The Defender () is a Czech drama television series, that premiered on Czech Television in 2021. Series also appeared at Serial Killer festival. It won Czech Film Critics' Award in category "Outside Kino."
Series focuses on a teacher Aleà ¡ Pelán who becomes School Ombudsman to stand up for children, parents and teachers in need. Pelán's cases include teacher bullied by her students, investigation of a pupil's suicide, girl who has never attended school, parents of students harassed by their classmate or sexual abuse of students by their teacher. All episodes are inspired by real cases.
Director of the ÃÂT1 program Milan Fridrich mentioned that spin-off is in production. On 19 March 2024 Czech Television announced series Ratolesti which was called thematical sequel to The Defender. It is set for broadcast in 2025.