The best German series
Historical, scandalous, serious – and David Hasselhoff: Series from Germany that you should watch.
The Empress
The “Sissi” films of the 1950s brought German actress Romy Schneider her international breakthrough – a Netflix series now presents a fresh version of the drama about the Austrian empress. This time, it stars Devrim Lingnau, who was born in Mannheim in 1998 to a Turkish father and a German mother.
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Open consent form„Maxton Hall“
Maxton Hall – The World Between Us is Amazon Prime Video’s screen adaptation of the successful “Save Me” series of novels by Mona Kasten. It revolves around the turbulent romance between scholarship holder Ruby and the rich, arrogant James, whose paths cross at an elite boarding school in London. The series promises plenty of emotion and dramatic twists.
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Open consent formKleo
The Netflix series Kleo tells the story of an East German killer who is out for revenge following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Jella Haase, who rose to fame in Suck Me Shakespeer, stars as the eponymous heroine and blends ice-cold precision with oddball humour. The series is a wild mixture of spy thriller and colourful 1980s aesthetics.
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Open consent formCrooks
The six-part series Crooks on Netflix is a German-made international gangster drama. It follows a Berlin jewel thief who ends up in the clutches of the European underworld following a failed heist. The film was shot in locations such as Berlin, Paris and Ibiza.
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Open consent formDear Child
Dark, oppressive and extremely tense would be the best way to describe the Netflix series Dear Child, which is based on Romy Hausmann’s bestselling novel. It tells the story of a woman who is being kept prisoner in a windowless house together with her two children. However, when she manages to escape, the tale takes an expected turn. The thriller won an award at the 2024 International Emmys.
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Open consent formBabylon Berlin
Babylon Berlin is a leading series created by Tom Tykwer, the director of the German thriller film Run Lola Run. The series is set in the late 1920s. A young police inspector from Cologne delves deep into Berlin’s underworld.
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Open consent formKing of Stonks
The mini-series “King of Stonks” was inspired by more recent German (business world) history, namely the scandal surrounding the balance sheet irregularities of German fintech company Wirecard. It reveals the greed and megalomania of the financial sector, and does so in a way that is fascinating, dramatic and grotesque. Matthias Brandt, son of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt, is particularly worth seeing in the role of top-dog bad guy.
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Open consent formBarbarians
A series entitled “Barbarians” featuring Germanic warriors battling against Romans could easily come across as crude. Yet as German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes, “Barbarians” is simply “too clever – and too complicated” for platitudinous interpretations, citing among other things the nuanced character of the heroine Thusnelda, played by Franco-German actress Jeanne Goursaud.
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Open consent formSafe
Psychological disorders in children and young adults are the subject matter for “Safe”, a series produced for German TV channel ZDF. Therapy sessions are intimate theatre plays that require particular sensitivity from the actors – not to mention considerable empathy behind the camera: Caroline Link, who won an Oscar for “Nowhere in Africa” in 2003, not only directed the series; she also came up with the idea for this extraordinary project.
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Open consent formZe Network
RTL production “Ze Network” does not take itself too seriously – indeed even its title is a gentle mockery of the way some Germans pronounce English. However, the series, which was shot in Görlitz, features two rather special male leads: Henry Hübchen, who was already a star back in the GDR, and “Baywatch” hero David Hasselhoff, who sang about Germany’s reunification in his hit “Looking for freedom”. Hübchen and Hasselhoff play themselves in this offbeat spy thriller.
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Open consent formDark
Have you watched Stranger Things and are eager for more? If so, the German series Dark is just the thing for you. Two children disappear in the fictitious small town of Winden – and things turn supernatural.
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Open consent formDeutschland 83
The award of the International Emmy 2016 for Deutschland 83 marked the beginning of the boom in German series. The espionage thriller about a GDR soldier who infiltrates the West met with such international acclaim that it opened up the road to success for other productions from Germany as well. The sequel Deutschland 86 followed in 2018.
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Open consent formBad Banks
Where in Germany do you think the series is set that focuses on the brutally ruthless world of finance? In the banking metropolis of Frankfurt of course. This German-Luxembourgian co-production follows a female investment banker into the murky depths of the banking scene.
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Open consent form4 Blocks
“We wanted to make The Sopranos of Berlin,” says 4 Blocks director Marvin Kren in an interview with the film magazine Deadline. His key aim was to integrate authentic characters from Berlin’s underworld in the series by using their experiences for the script.
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Open consent formKu’damm 56
In 1950s Berlin, three young women are caught up in the conflicts between conservative morals and sexuality. The three-part TV mini-series was so popular that the successor Ku’damm 59 rapidly followed.
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Open consent formYou Are Wanted
This is the first German series to be produced by Amazon. Matthias Schweighöfer is the director. He also plays the leading role of Lukas Franke who loses control of his life when his computer is hacked.
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Open consent formCharité
If you like to watch series about the medical world, you will love Charité. In 1888, famous researchers made medical history at Berlin’s oldest hospital, the Charité, and you can follow this exciting story.
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Open consent formThe Swarm
Frank Schätzing’s book The Swarm – A Novel of the Deep is more than 1,000 pages long. The publicly-owned TV company ZDF embarked on a film version of the complex bestseller. Schätzing has also collaborated as scriptwriter for the series. Eight 45-minute episodes tell the tale of a global threat from deep-sea organisms that trigger a worldwide natural catastrophe.
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Open consent formSkylines
‘Frankfurt, Mainhattan, Crack City’: this is the Netflix slogan introducing a new series called Skylines. Six episodes tell the story of a young Frankfurt hip-hop producer who plays off the criminal underworld and the police against each other.
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Open consent formAcht Tage
The German population has eight days to reach safety before an asteroid strikes Europe. The survival of the fittest replaces common rules and laws. Eight episodes depict the threatening apocalypse from the perspective of a Berlin family. The key question is: What really matters in the final instance?
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Open consent formTribes of Europa
Yet another end of the world scenario: in Tribes of Europe, Europe is in a post-apocalypse condition following a global catastrophe. The continent has disintegrated into microstates, and clans are battling for dominance. Netflix is showing this series in 190 countries.
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Open consent formInsider tip: Der Tatortreiniger
If you prefer things to be a bit more whacky, then take a look at the crime scene clean-up specialist Schotty. The actual murder cases in this cult comedy series by the NDR TV station are of lesser interest. Instead the focus is on the bizarre situations that occur during the gory clean-up operations.
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