej Rębacz (Ireneusz Czop) returns to his village near Wrocław and unexpectedly leads residents resisting the disaster response. Under time pressure, the authorities make a decision that changes the lives of the main characters and the history of the region.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water)
The supporting cast includes Anna Dymna, Jerzy Trela, Blanka Kot, Jacek Beller, Klara Bielawka, Lech Dyblik, Roman Gancarczyk, Łukasz Garlicki, and Tomasz Kot.[5](https://wroclawfilmcommission.pl/en/high-water-end-of-shooting-of-netflixs-polish-production/) Dymna plays Lena Tremer and Trela plays Rębacz's father.[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/high-water)
## Historical basis
The show is inspired by the real-life Millennium Flood of July 1997, which hit Poland as well as parts of the Czech Republic and Germany; Netflix states this was the first time the story of the flood was adapted for the screen.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water) In Poland the flood claimed 114 lives, left 7,000 families without homes, and cost nearly 40,000 people all their possessions, making it the biggest natural disaster in post-war Poland.[3](https://www.polishculture.nl/en/2022/11/02/high-water-a-polish-hit-series-on-netfilx/) One review gives a lower death toll of 56 people for the flood; the two accounts differ and the exact figure is not settled between them.[6](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/highwater-s1review/) • [3](https://www.polishculture.nl/en/2022/11/02/high-water-a-polish-hit-series-on-netfilx/)
The characters themselves are fiction created for the script, though the production grounded them in testimony: after the creative team spoke with hundreds of flood survivors and witnesses, producer and creator Anna Kępińska described the aim as capturing the moods and emotions of the events in a universal story about difficult decisions, the conflict of generations, and the tensions between the individual and the collective, the city and the countryside.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water) The series combines fact and fiction and intercuts archive footage of the flood, and it was produced to mark the flood's 25th anniversary.[7](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/high-water)
## Production
Filming took place in Wrocław and Lower Silesia, and the shoot had wrapped by the time the Wrocław Film Commission announced the production, with the premiere then scheduled for 2022.[5](https://wroclawfilmcommission.pl/en/high-water-end-of-shooting-of-netflixs-polish-production/) The production company was Telemark.[8](https://www.crew-united.com/en/High-Water__284111.html) Polish-German relations appear in the series through one character's family situation, with Polish and German mixed in conversation, sometimes within a single sentence.[3](https://www.polishculture.nl/en/2022/11/02/high-water-a-polish-hit-series-on-netfilx/)
## Reception
Within about a dozen days of its October 5, 2022 premiere the series reached 10 million views and stayed in the top ten most-watched non-English language series in 78 countries, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and France.[3](https://www.polishculture.nl/en/2022/11/02/high-water-a-polish-hit-series-on-netfilx/) It holds an 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes.[4](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/netflix/netflixs-1-show-la-palma-hasnt-gone-down-a-storm-with-viewers-here-are-3-better-disaster-thrillers-with-over-80-percent-on-rotten-tomatoes) Reviewers described it as a methodically paced, politically charged, character-driven ensemble drama that avoids soapy melodrama, though some judged that the story did not need six episodes.[6](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/highwater-s1review/) Even before it aired, it was compared to [Craig Mazin](https://www.edgepedia.org/craig-mazin) and [Johan Renck](https://www.edgepedia.org/johan-renck)'s HBO series *Chernobyl*, and Culture.pl called it one of the most impressive Polish series of recent decades.[9](https://culture.pl/en/work/high-water-jan-holoubek-bartlomiej-ignaciuk) A survey-based academic study found that *Wielka woda* was the series most often mentioned by Polish respondents as a shared viewing experience, though interviewees were unsure whether to class it as historical.[10](https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/download/49828/40301/122809)
## References
1. [Netflix Debuts Trailer for Suspense Filled Polish Drama Series 'High Water', About Netflix](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-debuts-trailer-for-suspense-filled-polish-drama-series-high-water)
2. [High Water, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/high-water)
3. [High Water a Polish hit series on Netflix, Polish Culture NL](https://www.polishculture.nl/en/2022/11/02/high-water-a-polish-hit-series-on-netfilx/)
4. [Netflix's #1 show La Palma... 3 better disaster thrillers, TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/netflix/netflixs-1-show-la-palma-hasnt-gone-down-a-storm-with-viewers-here-are-3-better-disaster-thrillers-with-over-80-percent-on-rotten-tomatoes)
5. ["HIGH WATER" – End of Shooting of Netflix's Polish Production, Wroclaw Film Commission](https://wroclawfilmcommission.pl/en/high-water-end-of-shooting-of-netflixs-polish-production/)
6. [High Water Season 1 Review, The Review Geek](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/highwater-s1review/)
7. [High Water – Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/high-water)
8. [High Water, TV Series, Crew United](https://www.crew-united.com/en/High-Water__284111.html)
9. [High Water – Jan Holoubek, Bartłomiej Ignaciuk, Culture.pl](https://culture.pl/en/work/high-water-jan-holoubek-bartlomiej-ignaciuk)
10. [Social Attitudes Towards Historical Films in Contemporary Poland, Image journal](https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/download/49828/40301/122809)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Historical and period drama*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license