neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The Sto ...

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Liv Lisa Fries Liv Lisa Fries (born 31 October 1990 in Berlin) is a German actress who has appeared in several films and who gained an international following as the female lead Charlotte Ritter in the German TV series ''Babylon Berlin'', which first premiered ...

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Liv Lisa Fries Liv Lisa Fries (born 31 October 1990 in Berlin) is a German actress who has appeared in several films and who gained an international following as the female lead Charlotte Ritter in the German TV series ''Babylon Berlin'', which first premiered ...

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee length was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their ...

Neukölln Neukölln (), officially abbreviated Neuk, is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located south-east of Berlin's center and stretches from the inner city southward to the border with Brandenburg, encompassing the eponymous quarter of Neu ...

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

Berlin Police The Berlin Police (; formerly , ) is the force for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state () agencies. The Berlin Police is headed by the ('Chief of Police'), Dr. Barbara Slowik. ...

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Matthias Brandt as Councillor August Benda, the Jewish chief of the "Political Police" department of the Berlin Police. A tenacious investigator and true believer in the Weimar Republic, Benda is equally loathed by monarchists,

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

, and

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

; for years, he has been investigating the

Black Reichswehr The Black Reichswehr () was the unofficial name for the extra-legal paramilitary formation that was secretly a part of the German military ( Reichswehr) during the early years of the Weimar Republic. It was formed in 1921 after the German govern ...

(seasons 1–2) * Leonie Benesch as Greta Overbeck, a down-on-her-luck childhood friend of Charlotte Ritter who eventually finds a job as

domestic servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or childcare, care for children and ...

to Councillor Benda and his family and reluctantly gets entwined in an assassination scheme (seasons 1–3) *

Severija Janušauskaitė Severija Janušauskaitė (born 22 October 1981) is a Lithuanian stage and film actress, occasionally performing as a singer, composer, costume designer and fashion model. She is well known for her role in the drama film ''Star (2014 film), Star'' ...

as Countess Svetlana Sorokina ("Sveta")/ Nikoros, a White Russian émigré, crossdressing singer at the ''Moka Efti''

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

, and spy for the

Soviet secret police There were a succession of Soviet secret police agencies over time. The Okhrana was abolished by the Provisional government after the first revolution of 1917, and the first secret police after the October Revolution, created by Vladimir Leni ...

(seasons 1–2) * Ivan Shvedoff as Alexei Kardakov, an anti-Stalinist Russian refugee and the leader of a fictional

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

cell in Berlin called the "Red Fortress" (season 1; guest season 2) * Lars Eidinger as Alfred Nyssen, a steel manufacturer with links to

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

and

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European paramilitary volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenaries or private military companies, rega ...

officers plotting to overthrow the Republic and restore

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

to the German throne and who detests the ruling

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(seasons 1–4) * as Stephan Jänicke, a young detective in the

Berlin Police The Berlin Police (; formerly , ) is the force for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state () agencies. The Berlin Police is headed by the ('Chief of Police'), Dr. Barbara Slowik. ...

who has been assigned by Councillor Benda to investigate Wolter for ties to the

Black Reichswehr The Black Reichswehr () was the unofficial name for the extra-legal paramilitary formation that was secretly a part of the German military ( Reichswehr) during the early years of the Weimar Republic. It was formed in 1921 after the German govern ...

(season 1; recurring season 2) * Mišel Matičević as Edgar Kasabian, "the Armenian", the impeccably dressed owner of the ''Moka Efti'' cabaret and the leader of

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

in Berlin; a ruthless but deeply principled gangster, he acts as a secret protector to Inspector Gereon Rath for personal reasons (season 1–3; recurring season 4) * Henning Peker as Franz Krajewski, a drug addict who works as a police informant (season 1; guest season 3) * Fritzi Haberlandt as Elisabeth Behnke, a kind friend of Bruno Wolter who maintains a boarding house where Inspector Rath stays (seasons 1–4) * Karl Markovics as Samuel Katelbach, an eccentric writer and sometimes journalist who befriends Rath at the boarding house (seasons 1–4) *

Jens Harzer Jens Harzer (born 14 March 1972) is a German stage, film, and television actor. He began his career at the Munich Kammerspiele, and has been a member of the Thalia Theater (Hamburg), Thalia Theatre in Hamburg since 2009. He has appeared at the S ...

as Dr. Anno Schmidt, a mysterious doctor whose atypical practices are considered

fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fri ...

by the Berlin medical community but heralded by others, including The Armenian (seasons 1–4) * Ernst Stötzner as Major General Wilhelm Seegers, a member of the Reichswehr's

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

and DCI Bruno Wolter's

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

during the Great War; he opposes the Republic and is up to many secret activities (seasons 1–2; guest seasons 3–4) * Jördis Triebel as Dr. Völcker, a communist doctor who disagrees with the practices of the Berlin police department (seasons 1–4) * Christian Friedel as Reinhold Gräf, a photographer for the Berlin police department who works closely with Rath (seasons 1–4) * as Col. Trokhin, a Soviet diplomat and official of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

who targets anti-Stalinists (seasons 1–2) * Thomas Thieme as Karl Zörgiebel, the stern police chief of Berlin and former chief of Cologne (seasons 1–3) * Hannah Herzsprung as Helga Rath, Inspector Gereon Rath's secret lover of more than ten years and the wife of his brother, who has been missing since the First World War (seasons 2–4; recurring season 1) * Ivo Pietzcker as Moritz Rath, Gereon Rath's nephew and Helga's son whose curiosity gets him into trouble (seasons 2,4; recurring season 3) * Benno Fürmann as

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Gottfried Wendt, an ambitious and untrustworthy political police counselor who is a power player with the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

(seasons 2–4; guest season 1) * Ronald Zehrfeld as Walter Weintraub, the mysterious and ruthless partner of the Armenian who returns from time in prison (seasons 3–4) * Meret Becker as Esther Kasabian, a former actress married to the Armenian who dreams of returning to acting as well as reconciling the men she loves (seasons 3–4) * Udo Samel as Ernst "Buddha" Gennat, the stern but kind head of Berlin's Homicide Department, based on a real director of the Berlin criminal police (seasons 3–4; recurring season 2) * Luc Feit as Leopold Ullrich, detail-oriented police analyst (season 3; recurring season 2) * Trystan Pütter as Hans Litten, a pro bono attorney interested in Greta's case, based on a real lawyer (seasons 3–4) * Thorsten Merten as Alfons Henning, a homicide investigator working under Rath with Czerwinski (seasons 3–4; recurring seasons 1–2) * Rüdiger Klink as Paul Czerwinski, a homicide investigator working under Rath with Henning (seasons 3–4; recurring seasons 1–2) * Godehard Giese as Wilhelm Böhm, a high-ranking homicide detective who often clashes with Rath and Ritter (seasons 3–4; recurring seasons 1–2) * Saskia Rosendahl as Marie-Luise Seegers, a communist law student who disagrees with her father General Seegers (seasons 3–4) * Sabin Tambrea as Tristan Rot, aka Herbert Plumpe, widower of Betty Winter, a melodramatic actor with an interest in the occult (season 3) * Julius Feldmeier as Otto Wollenberg/ Horst Kessler, a friend of Fritz with villainous intentions (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2) * Jacob Matschenz as Fritz Höckert/Richard Pechtmann, a friend of Otto with villainous intentions (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2) * Irene Böhm as Antonie Ritter ("Toni"), Charlotte's younger sister (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3) * Hans-Martin Stier as Albert Grzesinski, Zörgiebel's successor (season 4; guest season 3) * Hanno Koffler as Walter Stennes, a young Nazi lieutenant who collaborates covertly with Wendt (season 4; recurring season 3) *

Martin Wuttke Martin Wuttke is a German actor and director. He has performed on many stages in the German-speaking theatre world, as well as in numerous films and TV series. He achieved international recognition for his portrayal of Adolf Hitler in the 2009 f ...

as Gustav Heymann, editor-in-chief of the newspaper ''Tempo'' (season 4; recurring season 3) * Sebastian Urzendowsky as Max Fuchs ("Reinstecke"), Kasabian's right-hand man (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3) * Mark Ivanir as Abraham Goldstein, a

Jewish American American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% id ...

gangster (season 4) * Moisej Bazijan as Jakob Grün, a jeweler and a relative of Goldstein (season 4) * Marie-Anne Fliegel as Annemarie Nyssen, Alfred's mother (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3) * Holger Handtke as Georg Wegener, the Nyssen family lawyer and Alfred's confidant (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3) * Peter Jordan as Fred Jacoby, a journalist and Gräf's romantic partner (season 4; recurring season 3)

Recurring

* Laura Kiehne as Ilse Ritter, Charlotte's older sister (seasons 1–3) * Pit Bukowski as Erich Ritter, Ilse's husband (seasons 1–2; guest season 3) * Anton Rattinger as Dr. Joseph Schwarz, a forensic pathologist at the University of Berlin (seasons 1–4) * Lilli Fichtner as Doris, a friend of Charlotte (seasons 1–4) * Johann Jürgens as Rudolf Malzig ("Rudi"), a medical student and friend of Charlotte and Stephan (seasons 1,4; guest seasons 2–3) * Joachim Paul Assböck as

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Anton von Beck, General Seeger's adjutant (seasons 1–2) * Waldemar Kobus as Joseph Döhmann, a pharmacist who regularly supplies Gereon with morphine in exchange for pornography (season 1) * Marie Gruber as Emmi Wolter, Bruno's wife (seasons 1–2) * Jeanette Hain as Irmgard Benda, August's wife (season 1–3) * Emil von Schönfels as Arndt Scheer, a young member of the SA and a friend of Moritz who has sexual relations with Wendt (seasons 3–4; guest season 1) * Caro Cult as Vera Lohmann, an actress who replaces Betty Winter in the film Demons of Passion after her murder (season 3) * Bernhard Schütz as Jo Bellmann, a film director (season 3) * Jenny Schily as Rosa Helfers, the warden of Barnimstrasse women's prison (season 3–4) * Lola Witzmann as Renate Cziczewicz, a young girl and vagrant who befriends Toni (seasons 3–4) * Ades Zabel as Hugo Wannmacher ("Red Hugo"), a mob boss who owns the Immertreu boxing ring (season 4) * Lenn Kudrjawizki as Oskar Kulanin, a Soviet double agent and Marie-Luise's love interest (season 4) * Sascha Nathan as Hermann Blank, editor-in-chief of the Nazi newspaper ''Der Angriff'' (season 4) * Joachim Meyerhoff as Dr. Ferdinand Voss, a corrupt judge and leader of the White Hand (season 4) * Nicolas Wolf as Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorff, Stennes' rival in ''Sturmabteilung Ost'' (season 4) * Wiebke Puls as Helene Voss, Ferdinand's wife and the warden of Sonnenborn detention facility (season 4) * Barbara Philipp as Elisabeth Krüger ("Iron-Else"), the mob boss who controls the boxing rings in the northern part of Berlin (season 4) * Karlheinz Schmitt as Eduard Brüning ("Knife-Ede"), a mob boss known for using knives as his signature weapons (season 4) * Herold Vomeer as Adolf Leib ("Muscle-Adolf"), a mob boss closely aligned with Weintraub (season 4) * Tobi B. as Jacob Reinhardt ("Blinde-Bob"), a mob boss from the northern part of Berlin (season 4) * Roberto Thoenelt as Robert Fitzek ("Rat-Robert"), a mob boss who is known for disposing his victims with rats (season 4) * Hannes Wegener as Johann "Rukeli" Trollmann, a German

Sinti The Sinti (masc. sing. ''Sinto''; fem. sing. ''Sintetsa, Sinta'') are a subgroup of the Romani people. They are found mostly in Germany, France, Italy and Central Europe, numbering some 200,000 people. They were traditionally Itinerant groups i ...

boxer and suspected half-brother of Charlotte (season 4) * Le Pustra as Edwina Morell, the flamed-haired host of Kabarett der Namenlosen and owner of the Luxor Nightclub (season 3–4)

Overview

Production

Development

The series was co-directed by

Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The Sto ...

, , and Achim von Borries, who also wrote the scripts. The 16 episodes of the first two seasons were adapted by Tykwer, von Borries and Handloegten from the novel ''Der nasse Fisch'' (''The Wet Fish'') (2008) by Volker Kutscher and were filmed over eight months beginning in May 2016. German public broadcaster ARD and pay TV channel Sky co-produced the series, a first time collaboration in German television. As part of the arrangement, Sky broadcast the series first, and ARD started broadcasts by free-to-air television on 30 September 2018.

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

purchased rights for the United States, Canada, and Australia, where the series became available in 2018 with English dubbing and subtitles. With a budget of €40 million that increased to €55 million due to reshoots, the series is described as the most expensive television drama series in Germany, as well as the most expensive non-English language television drama series ever produced.

Later seasons

The third season of ''Babylon Berlin'' was filmed over six months from late 2018 to May 2019. At the 32nd European Film Awards in December 2019,

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

s Achim von Borries, Henk Handloegten and Tom Tykwer stated that the third season was in post-production and that a fourth season was planned. The third season was developed loosely around the second novel in Volker Kutscher's trilogy ''The Silent Death''. The showrunners chose to diverge from the source material to better address the social and political unrest during the time period as they felt that the Weimar Republic is often overlooked by both media and historical sources. The third season is set in late 1929 around the Black Tuesday stock market crash and navigates the rise of the subversive

Black Reichswehr The Black Reichswehr () was the unofficial name for the extra-legal paramilitary formation that was secretly a part of the German military ( Reichswehr) during the early years of the Weimar Republic. It was formed in 1921 after the German govern ...

and

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

political groups as well as the advent of

talkies A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

. In a January 2020 interview with ''Berliner Zeitung'', actress Liv Lisa Fries said that production would likely begin on the fourth season in late 2020 or early 2021. Planning and writing for the fourth season, based on the novel ''Goldstein'', began in October 2020. Filming began in early 2021 and was completed in September 2021, with the production having shot for 129 days at Studio Babelsberg and at locations around Berlin. ''Season 4'' is set in late 1930 and early 1931. It premiered on 8 October 2022. The creators of ''Babylon Berlin'' have stated in numerous interviews that they intend to end the series at the year 1933, with the assumption of power by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. While the novels are set one per year, and have currently reached 1937, the seasons of the series have not followed that model, with Seasons 1, 2, and 3 all set in 1929 and Season 4 set in 1930–1931. Handloegten has stated that: "We decided to go on until 1933... if you call the show Babylon Berlin, it is about this special city in a very special time. And this special time, the Babylon times, the free and liberated times, just ended in 1933." Von Borries has spoken along similar lines, saying:

We always said it was over in 1933. If there is a final season, it would be the first months after the so-called seizure of power before the Reichstag fire. The National Socialists had turned the country upside down so fundamentally that the Babylonian in Berlin was over. After that we don't want to go on.

After

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital su ...

decided to stop ordering scripted originals in June 2023, the producers of the show ARD Degeto, X Filme Creative Pool and Beta Film committed to developing a fifth season. In a February 2024 interview, star Liv Lisa Fries said the fifth and final season is tentatively scheduled to film in late 2024. In June 2024, it was announced that the fifth and final season would be filmed in late 2024. It consists of eight episodes and is based on the fifth novel in the series, ''The March Fallen''. The season follows Charlotte investigating a series of murders of soldiers, while Gereon goes missing. It begins on 30 January 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, and continues through a five week period of violence by the Nazis against their political opponents, culminating with the

March 1933 German federal election March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...

on 5 March 1933, when Hitler gained total control of the government. Handloegten, von Borries and Tykwer said in a press release:

In the final season of Babylon Berlin, we put February 1933 under the magnifying glass: Rarely has a society been torn apart more radically in such a short period of time than Germany in this chaotic month. Not only Gereon Rath and Charlotte Ritter, but all our protagonists also must realize that they only have a few options left: Subordinate themselves, risk their lives in open opposition, retreat into inner emigration or flee into exile. However, this decisive month also opens the possibility of changing the course of history at the last second.

Era

In an interview with ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', one of the show's co-creators, Tom Tykwer, spoke about the era:

At the time people did not realize how absolutely unstable this new construction of society which the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
represented was. It interested us because the fragility of democracy has been put to the test quite profoundly in recent years... By 1929, new opportunities were arising. Women had more possibilities to take part in society, especially in the labour market as Berlin became crowded with new thinking, new art, theatre, music and journalistic writing.

Nonetheless, Tykwer insisted that he and his co-directors were determined not to idealize the Weimar Republic: "People tend to forget that it was also a very rough era in German history. There was a lot of poverty, and people who had survived the war were suffering from a great deal of trauma." In the first season,

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

, Soviets and especially

Trotskyists Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as a ...

play a prominent role (the Soviet ambassador to Germany from 1923 to 1930 was former

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

ally Nikolay Krestinsky). The show depicts what became known as Blutmai, violence between communist demonstrators and members of the

Berlin Police The Berlin Police (; formerly , ) is the force for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state () agencies. The Berlin Police is headed by the ('Chief of Police'), Dr. Barbara Slowik. ...

in early May 1929, and extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

, known as the Black Reichswehr. In the first season, the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

ambassador in Berlin, who appears to be a loyal Stalinist, is involved in the massacre of Trotskyists in the printing shop, who were buried in a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...

outside the city. According to Nathaniel Flakin, this event never happened. Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, on the other hand, is only mentioned in passing during the first two seasons of Babylon Berlin.

Locations

Babelsberg Studio Babelsberg Film Studio () (also known as Studio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about and a studio area of a ...

constructed a massive addition to its Metropolitan Backlot for the filming of the series and for future productions. This permanent standing set is billed as one of the largest in Europe. The set includes recreations of various Berlin neighbourhoods, from a range of economic classes. It also includes the large exterior of the night club ''Moka Efti''. In addition, the series was filmed throughout

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and at other locations in the surrounding state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

. Numerous scenes were filmed on

Alexanderplatz (, ''Alexander Square'') is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the north-ea ...

in front of the historic . The police headquarters, once located directly behind it, and other surrounding buildings, were destroyed in WWII, but were recreated with computer simulations. The

Rotes Rathaus The Red Town Hall ( ) is the town hall of Berlin, Germany, located in the Mitte (locality), Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the Governing Mayor of Berlin, governing mayor and the government (the Senate of B ...

(Berlin City Hall) was used for most closeup scenes involving the exterior of the police headquarters, because their red brick appearance and architectural style are very similar. Interiors of the police headquarters lobby were filmed at the

Rathaus Schöneberg Rathaus Schöneberg is the City and town halls, city hall for the Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, state senate of West Berlin a ...

, including scenes with its paternoster elevator, while the elegant Ratskeller restaurant in the same building was used as the nearby café ' in multiple scenes. Other interior scenes in the police headquarters were filmed in the historic . Interior scenes in the ''Moka Efti'' were filmed at the 'Delphi Cinema' in Berlin-Weissensee. Bar Tausend, in Berlin served as the show's Holländer Bar. A lengthy suspense sequence set during a performance of ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'', was filmed at the historic Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, where the play actually ran at the time. The in

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right ...

was used for scenes of Anno and Helga's wedding. The headquarters of the Katholischer Studentenverein Askania-Burgundia Berlin, located in a villa in Dahlem, were used for the residence of Councillor Benda and his family. The atrium of the was used as Dr. Schmidt's psychiatric clinic. The interiors and exteriors of the historic former were used as numerous locations in the series, including as the exterior of the Soviet Embassy. Because the complex was empty at the time of filming, it was also used as the production headquarters, and to house the show's thousands of costumes. Other scenes were filmed on

Museum Island The Museum Island (, ) is a museum complex on the northern part of Spree (river), Spree Island in the Mitte (locality), historic heart of Berlin, Germany. It is one of the capital's most visited sights and one of the most important museum sites ...

, in the Hermannplatz U-Bahn station, at the , and the Church of the Redeemer on the Havel river in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. Portions of the series were also filmed in the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. Scenes set at Schloss Liebenberg, the estate of the Nyssen family, were filmed at

Schloss Drachenburg Schloss Drachenburg or Drachenburg Castle is a private villa styled as a palace and constructed in the late 19th century. It was completed in only two years (1882–84) on the Drachenfels hill in Königswinter, a German town on the east bank of ...

, a castle in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

. The in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

was used as the Anhalter Güterbahnhof. The Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, a disused steel plant near

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

, was used as the factory adjacent to Bruno Wolter's apartment, in which numerous sequences take place. Scenes involving a steam train were filmed in the state of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

at the Bavarian Railway Museum near

Nördlingen Nördlingen (; Swabian: ''Nearle'' or ''Nearleng'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, with a population of approximately 20,674. It is located approximately east of Stuttgart, and northwest of Munich. It was ...

. A number of new locations were introduced in Season 3. Berlin's Old City Hall served as the interior and exterior of the Berlin Stock Exchange. The Ullsteinhaus was used as the editorial offices of the ''

Tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

'' newspaper, which were actually located there at the time. The Kammergericht in Berlin served as the

Ministry of the Reichswehr The Ministry of the Reichswehr () was the defence ministry of Germany from 1919 to 1938 during the Weimar Republic and early Nazi Germany periods. It was responsible for the '' Reichswehr'' under the leadership of the Minister of Defence and base ...

. The Cafe Grosz doubled for the historic Romanisches Café, destroyed in WWII. The District Council Hall of the was used for the court room for both Greta's trial in Season 3 and Katelbach's trial in Season 4. The Gästehaus am Lehnitzsee, a hotel housed in the historic , the pre-WWII mansion of Louis Adlon, manager of the famed Hotel Adlon, was used as the villa of Edgar and Esther Kasabian. New locations introduced in Season 4 include the

Karl-Marx-Allee Karl-Marx-Allee () is a boulevard built by East Germany between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after the German philosopher Karl Marx. It should not be confused with the Karl-Marx-Straße station ...

, used in multiple episodes as the Kurfürstendamm; the Amtsgericht Wedding, the exterior and interior of which appear in multiple episodes as the Landgericht Berlin-Mitte; and the GASAG Building on Littenstraße, used as the Berlin headquarters of the Nazi Party. File:Filmstudio Babelsberg Eingang.jpg,

Babelsberg Studio Babelsberg Film Studio () (also known as Studio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about and a studio area of a ...

in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

File:Babylonberlinfilmset.jpg, Production of ''Babylon Berlin'' on the Metropolitan Backlot, 2016 File:BabylonBerlinFilmset.jpg, Production of ''Babylon Berlin'' on the Metropolitan Backlot, 2016 File:Berlin Alexanderplatz - Alexanderhaus 1.jpg, Alexanderhaus, on Alexanderplatz File:Berlin im Frühjahr 2014 - panoramio (90).jpg, Side entrance of the Berlin City Hall, used as Police Headquarters File:Rathaus Schoeneberg.JPG, The lobby of the

Rathaus Schöneberg Rathaus Schöneberg is the City and town halls, city hall for the Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, state senate of West Berlin a ...

, used as the lobby of Police Headquarters File:Berlin schoeneberg rathaus 01.10.2013 10-09-22 ShiftN.jpg, Ratskeller Restaurant of the

Rathaus Schöneberg Rathaus Schöneberg is the City and town halls, city hall for the Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, state senate of West Berlin a ...

, used as Aschinger cafe File:Berlin%2C_Mitte%2C_Dorotheenstrasse%2C_Naturwissenschaftliche_Institute_der_Universitaet.jpg, Robert-Koch-Forum, used for interior scenes set at Police Headquarters File:U-Bahn Berlin Hermannplatz.JPG, Hermannplatz station in Berlin-Neukölln File:Stummfilmkino-Delphi-Berlin-Prenzlauer-Berg-04-2018.jpg, The former Delphi cinema in Berlin-Weissensee, used as the Moka Efti nightclub File:Berlin Berliner Ensemble.jpg, Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, location of ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'' sequences File:Berlin Immanuelkirche gesamt.JPG, Interior of the Immanuelkirche, used for Anno and Helga's wedding File:Dahlem Pücklerstraße Askania-Burgundia Korporationshaus.JPG, Villa in Dahlem used as the Benda residence File:Lichthof Behrensbau.jpg, Atrium of the Behrensbau, used as the psychiatric clinic File:Berlin, Mitte, Mauerstrasse 25-28, Deutsche Bank, Block II.jpg, Former Deutsche Bank headquarters, used as the Soviet Embassy File:Potsdam-Sacrow - Heilandskirche (Church of the Redeemer) - geo.hlipp.de - 29838.jpg, Church of the Redeemer at the Havel river in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

File:Schloss Drachenburg Bild 1.jpg, Drachenburg Castle in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

File:Galopprennbahn Hoppegarten Haupttribüne.jpg, Hoppegarten Racecourse File:RIM_Koeln_1.JPG, Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum, used as the Anhalter Güterbahnhof File:Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord (25643647868).jpg, Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord File:Ullsteinhaus_march_2015.jpg, Ullsteinhaus houses the offices of ''Tempo'' in Season 3 File:Altes Stadthaus, Westseite, Berlin-Mitte, 160213, ako.jpg, Berlin's Old City Hall, used as the stock exchange in Season 3 File:Kammergericht Berlin.jpg, The Kammergericht, used as the Ministry of the Reichswehr in Season 3 File:Kammergericht, Berlin-Schöneberg, Treppenhalle (1), 160809, ako.jpg, Lobby of the Kammergericht File:Rathaus Treptow8.jpg, District Council Hall of Rathaus Treptow File:Charlottenburg Haus Cumberland Cafe Grosz.JPG, Cafe Grosz was used as the Romanisches Café in Season 3 File:Woelckpromenade Berlin.jpg, Woelckpromenade 7, the exterior of Rath's apartment File:2019-08-06 Karl-Marx-Allee, Berlin.jpg,

Karl-Marx-Allee Karl-Marx-Allee () is a boulevard built by East Germany between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after the German philosopher Karl Marx. It should not be confused with the Karl-Marx-Straße station ...

, used as the Kurfürstendamm in Season 4 File:Amtsgericht Wedding.jpg, Amtsgericht Wedding, used as the Landgericht Berlin-Mitte in Season 4 File:Wedding-amtsgericht3.jpg, Lobby of the Amtsgericht Wedding File:Berlin, Mitte, Littenstraße, GASAG-Geschäftshaus 01.jpg, GASAG Building

Music

In 2018, the show formed an in-house band, The Moka Efti Orchestra, to perform the original music from the show. The group plays period-era music in a variety of styles ranging from

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

to

klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

. Named after the nightclub featured in ''Babylon Berlin'', The Moka Efti Orchestra is a 14-member group and is fronted by the Lithuanian actress

Severija Janušauskaitė Severija Janušauskaitė (born 22 October 1981) is a Lithuanian stage and film actress, occasionally performing as a singer, composer, costume designer and fashion model. She is well known for her role in the drama film ''Star (2014 film), Star'' ...

as Svetlana Sorokina. In the first double episode of the first season, Janušauskaitė's character, crossdressing as the male singer Nikoros, performs the main theme of the series, "" in the Moka Efti cabaret. This song was later released and charted on the German singles chart. The group performed in concert in May 2018 and, due to popular demand, toured the country later that year. With the release of the third season of the show, the musical group released their debut album (English: ''First Edition''). In addition to period music, " Dance Away", from the 1979 album ''

Manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

'' by

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

, plays occasionally in the background (adapted to the style of the period) and also included is an adaptation of " These Foolish Things" and, in the Season Two finale, a Russian version of "

Gloomy Sunday "Gloomy Sunday" ( Hungarian: ''Szomorú Vasárnap''), also known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song", is a song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress and published in 1933. The original lyrics were titled "Vége a világnak" (' ...

". Singer

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...

of Roxy Music appears toward the end of the first season as a cabaret singer performing "Bitter-Sweet", half in English, half in German, from the 1974 album '' Country Life''. A major action sequence in season two takes place during a performance of ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

''. The song "" ("The Ballad of Mack the Knife") is featured in that scene, and also as a plot device. Two different characters hum the tune, giving detective Rath clues to the unfolding plot.

Broadcast

''Babylon Berlin'' premiered in Germany on 13 October 2017 (Sky 1) and in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on Sunday, 5 November 2017 (Sky Atlantic). The series debuted in Australia, Canada, and the United States on 30 January 2018 (Netflix). Broadcasting on the German TV channel

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

started Sunday 30 September 2018. The Swedish broadcast began on 19 June 2019 on SVT. The third season premiered in Germany on Sky 1 in January 2020; and subsequently on German public television station ARD in October 2020. The international distribution rights for the third season were sold to more than one hundred countries and many different networks including

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, HBO Europe, and

Viaplay Viaplay is a Swedish video streaming service owned by Viaplay Group. History Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its first origina ...

in early 2019. In territories where the show was distributed by Netflix, the third season was released in its entirety on 1 March 2020. The series was removed from Netflix on 29 February 2024. The first three seasons of the series began streaming again in the United States on MHz Choice on April 16, 2024, the fourth season made its US premiere on the service on 25 June 2024.

Episodes

The first and second seasons, of eight episodes each, were written as one story (covering the first novel of the Kutscher book series) and filmed as one production. They premiered as one block, numbered 1–16 and have been broadcast throughout the world en bloc. In addition, all 16 episodes of both seasons were made available simultaneously on Netflix. In many territories the show was broadcast as a season comprising eight double-length episodes. The second block of 12 episodes are officially known as ''Season 3'' but were broadcast as ''Season 2'' in some territories where the previous episodes premiered as one block.

Season 1 (2017)

All episodes were written and directed by Henk Handloegten, Achim von Borries, and

Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The Sto ...

.

Season 2 (2017)

The second-season episodes were written and directed by Henk Handloegten, Achim von Borries, and Tom Tykwer.

Season 3 (2020)

Season 4 (2022)

Critical reception

On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the first season holds approval rating of 100% based on 30 reviews, with the critics consensus reading: "''Babylon Berlin''s humor and humanity pair nicely with its hypnotic visuals, resulting in a show that dazzles within its oversaturated genre." As of April 2019, ''Babylon Berlin'' was the highest rated non-English language show on Sky TV. Carolin Ströbele of ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'' praised the pilot, saying that it "is highly dynamic and unites sex, crime and history in a pleasantly unobtrusive manner." Christian Buss, cultural critic from ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'', praised the series for staying true to the tradition of "typically German angst cinema", in the vein of 1920s silent movies such as

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...

's ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

'' or

Robert Wiene Robert Wiene (; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a German film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer, active during the Silent film, silent era. He is widely-known for directing the landmark 1920 film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ...

's ''

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' () is a 1920 German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. The quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypno ...

''. "It could be that ''Babylon Berlin'' is the first big German TV production since ''

Das Boot (; ) is a 1981 West Germany, West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. An Film adaptation, adaptation of Lothar-Günthe ...

'' which enjoys really relevant success abroad. Let's not be shy to say it: we ermansare big again – as the world champions of angst."

Accolades

The series itself received several awards in 2018. These included a

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American Animated film, animated Coming of age, coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', the ...

in the category ''Beste Serie des Jahres (Best series of the year)'', four awards at the

Deutscher Fernsehpreis The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (''German Television Award'') is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999, by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL (German TV channel), RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalen ...

(best dramatical series; best cinematography for Frank Griebe, Bernd Fischer and Philip Haberlandt; best musical score for Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer; and best production design for Pierre-Yves Gayraud and Uli Hanisch), a special Bavarian TV Award and a Romy for TV event of the year. In the same year, everyone majorly involved with the production of the series won a Grimme-Preis, including Volker Bruch, Liv Lisa Fries, Peter Kurth, the three directors and several members of the technical team. Bruch also won a

Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show was usually held in early February in Hamburg, but also took place in Berlin on occasion. It has been paused ...

in the category Best German actor for his portrayal of Gereon Rath. The series' opening

title sequence A title screen (also called an opening screen or intro) is the method by which films or television show, television programmes present their title and key filmmaking, production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often an op ...

, created by German designer Saskia Marka and featuring a theme composed by Johnny Klimek and

Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The Sto ...

, was named the best title sequence of 2018 by industry website Art of the Title. In December 2019, the

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is a group of European film director, filmmakers who come together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. Every year, the European Film Academy honors films an ...

awarded the series with the inaugural Achievement in Fiction Series Award at the

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mos ...

.

Awards

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2017 German television series debuts German crime television series German drama television series 2010s German police procedural television series 2020s German police procedural television series German-language television shows Das Erste original programming Television shows based on German novels Television shows set in Berlin Fiction about post-traumatic stress disorder Grimme-Preis for fiction winners German LGBTQ-related television shows Neo-noir television series World War I in popular culture Works about the Weimar Republic Flappers Works by Tom Tykwer Television series set in 1929 Television series set in 1930 Television series set in 1931

Plot

Cast

Main

Recurring

Overview

Production

Development

Later seasons

Era

Locations

Music

Broadcast

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2017)

Season 3 (2020)

Season 4 (2022)

Critical reception

Accolades

Awards

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links