After a long, tantalising wait, the 16-part TV adaptation of Volker Kutscher’s crime novel Babylon Berlin is finally here. Directed by renowned director Tom Tykwer, this lavish £33 million German TV series – the most expensive ever made – airs in the UK this Sunday 5. November on Sky Atlantic.
Time to paaaartay!
I’ve been lucky enough to see a preview of the first episode, and thoroughly recommend taking a look. This is ambitious, thrilling, grown-up TV, which brilliantly recreates the politically turbulent Berlin of 1929, and brings the decadence of Weimar society vividly (and I do mean vividly) to life.
Volker Bruch (Generation War) is a good choice for troubled police inspector Gereon Rath, recently arrived in the capital from Cologne, but for me the stand-out character is Charlotte (Lotte) Ritter, played by actress Liv Lisa Fries – the working-class girl fighting her way out of poverty by temping as a police stenographer, whose respectable exterior belies a very complex life. The first meeting between the two is a classic ‘unromantic-yet-oddly-romantic’ encounter involving some dropped photographs, which also made me laugh.
Lotte Ritter
And then there’s Berlin. The creators have managed to bring an extinct dinosaur back to life – the impressive ‘Rote Burg’ or ‘Red Castle’ – aka the Berlin Police Headquarters near Alexanderplatz (there’s a shopping centre there now), and the depictions of the Vice and Homicide departments’ activities there are gritty and uncompromising. The aerial shots of the Berlin Mitte district and Alex are breathtaking, and I loved the stylish cinematographic touches, such the angled shot of a pair of ladies’ stockings floating from a window to Lotte in a courtyard below.
A shot of the Alexanderplatz from the series
If you’d like to read more about the series, then this Guardian article by Kate Connolly gives a good overview: ‘Babylon Berlin: lavish German crime drama tipped to be a global hit’.
If you’d like to get your hands on the original novels by Volker Kutscher, then head over to Sandstone Press, which has published the first two in English, translated by Niall Sellar: Babylon Berlin and The Silent Death.
And last but not least, here’s the trailer to whet your appetite.
Babylon Berlin, in German with English subtitles, airs on Sky Atlantic on Sunday 5 November. It should also be coming to Netflix at some point as well!
Mrs. Peabody Investigates 
Oh, that sounds fabulous, Mrs. P. I hope it comes to this side of t he pond at some point.
Hello Margot – US Netflix has picked Babylon Berlin up, but not sure when it plans to air.
So happy to hear that! I’ll watch out for it then.
Here’s the article I saw – looks like it might be soon? http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-takes-german-series-babylon-berlin-us-1003101
Thank you 🙂
Ooh, that does good. Hope to catch it on Netflix.
Yes! I hope it doesn’t take too long. Netflix US has already picked it up, so hopefully Netflix UK will follow suit…
Caught the trailer this week on Atlantic, looked interesting. They’ve aired a couple of Sky Iatalian programs before, but this will be the first German programme. Interesting that it will also be on Netflix. Speaking of… ‘Stranger’ a South Korean netflix original, well worth catching, bribery & corruption in a prosecution department. Mind you blink & you miss the subtitles!! Really fast!
Thanks, Brian – don’t think I’ve ever watched anything South Korean. Will definitely take a peek!
Morning Mrs P. Now that looks absolutely thrilling. Such a pity it’s only available on a Sky channel and netfix though 😕. I live in hope that one day BBC4 with it’s love of foreign programmes may pick it up.
Hopefully, hopefully… BBC4 has come good for us in the past many times, so fingers firmly crossed.
Thanks so much Kat, I’m looking forward to watching it soon. Or maybe I should read the book first.
Good question, Jose Ignacio, and not quite sure if there’s a right way round!
Let’s hope it migrates from Sky to Netflix soon, as I really want to watch this. Unusually lavish for a German production.
It looks FANTASTIC, Kat. Thanks for the recommendation.