Many contemporary television programmes use television archive material in
remembering the recent past. While research on memory cultures on television has
developed over the past decade, there is very little research on the use of archive
material in fiction. This article analyses how archive material functions as an affec-
tive element in the Finnish drama series Uutishuone (Newsroom) (2009). The
article argues that television archive material in fiction is not just documentary
evidence of the past, but can also work as an affective element. Uutishuone uses
archive material as an affective element in three ways. First, scenes where char-
acters witness legendary television moments appeal with a sense of experiencing
history as it happens. Second, archive material functions as a melodramatic element
that expresses the feelings of fictional characters. Third, in some scenes the affective
charge of archive material derives from the sense that viewers know more about
future developments than the fictional characters. The affective use of archive mate-
rial enables Uutishuone to articulate ambivalent experiences of gender and social-
ism in the recent Finnish past.