Самозванцы: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

The Imposters (Самозванцы) revolves around a fictional famous author Aleksey Govorov who rose to fame by publishing The Imposters, a masterpiece novel written by his blacklisted friend in the 1960's.The original author having died shortly after, this secret remained hidden for thirty years while Govorov became a national treasure and symbol of righteousness. Now, with the approaching anniversary an unambitious but conscientious book critic discovers that the novel was likely written by Boris Ragozin, a long-forgotten author. Torn between duty to speak the truth and unwillingness to topple an esteemed public figure, he plans on confronting Govorov. 

Meanwhile, in a provincial town of Plinishmy, two twenty-year-old girls (Nina and Sasha) yearn to leave their dead-end lives and want to move to Moscow to achieve their dreams. There are rumours about Sasha being Govorov's granddaughter...

The lives of these four and the people around them get intertwined and tangled, with everyone lying, pretending someone they are not, and looking to get something out of others. Ironically, all of them are "the imposters".

Series details

• Title: Самозванцы
• Format: Scripted
• Language: Russian
• Premiere date: 1998-10-08
• Final broadcast date listed: 2002-03-05
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ТВ Центр
• Network country: Russian Federation
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 47932
• IMDb ID: tt0350453

Cast and credited roles

• Амалия Мордвинова — Нина
• Михаил Ульянов — Алексей Степанович Говоров
• Igor Kostolevsky — Леонид Владимирович Бельский
• Ирина Апексимова — Марина, жена Бельского
• Ekaterina Rednikova — Саша
• Людмила Полякова — Маша, домработница писателя Говорова
• Юрий Беляев — Константин, директор фирмы
• Марина Игнатова — Анна, сестра Бельского
• Алла Мещерякова — тетя Люся, врач
• Игорь Ливанов — Миша, тренер по фехтованию
• Евгений Стычкин — Митя Панин, писатель, ученик Говорова
• Вера Глаголева — Таня Шалумова, дочь друга Говорова, журналистка

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1998-10-08; final listed air date 1998-12-17; episode order: 11.
• Season 2: premiered 2001-01-29; final listed air date 2001-02-09; episode order: 11.
• Season 3: premiered 2002-02-14; final listed air date 2002-03-05; episode order: 11.

Source and licence

Adapted from Самозванцы on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.