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Babylon Berlin is a German neo-noir television series. Created, written, and directed by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten, it is loosely based on novels by Volker Kutscher.
The series premiered on 13 October 2017 on Sky 1. The first release consisted of a continuous run of 16 episodes, with the first eight officially known as Season 1, and the second eight known as Season 2. Season 3 premiered in January 2020, followed by Season 4 in October 2022.
Netflix exclusively streamed seasons 1 through 3 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States until they were removed in February 2024. In April 2024, the first three seasons of the show began streaming on MHz Networks in the United States, with the fourth season added in June.
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 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.
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 and communist political groups as well as the advent of Sound film.
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 and the Nazi Party. 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:
After Sky Deutschland 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
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, Soviets and especially Trotskyism play a prominent role (the Soviet ambassador to Germany from 1923 to 1930 was former Leon Trotsky ally Nikolay Krestinsky). The show depicts what became known as Blutmai, violence between communist demonstrators and members of the Berlin Police in early May 1929, and extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the Reichswehr, known as the Black Reichswehr. In the first season, the Soviet Union 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 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.
In addition, the series was filmed throughout Berlin and at other locations in the surrounding state of Brandenburg. Numerous scenes were filmed on Alexanderplatz 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 (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, 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, was filmed at the historic Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, where the play actually ran at the time. The in Prenzlauer Berg 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, in the Hermannplatz U-Bahn station, at the , and the Church of the Redeemer on the Havel in Potsdam.
Portions of the series were also filmed in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Scenes set at Schloss Liebenberg, the estate of the Nyssen family, were filmed at Schloss Drachenburg, a castle in the Rhineland. The in Cologne was used as the Anhalter Güterbahnhof. The Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, a disused steel plant near Duisburg, 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 at the Bavarian Railway Museum near Nördlingen.
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 Ullstein Verlag was used as the editorial offices of the Tempo newspaper, which were actually located there at the time. The Kammergericht in Berlin served as the Ministry of the Reichswehr. 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, 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.
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 Erstausgabe (English: First Edition).
In addition to period music, "Dance Away", from the 1979 album Manifesto by Roxy Music, 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". Singer Bryan Ferry 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 song "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" ("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.
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, HBO Europe, and Viaplay 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.
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.
Carolin Ströbele of Die Zeit 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, 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's Metropolis or Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. "It could be that Babylon Berlin is the first big German TV production since Das Boot which enjoys really relevant success abroad. Let's not be shy to say it: we Germans are big again – as the world champions of angst."
The series' opening title sequence, created by German designer Saskia Marka and featuring a theme composed by Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer, was named the best title sequence of 2018 by industry website Art of the Title.
In December 2019, the European Film Academy awarded the series with the inaugural Achievement in Fiction Series Award at the European Film Awards.
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Plot
The series is set in Berlin during the latter years of the Weimar Republic, beginning in 1929. It follows Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), a police inspector on assignment from Cologne who is on a secret mission to dismantle an extortion ring, and police clerk Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries), who aspires to become a police inspector.
Cast
Main
Recurring
Overview
Volker Bruch Gereon Rath colspan="4" Liv Lisa Fries Charlotte Ritter colspan="4" Peter Kurth Bruno Wolter colspan="2" colspan="2" Matthias Brandt August Benda colspan="2" colspan="2" Leonie Benesch Greta Overbeck colspan="3" Severija Janušauskaitė Svetlana Sorokina colspan="2" colspan="2" Ivan Shvedoff Alexei Kardakov colspan="2" Lars Eidinger Alfred Nyssen colspan="4" Anton von Lucke Stephan Jänicke colspan="2" Mišel Matičević Edgar Kasabian colspan="3" Henning Peker Franz Krajewski Fritzi Haberlandt Elizabeth Behnke colspan="4" Karl Markovics Samuel Katelbach colspan="4" Jens Harzer Anno Schmidt colspan="4" Ernst Stötzner Wilhelm Seegers colspan="2" Jördis Triebel Völcker colspan="4" Christian Friedel Reinhold Gräf colspan="4" Denis Burgazliev Trokhin colspan="2" colspan="2" Thomas Thieme Karl Zörgiebel colspan="3" Hannah Herzsprung Helga Rath colspan="3" Ivo Pietzcker Moritz Rath Benno Fürmann Gottfried Wendt colspan="3" Ronald Zehrfeld Walter Weintraub colspan="2" colspan="2" Meret Becker Esther Kasabian colspan="2" colspan="2" Udo Samel Ernst Gennat colspan="2" Luc Feit Leopold Ullrich Trystan Pütter Hans Litten colspan="2" colspan="2" Thorsten Merten Alfons Henning colspan="2" colspan="2" Rüdiger Klink Paul Czerwinski colspan="2" colspan="2" Godehard Giese Wilhelm Böhm colspan="2" Saskia Rosendahl Marie-Luise Seegers colspan="2" colspan="2" Sabin Tambrea Tristan Rot colspan= "2" Julius Feldmeier Horst Kessler colspan="2" Jacob Matschenz Richard Pechtmann colspan="2" Irene Böhm Toni Ritter colspan="3" Hans-Marrin Stier Albert Grzesinski colspan= "2" Hanno Koffler Walther Stennes colspan= "2" Martin Wuttke Gustav Heymann colspan= "2" Sebastian Urzendowsky Max Fuchs colspan="3" Mark Ivanir Abraham Gold colspan= "3" Moisej Bazijan Jakob Grün colspan= "3" Marie-Anne Fliegel Annemarie Nyssen colspan= "2" Holger Handtke Georg Wegener Peter Jordan Fred Jacoby colspan= "2"
Production
Development
The series was co-directed by Tom Tykwer, , 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.
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, Achim von Borries, Henk Handloegten and Tom Tykwer stated that the third season was in post-production and that a fourth season was planned.
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.
/ref> 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, 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 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.
Locations
Babelsberg Studio 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.
]], used as Police Headquarters]] in Potsdam]]]] houses the offices of Tempo in Season 3]], used as the Kurfürstendamm in Season 4]]
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 to klezmer. 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 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, "Zu Asche, zu Staub" in the Moka Efti cabaret. This song was later released and charted on the German singles chart.
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 started Sunday 30 September 2018. The Swedish broadcast began on 19 June 2019 on SVT.
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.
Season 1 (2017)
All episodes were written and directed by Henk Handloegten, Achim von Borries, and Tom Tykwer.
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 the first season holds approval rating of 100% based on 30 reviews, with the critics consensus reading: " Babylon Berlins 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.
Accolades
The series itself received several awards in 2018. These included a Bambi Award in the category Beste Serie des Jahres (Best series of the year), four awards at the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (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 in the category Best German actor for his portrayal of Gereon Rath.
Awards
2017 Camerimage Best Pilot Babylon Berlin 2018 Grimme-Preis Outstanding Pilot Babylon Berlin Best Television Show – National Babylon Berlin Best Actress – National Liv Lisa Fries Best Actor – National Peter Kurth Bavarian TV Awards Special Award Babylon Berlin German Television Academy Awards Best Costume Design Pierre-Yves Gayraud Best Make Up Kerstin Gaecklein, Roman Braunhofer Best Score Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek Best Visual Effects Robert Pinnow Best Stunts Dana Stein Best Editor Dana Stein German Screen Actors Awards Best Supporting Actress Leonie Benesch Best Leading Actor Peter Kurth German Television Awards Best Series Babylon Berlin Best Cinematography Frank Griebe, Bernd Fischer, Philipp Haberlandt Best Music Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer Best Production and Costume Desige Pierre-Yves Gayraud (costume designer), Uli Hanisch (production designer) Best Directing for a Movie Made for Television or Miniseries Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten, Achim von Borries Best Actress Liv Lisa Fries Best Actor Peter Kurth Best Editing Alexander Berner, Claus Wehlisch, Antje Zynga Golden Camera Awards Best German Actor Volker Bruch Golden Umbrella Television Awards Best Cinematography Bernd Fischer, Philipp Haberlandt, Frank Griebe Best Director Achim von Borries, Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten Best Casting Simone Bär Magnolia Awards Best International Television Show Babylon Berlin Premios Ondas Best International Television Series Babylon Berlin Romy Gala Awards Television Event of the Year Babylon Berlin Seoul International Drama Awards Grand Prize Babylon Berlin 2019 European Film Awards European Achievement in Fiction Series Award Babylon Berlin SXSW Film Design Award Excellence in Title Design Saskia Marka 2020 German Camera Awards Best Cinematography Christian Almesberger, Bernd Fischer, Philipp Haberlandt German Screen Actors Awards Best Supporting Actor Lars Eidinger German Television Awards Best Drama Series Babylon Berlin Location Managers Guild Awards Outstanding Locations in Period Television David Pieper Romy Gala Awards Favorite Actor in a Series Karl Markovics Rose d'Or Best Drama Babylon Berlin 2021 Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Episodic Short Form – Dialogue/ADR Frank Kruse, Benjamin Hörbe, Alexander Buck, Dominik Schleier, Thomas Kalbér (for "Episode 28")
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links
Categories: Official Website, 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
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