Zmiennicy () is a Polish comedy TV series that aired on TVP1 from 18 October 1987 to 12 February 1988. It was co-written and directed by Stanisà Âaw Bareja, and stars Ewa Bà Âaszczyk and Mieczysà Âaw Hryniewicz in the leading roles of Katarzyna Piórecka and Jacek à »ytkiewicz. Initially, Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieà Âlak was supposed to play the female lead, but she declined; Krzysztof Stelmaszyk and Cezary Harasimowicz were considered for the male lead before Hryniewicz was cast.
The series had the working title Zawód â taksówkarz (). The shooting took place in 1985âÂÂ86, with the series completed in autumn 1986. Filming locations include Warsaw, Drzymaà Âowo, Zatory, Kraków and Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Poland), Bangkok (Thailand) and Berlin (West Germany).
Five DVD compilations were released by Carisma, each containing three episodes, with the first released on 12 October 2006, and the fifth on 22 February 2007. A complete boxset of the series was released on 11 July 2007.
Jacek à »ytkiewicz, a taxi driver for the Warsaw Taxi Company (WPT), drives a blue taxicab No. 1313 in turns with his sub Stanisà Âaw Lesiak. In an idiosyncratic accident, the cab is crushed by a falling mouse statue and Stanisà Âaw lands in the hospital.
Simultaneously, Kasia Piórecka works as a minibus driver for the Tuchola Forest Cooperative Communication Equipment Factory. After a sexual harassment attempt, she resigns from a job she never liked and applies to be a taxi driver for WPT, but her application is rejected due to safety concerns. At that time, the taxi driver was exclusively a male job in Poland and with several attacks on or even murders of taxi drivers it was believed that a woman might be even more prone to be attacked. This does not stop Kasia, and again, disguised en homme as Marian Koniuszko, she tries and becomes employed in WPT. She, being Marian (a male name in Polish), becomes a new sub of Jacek in a new, yellow-painted taxicab No. 1313.
Living a double life is a complicated endeavour. At certain point, Jacek meets Kasia in her female guise, falls in love and starts dating her. Jacek is unaware that his girlfriend is the same person who is his sub. Kasia is still not willing to reveal her double identity fearing losing her job. This state leads to many complicated situations. Things get even worse when it happens that their taxicab is a key instrument in a large heroin-smuggling plot and two rival gangs will try anything to regain it at any cost.