15 years "The Strangers" on bTV. The best of the series starts on June 16 at 16:00.

Journalist Georgi Toshev managed to tell the untold stories of Bulgarian and world personalities - from ABBA to Deepak Chopra

A selection of the best episodes from recent years of the popular documentary series "The Strangers" will be broadcast from 16 June, every Sunday at 16:00 on bTV.

The occasion is the 15th anniversary of the show, in which the journalist Georgi Toshev managed to meet with remarkable Bulgarian and world personalities, and to tell their untold
Stories. From the Swedish pop group ABBA, to Placido Domingo, Christo, Monica Bellucci, Brian May of Queen, Lili Ivanova and Stefan Danailov... to Deepak Chopra - all these great names had their exclusive interviews in the series that won 7 national and 9 international awards. Fifteen years ago, on June 7, 2009, filming began on the first episode dedicated to Tsvetana Maneva.

"I remember that the cameraman Rumen Vassilev and I followed the actress's morning walk in the Sea Garden and learned some of her daily rituals," Toshev recalls. During all these years he travelled thousands of kilometres with his team, met 317 characters, travelled to all continents, reaching Antarctica.

"For the summer programming schedule, I chose episodes from the last season and some from the previous two because I wanted it to be relevant," says Toshev. He is grateful to his team, who
over the years numbered 24 people. Most of his films have been shot with cinematographers Rumen Vassilev, Boris Pintev, Viktor Popov, and the directors he prefers to work with are Emma Konstantinova, Aglika Delaye, Kaloyana Klimentova and Antonia Barulova-Mikhailova.

"The most difficult interview was with the photographer Annie Leibowitz, who abruptly changed her mind about having a standard conversation and invited me to walk among her photographs in the Hermitage. Of course, my meetings with the four members of ABBA caused the most excitement, but that's no secret to anyone," recalls Toshev with a smile.

The first episode, which viewers will watch this Sunday (June 16) at 16:00 on bTV, is dedicated to the troupe of choreographer Mustafa Erdogan and the show "The Fire of Anatolia", which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in Istanbul at the end of June. By mid-September, viewers will be able to recall more exciting episodes, such as the one about the Bulgarians in the Friedrichstadt Palace Cabaret, the film about the actor Hristo Zhivkov starring Mel Gibson, the meeting with Deepak Chopra and others.

"I believe that interesting people do not have a gender, social or religious affiliation, they have an interesting story," adds Toshev.

Don't miss the best of the documentary series "The Strangers" - from 16 June (Sunday), every Sunday at 16:00 on bTV!