"Little House on Prairie," adults-only version!

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children's television series "Little House on the Prairie" suitable for adult viewing only.

To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company's Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela told Reuters on Wednesday.

Finnish authorities charge 2 euros ($2.57) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s."

"Long series can get quite expensive to check, and some use this exemption in the law to their advantage," said Matti Paloheimo, Director at the Finnish Board of Film Classification.

"Such unchecked material should not be shown to children publicly," he added.

Little House on the Prairie, which ran from 1974 to 1983, portrayed life in the U.S. West in the late 1800s and was based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book of the same name.

It remains popular in Finland, and is still shown weekly on Sunday mornings on state-owned broadcaster YLE.

(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen)

The Little House stories are known around the world. While chatting with a Thai woman in Bangkok a couple of years ago, her knowledge of the United States was obviously limited but when I said that I lived in Minnesota, she said, "Oh, yes! Walnut Grove, home of Laura Ingalls Wilder!"  Nellie Oleson might be a tart, but let's hope we never see a Thai adult version of Little House.