BINGE FEVER!

A burned-out Berlin defense attorney in thrall to a gangster takes a mindfulness course and finds enlightenment. Not the path of virtue, but the way to dispatch the biggest problem in his life - the gangster. But then he has to assume control of the gangster’s criminal operation himself. 

The Kaulitz brothers have already worn many hats. The next chapter is “Kaulitz & Kaulitz”. In this Netflix production, it’s all about the Kaulitz brothers themselves, but it’s in the carefully crafted presentation that their true strength lies.

How many people still believe in extraterrestrials today? The new Netflix Germany series The Signal, starring Peri Baumeister, Florian David Fitz, and Yuna Bennett, explores the possibility of non-human life in space—and aims to do much more. 

How can we help young people understand the horrors of the Holocaust? Award-winning series creator Annette Hess demonstrates this in her bestselling adaptation “The Interpreter of Silence”, which focuses on Nazi crimes and the start of the Auschwitz trials in 1963. A story that is more relevant than ever in times of growing antisemitism and a political shift to the right.

In the new streaming series “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld”, the fashion icon is brought to life by Daniel Brühl, a Marvel superstar. Their star-to-star biopic treatment is only one of many on the scene.

Loosely based on true events, the Prime Video series „Luden“ sets viewers loose in Hamburg’s infamous St. Pauli red-light district at its seedy late 1970s and ‘80s peak. Our entry point into this world is the young Klaus Barkowsky who forms the “Nutella gang,” an upstart band of pimps who take on the reigning cartel of flesh peddlers.

Disturbing plot twists, brutal cliffhangers, plenty of creepy atmosphere, and in the middle of it all, a mysterious little girl: For thriller series like "Dear Child," the term "binge-watching" was invented.

It took long enough, but now even Disney+ is investing in "Made in Germany" original productions – and is entering the scene with a hard-hitting story: "Sam - A Saxon" narrates the rise and fall of the first black police officer in East Germany.

A picturesque mountain town conceals a criminal underworld that takes rich-guy privilege way past corruption into grotesque depravity, while the heroine is something of a sociopath herself, more comfortable communing with the dead than with human interaction. In this kind of crime thriller, trauma and psychoses make the world go round.

The series “Transatlantic” was inspired by the true story of American journalist Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee, which, during the time of the Vichy regime in France, aided over 2000 refugees, including numerous artists and intellectuals, in escaping from the Nazis.

Are you one of those people rolling their eyes at the seemingly never-ending “Sisi” mania? Don’t despair! Netflix has knocked the proverbial dust off the celluloid legacy of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria and Hungary, for a six-part drama entitled “The Empress”. The series includes plenty of intrigue, rebellion at the palace, and a glimpse of skin.

1987: Shortly after liquidating a businessman in West Berlin on behalf of a secret Stasi commando, top East German spy Kleo is arrested, denounced by the Stasi and even betrayed by her own grandfather.

There was immense hype in the run-up to its release: The team behind the wildly successful hit “Dark” promised even more mystery, even more thrills and chills, and even more riddles. So, was all the hard work worth it?

Modern-day Berlin is the favored locale of German showrunners looking to make binge-worthy series. There’s just something in the Berliner Luft that makes for compelling crime thrillers... call it the Berlin that tourists never see, if they’re lucky.

Queer Eye Germany offers a very different take on a binge-able series. The show is … nice. Charming. Inspiring, even. The premise is that a crew of host experts, all proudly queer, drops in on a different person each episode and helps them rethink their life, aided and abetted by a new wardrobe and a remodeled pad. But the true makeovers here happen on the psychic and emotional levels.

Based on a true story, the Netflix miniseries The Billion Dollar Code recounts how two German developers sued Google for patent infringement, arguing that Google Earth blatantly appropriated their own Terravision program from the 1990s. 

The acclaimed Netflix series “The Billion Dollar Code” is based on the life of the artist Joachim Sauter. But who was this man who challenged Google?

Some 40 years after the twelve-part feature in Stern Magazine about the life of the then 16-year-old Christiane F. between drug abuse and child prostitution in West Berlin shook Germany to the core, the streaming service Amazon Prime is injecting an overdose of zeitgeist into the biography of Germany’s best-known junkie.

Change begins in darkness, apparently. And the places where New York cop Max McLaughlin pursues his investigations could hardly be darker. In the ZDF series “The Defeated”, Swedish showrunner Måns Mårlind explores a bleak chapter of German history: we find ourselves in Berlin in the year zero, in the first summer following the Second World War – a lawless and barbaric time. Mårlind’s hunt for a criminal through the ruins of the bombed-out city is correspondingly brutal – but also reasonably gripping.

How should the story of this laboratory for new art and architecture be told in the Bauhaus centenary year? Director Lars Kraume chose to portray it as a battle of the sexes. In an interview with DW, he explains why he found this aspect in particular so fascinating.

Drug dealers have enjoyed even more popularity on Netflix than they did in the world of TV in the 1980s. To date, such series have tended to revolve around billionaire cartel bosses. By contrast, the first German-made drug tale is about an 18-year-old from Leipzig who goes by the name of “Shiny Flakes” on the darknet and in whose bedroom the cops discovered 320 kilograms of narcotics. (Not) a tutorial.  

"Oktoberfest 1900" tells the story of two beer dynasties fight for supremacy at the world's largest festival. The series takes the audience to a fantastic and mysterious Munich at the turn of the century and unfolds a modern myth about fateful love and the inexorable rise of capitalism.

In the year 9 AD, several Germanic tribes unite to challenge the almost invincible Roman legions in a legendary battle: The battle in the Teutoburg Forest will change the history of Europe. At the center of this series about the bloody clash are three childhood friends who are linked by a tragic fate.

Death suits her. In “The Last Word” Germany’s most versatile entertainer Anke Engelke plays a eulogist, exploring the taboos that surround the subject of death. The result is a touching and bittersweet (family) story about lies, secrets, unexpected endings, and bumpy new beginnings.

What if students secretly experiment with biohacking technologies that could change humanity? “Biohackers” tells a gripping story about friendship, love and revenge at a German University that is overshadowed by a revolutionary biohacking-technology and its ethical implications.

The four-part “Unorthodox” not only tells the stirring tale of a young woman’s escape from New York to Berlin. Celebrated by TV fans and critics alike, it also offers a fascinating insight into the parallel universe that is an ultra-orthodox Jewish community, where life is cut off from the rest of the world.

“4 Blocks” is far more than just proof that joining forces with the German hip hop scene can result in a TV series that will appeal to the Instagram and Tik Tok crowd.

​Netflix teams with Austria’s ORF network for an eight-part series about Sigmund Freud. The diagnosis: Freud is no history lesson, more like a lurid graphic novel come to life.

“Tribes of Europa” is a new Netflix miniseries produced in Germany that depicts a Europe in which society has broken down into tribal groups following an apocalypse. Can this dystopian Sci-Fi drama be interpreted as a declaration of love for the European ideal of a cohesive and united society?

With their latest German production, the teen drama WE ARE THE WAVE that started airing early in 2020, Netflix is going daringly political.

Not really the thing for landlubbers: the series “Das Boot” is a brutally honest portrayal of the unrelenting horrors of the Second World War. In this series, it is not only hostile Navy personnel but also the Gestapo and the French resistance who are fighting a war within the war. 

In the current boom in German TV dramas, no show has drawn more rave reviews worldwide than “Babylon Berlin”. The acclaimed series follows a police detective into the nightlife and political turmoil of Weimar Berlin. 

Sic Mundus Creatus Est... Creepy forests, sinister nuclear power plants, time-bending storylines and a host of stellar performances make DARK “Must See TV” and a worldwide audience favorite.

Autumn is just around the corner. If you are looking to spend a few hours curled up in front of the TV with just the right series, US film and television rating platform Rotten Tomatoes has a tip for you. 

Inspired by Patrick Süskind’s international bestseller “Perfume. The Story of a Murderer”, the six-part thriller series “Perfume” is about an obsessed killer and explores the question of whether humans are in fact capable of true love. Or will we inevitably be manipulated by our own sense of smell?

How much are your morals worth? What would you sacrifice to be a player in the male-dominated banking world? The series is about the European financial market, but its relevance is global.

The first original German-language drama to broadcast on a US TV network, “Deutschland 83” is a gripping coming-of-age story and spy thriller set in the divided Germany of the ‘80s.

The thriller series “You Are Wanted” became an overnight success. A hit all over the world, the series is more than just the proverbial game changer for Amazon.

German showrunners have discovered that life on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain makes for gripping television. 
 

Police interrogations set in the confines of an interview room is what the 4-part Criminal series is about. This stripped down, cat-and-mouse drama focuses on the intense mental conflict between the detectives and the suspects in question.

Crime is one of the most popular and entertaining TV genres in this country – and rightfully so: it is extremely diverse, smart and entertaining. Here are a few of the genre highlights that you can stream in the US.

From Netflix and Apple TV to RTL Now, Germans are streaming more and more series and films. Public broadcasters are jumping on the bandwagon and making their own series looking to conquer the international market.

German television shows tend to have a bad reputation for poor writing and cheap productions not suited for an international market and audience. Now series like “Deutschland ‘83” and “Babylon Berlin” are putting a new shine on that tarnished image. 

While the German television audience is unlikely to recognize her name, her stories move millions: she penned the “Weissensee” series set among East Berlin’s artists and Stasi loyalists, along with the “Ku’damm 56/59” TV series. Author Annette Hess has more than proven her impressive versatility throughout her career. 

Sophisticated TV series are considered to be one of the most interesting narrative formats. Up to now Germany has had a hard time keeping up with it, but things are about to change.

“Druck” (Pressure) is a young adult television series that features authentic actors and dialogue. Most of the actors are amateurs, and the transgender character is played by a trans man. The show has been a run-away success.

Has the current boom in drama series on TV affected the films shown at the Berlinale – in terms of subject-matter or narrative structure, for example? Our Berlinale Bloggers answer:
 

Every Sunday evening, around ten million people settle down in front of the telly to watch the German police procedural, Tatort, or “crime scene” in English. Regional mysteries and thrillers are also flying off the shelves in bookstores. So what is it that makes a good murder mystery so riveting?

In the lead-up to the UK season finale of “Deutschland 83”, we had the chance to speak to Jörg Winger, creator and producer of the hit TV series.