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.
Here are a few of the series that flipped the script on German crime thrillers. Gritty, dark, brutal and intensely action-filled, these series are a clear departure from the rather tame whodunnit school of prime-time murder mysteries.
Dogs of Berlin creator Christian Alvart clearly took the controversy surrounding former Mannschaft star Mesut Özil as a springboard. He adds to the mix a neo-Nazi association, match-fixing, blackmail, and the foreign-born “crime clans” of Berlin’s Marzahn district for a series that misses no opportunity to be provocative. Frank Lamm’s camerawork makes Berlin by night memorably atmospheric, right down to the last U-Bahn station.
Beat the series expands to range all over Berlin and Brandenburg, with a sprawling storyline that touches on Syrian migrants and the legacy of the RAF. Big-name acting support comes from Karoline Herfurth as a government agent and Alexander Fehling, usually a leading man (Labyrinth of Lies, Three Peaks), playing against type as the villain.
This being a German crime series, things get very, very dark for Beat. At the end of the last episode, you may feel like you too are stumbling out of an all-night club, blinking in the daylight. (Amazon Video)
Clearly, there’s no end to intrigue in Germany’s capital or crimes that need solving. It’s not hard to imagine that the city’s status as the crossroads of Europe and the world capital of nightlife will keep Berlin, in all its glory and its seamy side, on our screens for years to come. And honorable mentions go to a few US series set in Berlin:
The fifth season of the successful and multiple award-winning CIA series from the USA is largely set in Berlin. Ex-CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) moved to Berlin with her husband and child to leave the past behind. But the fight against terrorism is catching up with her - and with it her old life with the CIA.
Berlin Station ist eine weitere US-amerikanische Produktion, die in Deutschlands Hauptstadt verlagert wurde. Und auch der grobe Plot ist ähnlich: In der Agenten-Serie ist CIA-Analyst Daniel Meyer (Richard Armitage) auf Geheimmission in Berlin. Offiziell wird er ins Hauptstadtbüro versetzt, inoffiziell soll er dort aber eine undichte Stelle ausfindig machen. Denn ein Whisteblower gibt streng geheime Informationen nach Außen weiter.
Counterpart is a sci-fi thriller set in two Berlins: the one we know and a parallel world that developed completely differently since 1987. The well-hidden transition is guarded by a Kafkaesque secret service, and there’s a diplomatic ice age between the two worlds.
The series stars J.K. Simmons, Olivia Williams, Harry Lloyd and Nazanin Boniadi in double roles, and explores in a psychologically appealing way how differently life could have turned out thanks to the tiniest changes. Moreover, Counterpart makes Berlin the city of spies again: the Cold War with a sci-fi upgrade includes monitored flats in Friedenau, a hidden border crossing under Tempelhof Airport and agents meeting at the Kulturforum.
• Berlin is the capital of TV and film production of Germany, if not all of Europe
• More than 330 productions are filmed every year in Berlin: cinema films, TV series, shorts, documentaries
• Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH provided €22.7 million in support to 104 film and TV productions in 2016, including €1.8 million for TV series
• 5,000 days spent each year filming in Berlin (all productions combined)
• In Berlin and Brandenburg, the productions have added more than €150 million to the local economy, returning €6 for every euro in subsidies
• Berlin-Brandenburg productions sold for €7.5 billion in 2016, up from €6.6 billion the year before (source: Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg)
• The states of Berlin and Brandenburg had increased their annual production subsidies by €1.2 million in their 2018-19 budgets.