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''Babylon Berlin'' is a German
neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
television series. Created, written, and directed by
Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The St ...
,
Achim von Borries Achim von Borries (born 13 November 1968) is a German screenwriter and film director. Selected filmography References External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borries, Achim von 1968 births Living people Mass media people from Munich ...
, and Hendrik Handloegten. It is loosely based on novels by German author
Volker Kutscher Volker Kutscher (; born December 26, 1962) is a German novelist, best known for his Berlin-based ''Gereon Rath'' crime series, which serves as the basis for the Sky thriller series ''Babylon Berlin''. Biography Kutscher was born on December 26 ...
. The series premiered on 13 October 2017 on
Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
, a German-language entertainment channel broadcast by
Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...
. 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. The second run of 12 episodes, officially known as Season 3, premiered on 24 January 2020 on
Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
. Season 4, consisting of 12 episodes, premiered on 8 October 2022.
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
exclusively streams the series in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.


Plot

The series is set in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
during the latter years of the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
, beginning in 1929. It follows Gereon Rath (
Volker Bruch Volker Bruch (; born 9 March 1980) is a German television and film actor. He is best known internationally for his leading roles as Wilhelm Winter in the television drama ''Generation War'' (2013) and as Inspector Gereon Rath in the neo-noir seri ...
), a police inspector on assignment from
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
who is on a secret mission to dismantle an extortion ring, and Charlotte Ritter (
Liv Lisa Fries Liv Lisa Fries (born 31 October 1990) is a German actress who has appeared in several films and who gained an international following as the female lead Charlotte Ritter in the German TV series ''Babylon Berlin'', which first premiered in 2017. ...
), police clerk by day,
prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
by night, who aspires to become a police inspector.


Cast


Main

*
Volker Bruch Volker Bruch (; born 9 March 1980) is a German television and film actor. He is best known internationally for his leading roles as Wilhelm Winter in the television drama ''Generation War'' (2013) and as Inspector Gereon Rath in the neo-noir seri ...
as Inspector Gereon Rath, a combat veteran of the
Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...
during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and a policeman newly transferred from his home town of Cologne to Berlin; he struggles with morphine dependence linked to his war experiences, particularly his
survivor's guilt Survivor guilt (or survivor's guilt; also called survivor syndrome or survivor's syndrome and survivor disorder or survivor's disorder) is a mental condition that occurs when a person believes they have done something wrong by surviving a traumati ...
over the loss of his brother (seasons 1–4) *
Liv Lisa Fries Liv Lisa Fries (born 31 October 1990) is a German actress who has appeared in several films and who gained an international following as the female lead Charlotte Ritter in the German TV series ''Babylon Berlin'', which first premiered in 2017. ...
as Charlotte Ritter ("Lotte"), a
flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...
from the slums of
Neukölln Neukölln () is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It featu ...
and an occasional prostitute at the ''Moka Efti''
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
, who works as a police clerk and dreams of becoming the first female homicide detective in the history of the Berlin Police (seasons 1–4) *
Peter Kurth Peter Kurth (born 4 April 1957) is a German actor. He won the 2016 German Film Award for Best Actor for portraying a former boxer diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the drama film ''A Heavy Heart''. Early life Kurth was born on 4 A ...
as Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Bruno Wolter, a Berlin Police investigator whose affability masks unseemly tendencies; he becomes the primary
antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
in season 2 (seasons 1–2) *
Matthias Brandt Matthias Brandt (born 7 October 1961) is a German actor and audiobook narrator. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1989. Early life Brandt was born in West Berlin. He is the youngest of the three sons of the former German Chancel ...
as Councillor August Benda, the Jewish chief of the "Political Police" department of the Berlin Police. A tenacious investigator and true believer in the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
, Benda is equally loathed by monarchists,
communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
, and
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
; for years, he has been investigating the
Black Reichswehr Black Reichswehr (german: Schwarze Reichswehr) was the name for the extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the German Reichswehr army during the time of the Weimar Republic; it was raised despite restrictions imposed by the Versailles Tre ...
(seasons 1–2) *
Leonie Benesch Leonie Benesch (born 22 April 1991 in Hamburg) is a German actress who has played roles in major productions including ''Babylon Berlin ''and ''The Crown'', as well as ''Around the World in 80 Days''. She is currently based in London. Biography I ...
as Greta Overbeck, a down-on-her-luck childhood friend of Charlotte Ritter who eventually finds a job as
domestic servant A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
to Councillor Benda and his family and reluctantly gets entwined in an assassination scheme (season 1–3) *
Severija Janušauskaitė Severija Janušauskaitė (born 22 October 1981) is a Lithuanian stage and film actress, occasionally performing as a singer, composer, costume designer and fashion model. She is well known for her role in the drama film '' Star'' (2014), for whic ...
as Countess Svetlana Sorokina ("Sveta")/ Nikoros, a White Russian émigré, crossdressing singer at the ''Moka Efti''
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
, and spy for the
Soviet secret police The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
(season 1-2) *
Ivan Shvedoff Ivan Shvedoff (russian: Иван Шведов; born 21 September 1969) is a Russian actor. Biography Shvedoff was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Russian SFSR. Shvedoff first started his acting career as a theater actor in the ...
as Alexei Kardakov, an
anti-Stalinist The anti-Stalinist left is an umbrella term for various kinds of left-wing political movements that opposed Joseph Stalin, Stalinism and the actual system of governance Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953. Th ...
Russian refugee and the leader of a fictional
Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
cell in Berlin called the "Red Fortress" (season 1; guest season 2) *
Lars Eidinger Lars Eidinger (; born 21 January 1976) is a German actor. Eidinger started his career at Deutsches Theater in 1997. Before his breakthrough, he played minor roles in German television shows like ''Schloss Einstein'' (2002) and '' Berlin, Berlin ...
as Alfred Nyssen, a steel manufacturer with links to
Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...
and
Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
officers plotting to overthrow the Republic and restore
Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
to the German throne and who detests the ruling
Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...
(seasons 1-4) * as Stephan Jänicke, a young detective in the Berlin Police who has been assigned by Councillor Benda to investigate Wolter for ties to the
Black Reichswehr Black Reichswehr (german: Schwarze Reichswehr) was the name for the extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the German Reichswehr army during the time of the Weimar Republic; it was raised despite restrictions imposed by the Versailles Tre ...
(seasons 1; recurring season 2) *
Mišel Matičević Mišel Matičević (, born 22 April 1970) is a German film, television and theater actor of Croatian descent. Early life and education Matičević was born in West Berlin to Croatian parents who were guest workers in West Germany. Following hi ...
as Edgar Kasabian, "The Armenian", the impeccably dressed owner of the ''Moka Efti'' cabaret and the leader of
organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
in Berlin; a ruthless but deeply principled gangster, he acts as a secret protector to Inspector Gereon Rath for personal reasons (season 1-3; recurring season 4) * Henning Peker as Franz Krajewski, a drug addict who works as a police informant (season 1; guest season 3) *
Fritzi Haberlandt Fritzi Haberlandt (born 6 June 1975, in East Berlin) is a German actress. She studied theatre at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. Early in her career, she played the role of Lucile Duplessis in '' Danton's Death'', with the Berliner En ...
as Elisabeth Behnke, a kind friend of Bruno Wolter who maintains a boarding house where Inspector Rath stays (seasons 1–4) *
Karl Markovics Karl Markovics is an Austrian actor and film director. He was born in Vienna, Austria. Biography Markovics' mother worked as a clerk and his father was a bus driver. Markovics did not want to go into a professional career but wanted to become a ...
as Samuel Katelbach, an eccentric writer and sometimes journalist who befriends Rath at the boarding house (seasons 1–4) *
Jens Harzer Jens Harzer (born 14 March 1972) is a German stage, film, and television actor. He began his career at the Munich Kammerspiele, and has been a member of the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg since 2009. He has appeared at the Salzburg Festival regularl ...
as Dr. Anno Schmidt, a mysterious doctor whose atypical practices are considered
fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...
by the Berlin medical community but heralded by others, including The Armenian (seasons 1–4) *
Ernst Stötzner Ernst Stötzner (born 1952) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than sixty films since 1983. Selected filmography References External links * 1952 births Living people German male film actors {{Germany-actor-stub ...
as
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Wilhelm Seegers, a member of the
Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...
's
General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
and DCI Bruno Wolter's
commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
during the Great War; he opposes the Republic and is up to many secret activities (seasons 1–2; guest seasons 3-4) *
Jördis Triebel Jördis Triebel (born 30 October 1977) is a German film and stage actress. Early life Triebel grew up the second oldest of four sisters in the Prenzlauer Berg locality of Berlin. Through her mother, who before the fall of the Berlin Wall was a ...
as Dr. Völcker, a communist doctor who disagrees with the practices of the Berlin police department (seasons 1–4) * Christian Friedel as Reinhold Gräf, a photographer for the Berlin police department who works closely with Rath (seasons 1–4) * as Col. Trokhin, a Soviet diplomat and official of
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's
secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
who targets anti-Stalinists (seasons 1–2) *
Thomas Thieme Thomas Thieme (born 29 October 1948) is a German actor. He is considered to be a prolific stage actor and also appeared in more than 100 film and television productions since 1973. In his film and television appearances, Thieme often plays power ...
as , the stern police chief of Berlin and former chief of Cologne (seasons 1–3) *
Hannah Herzsprung Hannah Herzsprung (; born 7 September 1981) is a German actress. Biography Hannah Herzsprung is the daughter of actor Bernd Herzsprung and fashion designer Barbara Engel. She debuted as an actress in 1997 in the BR series ''Aus heiterem Himmel ...
as Helga Rath, Inspector Gereon Rath's secret lover of more than ten years and the wife of his brother, who has been missing since the First World War (season 2–4; recurring season 1) * Ivo Pietzcker as Moritz Rath, Gereon Rath's nephew and Helga's son whose curiosity gets him into trouble (seasons 2,4; recurring season 3) * Benno Fürmann as
Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
Gottfried Wendt, an ambitious and untrustworthy political police counselor who is a power player with the
NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
(seasons 2-4; guest season 1) *
Ronald Zehrfeld Ronald Zehrfeld (born 15 January 1977) is a German actor. His movie roles include '' Barbara'' (2012), ''Inbetween Worlds'' (2014), and ''Phoenix'' (2014). Career Zehrfeld made his film debut in 2005 with a lead role in Dominik Graf's ''The R ...
as Walter Weintraub, the mysterious and ruthless partner of The Armenian who returns from time in prison (seasons 3-4) *
Meret Becker Meret Becker (; born 15 January 1969) is a German actress and singer. Life and career Meret Becker was born in Bremen, the daughter of the actors Monika Hansen and Rolf Becker but she was raised in Berlin by her mother with her stepfather Ot ...
as Esther Kasabian, a former actress married to The Armenian who dreams of returning to acting as well as reconciling the men she loves (seasons 3-4)


Recurring

* Irene Böhm as Toni Ritter, the sister of Charlotte (seasons 1–4) *
Hanno Koffler Hanno Koffler (born March 25, 1980) is a German actor and musician. His most famous films include '' Summer Storm'', ''Krabat'' and ''Free Fall''. He also starred in the Oscar-nominated film, ''Never Look Away'' (2018), directed by Florian Henc ...
as
Walter Stennes Walter Franz Maria Stennes (12 April 1895 – 19 May 1983) was a leader of the (SA, stormtroopers, or "brownshirts") of the Nazi Party in Berlin and the surrounding area. In August 1930 he led the Stennes Revolt against Adolf Hitler, the lead ...
, a young
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
lieutenant who collaborates covertly with Wendt (seasons 3-4) *
Udo Samel Udo Samel (born 25 June 1953) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than 80 films and television shows since 1977. He starred in the 1994 film '' Back to Square One'', which was entered into the 44th Berlin International Film Festival. Se ...
as Ernst "Buddha" Gennat, the stern but kind head of Berlin's Homicide Department, based on a real director of the Berlin criminal police (seasons 3-4; guest season 2) * Luc Feit as Leopold Ullrich, detail-oriented police analyst (seasons 3-4; guest season 2) * Trystan Pütter as
Hans Litten Hans Achim Litten (19 June 1903 – 5 February 1938) was a German lawyer who represented opponents of the Nazis at important political trials between 1929 and 1932, defending the rights of workers during the Weimar Republic. During one trial i ...
, a pro bono attorney interested in Greta's case, based on a real lawyer (seasons 3-4) * Thorsten Merten as Henning, a homicide investigator working under Rath with Czerwinski (seasons 3-4; guest seasons 1–2) * Rüdiger Klink as Czerwinski, a homicide investigator working under Rath with Henning (seasons 3-4; guest seasons 1–2) *
Godehard Giese Godehard Giese (born 1972) is a German actor, known for his roles in ''Deutschland 83''. and ''Babylon Berlin''. Life Giese attended Sankt-Ansgar-Schule in Hamburg in his childhood. He studied at Berlin University of the Arts from 1997 to 20 ...
as Wilhelm Böhm, a high-ranking homicide detective who often clashes with Rath and Ritter (seasons 3-4; guest seasons 1–2) *
Saskia Rosendahl Saskia-Sophie Rosendahl (born 9 July 1993) is a German actress. She is best known for her role in the film ''Lore (film), Lore'' (2012), for which she won the AACTA Award for Best Young Actor. Biography Saskia Rosendahl began her career with th ...
as Marie-Luise Seegers, a communist law student who disagrees with her father General Seegers (seasons 3-4) * Sabin Tambrea as Tristan Rot, aka Herbert Plumpe, widower of Betty Winter, a melodramatic actor with an interest in the occult (season 3) * Julius Feldmeier as Otto Wollenberg/ Horst Kessler, a friend of Fritz with villainous intentions (season 3; guest seasons 1–2) *
Jacob Matschenz Jacob Matschenz (born 1984, Berlin) is a German actor. He is notable for film and television work including '' The Wave'' (2008), '' 12 Paces Without a Head'' (2009) and ''The Sinking of the Laconia'' (2010). He won the Adolf Grimme Award Th ...
as Fritz Hockert/Richard Pechtmann, a friend of Otto with villainous intentions (season 3; guest seasons 1–2) * Alexander Hörbe as Bela Grosztony, an organized crime figure (season 3; guest season 1) *
Le Pustra Le Pustra (born 1 July 1977) is an actor, singer, salonnier and kunstfigur who has performed in European Cabaret and Varieté since 2006 but is best known as the creative director of the Weimar Cabaret inspired theatre play Le Pustra's Kabarett ...
as Edwina Morell, mysterious owner of the Luxor nightclub and host of the ''Kabarett der Namenlosen'' in Moka Efti (seasons 3-4)


Production


Development

The series was co-directed by
Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The St ...
, , and
Achim von Borries Achim von Borries (born 13 November 1968) is a German screenwriter and film director. Selected filmography References External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borries, Achim von 1968 births Living people Mass media people from Munich ...
, 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 Volker Kutscher (; born December 26, 1962) is a German novelist, best known for his Berlin-based ''Gereon Rath'' crime series, which serves as the basis for the Sky thriller series ''Babylon Berlin''. Biography Kutscher was born on December 26 ...
and were filmed over eight months beginning in May 2016. 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 Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
purchased rights for the United States, Canada, and Australia, where the series became available in 2018 with English dubbing and subtitles. The series is described as the most expensive television drama series in Germany, with a budget of €40 million that increased to €55 million due to reshoots.


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,
showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
s Achim von Borries, Henk Handloegten and Tom Tykwer stated that the third season was in post-production and that a fourth season was planned. 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 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
stock market crash and navigates the rise of the subversive
Black Reichswehr Black Reichswehr (german: Schwarze Reichswehr) was the name for the extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the German Reichswehr army during the time of the Weimar Republic; it was raised despite restrictions imposed by the Versailles Tre ...
and
Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
political groups as well as the advent of
talkies A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
. 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 Hitler and the
National Socialist German Workers Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
. 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 1930–1. 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:
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.


Era

In an interview with ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', 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 The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
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.
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 Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
, Soviets and especially
Trotskyists Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a re ...
play a prominent role (the Soviet ambassador to Germany from 1923 to 1930 was former
Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...
ally
Nikolay Krestinsky Nikolay Nikolayevich Krestinsky (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Крести́нский; 13 October 1883 – 15 March 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician who served as the Responsible Sec ...
). The show depicts what became known as
Blutmai Blutmai (, ) refers to several days of police brutality against KPD supporters in early May 1929 that led to violence between the communist demonstrators and members of the Berlin Police which was under the control of the Social Democratic Pa ...
, violence between Communist demonstrators and members of the Berlin Police in early May 1929, and extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the
German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
, known as the
Black Reichswehr Black Reichswehr (german: Schwarze Reichswehr) was the name for the extra-legal paramilitary formations promoted by the German Reichswehr army during the time of the Weimar Republic; it was raised despite restrictions imposed by the Versailles Tre ...
. In the first season, the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
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 A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...
outside the city. According to Nathaniel Flakin, this event never happened. Nazi Party leader
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, on the other hand, is only mentioned in passing during the first two seasons of Babylon Berlin.


Locations

Babelsberg Studio Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...
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''. In addition, the series was filmed throughout
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and at other locations in the surrounding state of
Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
. Numerous scenes were filmed on
Alexanderplatz () ( en, Alexander Square) is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the nort ...
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 The Rotes Rathaus (, ''Red City Hall'') is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the state of Berlin. The ...
(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 Rathaus Schöneberg is the city hall for the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the state senate of West Berlin and from 1949 until 1991 as the seat of the Governing Mayor. History The sa ...
, including scenes with its
paternoster elevator A paternoster (, , or ) or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two people) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers ca ...
, 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 () is a quarter in the borough of in Berlin, Germany, that takes its name from the small lake (literally 'White Lake') within it. Before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, was a borough in its own right, consisting of the quarters of , , , ...
. Bar Tausend, in Berlin served as the show's Holländer Bar. A lengthy suspense sequence set during a performance of ''
The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...
'', was filmed at the historic
Theater am Schiffbauerdamm The ''Theater am Schiffbauerdamm'' () is a theatre building at the ''Schiffbauerdamm'' riverside in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, opened on 19 November 1892. Since 1954, it has been home to the Berliner Ensemble theatre company, founde ...
, where the play actually ran at the time. The in
Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incorp ...
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 The Museum Island (german: Museumsinsel) is a museum complex on the northern part of the Spree Island in the historic heart of Berlin. It is one of the most visited sights of Germany's capital and one of the most important museum sites in Europ ...
, in the Hermannplatz U-Bahn station, at the , and the Church of the Redeemer on the Havel river in
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
. Portions of the series were also filmed in the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
. Scenes set at Schloss Liebenberg, the estate of the Nyssen family, were filmed at
Schloss Drachenburg Schloss Drachenburg or Drachenburg Castle is a private villa styled as a palace and constructed in the late 19th century. It was completed in only two years (1882–84) on the Drachenfels hill in Königswinter, a German town on the east bank of ...
, a castle in the
Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...
. The in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
was used as the Anhalter Güterbahnhof. The
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord Landschaftspark is a public park located in Duisburg- Meiderich, Germany. It was designed in 1991 by Latz + Partner (Peter Latz), with the intention that it work to heal and understand the industrial past, rather than trying to reject it. The pa ...
, a disused steel plant near
Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
, 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 Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
at the
Bavarian Railway Museum The Bavarian Railway Museum (''Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum'' or BEM) is a railway museum based in the old locomotive sheds at Nördlingen station in Bavaria, Germany. It is home to more than 100 original railway vehicles and has been located ...
near
Nördlingen Nördlingen (; Swabian: ''Nearle'' or ''Nearleng'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, with a population of approximately 20,674. It is located approximately east of Stuttgart, and northwest of Munich. It was bui ...
. 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 Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. The Ullsteinhaus was used as the editorial offices of the ' newspaper, which were actually located there at the time. The
Kammergericht The Kammergericht (KG) is the ''Oberlandesgericht'', the highest state court, for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. As an ordinary court according to the German Courts Constitution Act (''Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz''), it deals with criminal a ...
in Berlin served as the
Ministry of the Reichswehr The Ministry of the Reichswehr or Reich Ministry of Defence (german: Reichswehrministerium) was the defence ministry of the Weimar Republic and the early Third Reich. The 1919 Weimar Constitution provided for a unified, national ministry of defen ...
. The Cafe Grosz doubled for the historic
Romanisches Café The ''Romanisches Café'' ("Romanesque Café") was a café- bar in Berlin well known as a meeting place for artists. It was located in what is now Breitscheidplatz at the end of the Kurfürstendamm in the Charlottenburg district (although that ...
, 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 The Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin is a luxury hotel in Berlin, Germany. It is on Unter den Linden, the main boulevard in the central Mitte district, at the corner with Pariser Platz, directly opposite the Brandenburg Gate. The original Hotel Adlon ...
, was used as the villa of Edgar and Esther Kasabian. The exterior of Gereon & Helga Rath's apartment was filmed at Woelckpromenade in Berlin-Weißensee. New locations introduced in Season 4 include the
Karl-Marx-Allee Karl-Marx-Allee ( en, Karl Marx Alley) is a monumental socialist boulevard built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after Karl Marx. It should not be confused with the ''Karl-Mar ...
, used in multiple episodes as the
Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially ''Ku'damm'', ; en, Prince Elector Embankment) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former ''Kurfürsten'' (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevar ...
; 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. File:Filmstudio Babelsberg Eingang.jpg,
Babelsberg Studio Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...
in
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
File:Babylonberlinfilmset.jpg, Production of ''Babylon Berlin'' on the Metropolitan Backlot, 2016 File:BabylonBerlinFilmset.jpg, Production of ''Babylon Berlin'' on the Metropolitan Backlot, 2016 File:Berlin Alexanderplatz - Alexanderhaus 1.jpg, Alexanderhaus, on Alexanderplatz File:Berlin im Frühjahr 2014 - panoramio (90).jpg, Side entrance of the Berlin City Hall, used as Police Headquarters File:Rathaus Schoeneberg.JPG, The lobby of the
Rathaus Schöneberg Rathaus Schöneberg is the city hall for the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the state senate of West Berlin and from 1949 until 1991 as the seat of the Governing Mayor. History The sa ...
, used as the lobby of Police Headquarters File:Berlin schoeneberg rathaus 01.10.2013 10-09-22 ShiftN.jpg, Ratskeller Restaurant of the
Rathaus Schöneberg Rathaus Schöneberg is the city hall for the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the state senate of West Berlin and from 1949 until 1991 as the seat of the Governing Mayor. History The sa ...
, used as Aschinger cafe File:Berlin%2C_Mitte%2C_Dorotheenstrasse%2C_Naturwissenschaftliche_Institute_der_Universitaet.jpg, Robert-Koch-Forum, used for interior scenes set at Police Headquarters File:U-Bahn Berlin Hermannplatz.JPG, Hermannplatz station in Berlin-Neukölln File:Stummfilmkino-Delphi-Berlin-Prenzlauer-Berg-04-2018.jpg, The former Delphi silent movie cinema in
Berlin-Weissensee () is a quarter in the borough of in Berlin, Germany, that takes its name from the small lake (literally 'White Lake') within it. Before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, was a borough in its own right, consisting of the quarters of , , , ...
, used as the Moka Efti nightclub File:Berlin Berliner Ensemble.jpg,
Theater am Schiffbauerdamm The ''Theater am Schiffbauerdamm'' () is a theatre building at the ''Schiffbauerdamm'' riverside in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, opened on 19 November 1892. Since 1954, it has been home to the Berliner Ensemble theatre company, founde ...
, location of ''
The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...
'' sequences File:Berlin Immanuelkirche gesamt.JPG, Interior of the Immanuelkirche, used for Anno and Helga's wedding File:Dahlem Pücklerstraße Askania-Burgundia Korporationshaus.JPG, Villa in Dahlem used as the Benda residence File:Lichthof Behrensbau.jpg, Atrium of the Behrensbau, used as the psychiatric clinic File:Berlin, Mitte, Mauerstrasse 25-28, Deutsche Bank, Block II.jpg, Former Deutsche Bank headquarters, used as the Soviet Embassy File:Potsdam-Sacrow - Heilandskirche (Church of the Redeemer) - geo.hlipp.de - 29838.jpg, Church of the Redeemer at the Havel river in
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
File:Schloss Drachenburg Bild 1.jpg, Drachenburg Castle in the
Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...
File:Galopprennbahn Hoppegarten Haupttribüne.jpg, Hoppegarten Racecourse File:RIM_Koeln_1.JPG, Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum, used as the Anhalter Güterbahnhof File:Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord (25643647868).jpg, Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord File:Ullsteinhaus_march_2015.jpg, Ullsteinhaus houses the offices of ''Tempo'' in Season 3 File:Altes Stadthaus, Westseite, Berlin-Mitte, 160213, ako.jpg, Berlin's Old City Hall, used as the stock exchange in Season 3 File:Kammergericht Berlin.jpg, The Kammergericht, used as the Ministry of the Reichswehr in Season 3 File:Kammergericht, Berlin-Schöneberg, Treppenhalle (1), 160809, ako.jpg, Lobby of the Kammergericht File:Rathaus Treptow8.jpg, District Council Hall of Rathaus Treptow File:Charlottenburg Haus Cumberland Cafe Grosz.JPG, Cafe Grosz was used as the Romanisches Café in Season 3 File:Woelckpromenade Berlin.jpg, Woelckpromenade 7, the exterior of Rath's apartment File:2019-08-06 Karl-Marx-Allee, Berlin.jpg,
Karl-Marx-Allee Karl-Marx-Allee ( en, Karl Marx Alley) is a monumental socialist boulevard built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after Karl Marx. It should not be confused with the ''Karl-Mar ...
, used as the
Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially ''Ku'damm'', ; en, Prince Elector Embankment) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former ''Kurfürsten'' (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevar ...
in Season 4 File:Amtsgericht Wedding.jpg, Amtsgericht Wedding, used as the Landgericht Berlin-Mitte in Season 4 File:Wedding-amtsgericht3.jpg, Lobby of the Amtsgericht Wedding File:Berlin, Mitte, Littenstraße, GASAG-Geschäftshaus 01.jpg, GASAG Building


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 Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
to
klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...
. Named after the nightclub featured in ''Babylon Berlin'', The Moka Efti Orchestra is a fourteen-member group and is fronted by the Lithuanian actress
Severija Janušauskaitė Severija Janušauskaitė (born 22 October 1981) is a Lithuanian stage and film actress, occasionally performing as a singer, composer, costume designer and fashion model. She is well known for her role in the drama film '' Star'' (2014), for whic ...
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. 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 "Dance Away" is a song by the English rock band Roxy Music. Released in April 1979, it was the second single to be taken from their album ''Manifesto'', and became one of the band's most famous songs, reaching number 2 in the UK and spending a to ...
", from the 1979 album ''
Manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
'' by
Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...
, plays occasionally in the background (adapted to the style of the period) and also included is an adaptation of "
These Foolish Things "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" is a standard with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, writing under the pseudonym Holt Marvell, and music by Jack Strachey, both Englishmen. Harry Link, an American, sometimes appears as a co-writer; his input ...
" and, in the Season Two finale, a Russian version of "
Gloomy Sunday "Gloomy Sunday" ( Hungarian: ''Szomorú vasárnap''), also known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song", is a popular song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress and published in 1933. The original lyrics were titled "Vége a vilá ...
". Singer
Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ''The Independent'', Ferry an ...
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 Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...
''. The song "Die Morität 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.


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 Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...
started Sunday 30 September 2018. The Swedish broadcast began on 19 June 2019 on SVT. After early indications of a late 2019 premiere, 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 Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
,
HBO Europe HBO Europe is a premium television group of channels by HBO. It is available as a group of film channels and streaming television services in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegr ...
, and
Viaplay Viaplay is a streaming service owned by Viaplay Group which is based in Stockholm. History Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its fir ...
in early 2019. In territories where the show is distributed by Netflix, the third season was released in its entirety on 1 March 2020.


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. 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.


Season 1 (2017)

All episodes were written and directed by Henk Handloegten,
Achim von Borries Achim von Borries (born 13 November 1968) is a German screenwriter and film director. Selected filmography References External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borries, Achim von 1968 births Living people Mass media people from Munich ...
, and
Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The St ...
.


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 Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the first season holds approval rating of 100% based on 30 reviews, with the critics consensus reading: "''Babylon Berlin''s 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. Carolin Ströbele of ''
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...
'' 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 ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'', 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 Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
's ''
Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...
'' or
Robert Wiene Robert Wiene (; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a film director of the silent era of German cinema. He is particularly known for directing the German silent film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' and a succession of other German Expressionism, ...
's '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari''. "It could be that ''Babylon Berlin'' is the first big German TV production since ''
Das Boot ''Das Boot'' (, English: "The Boat") is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as ...
'' which enjoys really relevant success abroad. Let's not be shy to say it: we ermansare big again – as the world champions of angst."


Accolades

The series itself received several awards in 2018. These included a
Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. ...
in the category ''Beste Serie des Jahres (Best series of the year)'', four awards at the
Deutscher Fernsehpreis The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (''German Television Award'') is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999 by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalent to the Emmy Awards, t ...
(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 Bayerischer Fernsehpreis (the Bavarian TV award) is an award presented by the government of Bavaria, Germany since 1989. The prize symbol is the "Blue Panther", a figure from the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory. The prize money is €10,000 (Spec ...
and a
Romy Romy is a given name, often a diminutive form of names such as Rosemary (given name), Rosemary or Roman (given name), Roman or Romeo (given name), Romeo. https://nameberry.com/babyname/romy/boy People with the name include: Men *Romy Cachola, n ...
for TV event of the year. In the same year, everyone majorly involved with the production of the series won a
Grimme-Preis The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show is usually held in early February in Hamburg, but has also taken place in Berlin in the past. The gold-plate ...
in the category Best German actor for his portrayal of Gereon Rath. The series' opening
title sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with visu ...
, created by German designer
Saskia Marka Saskia Marka ( née Rüter; born 1975) is a German film title designer, known for her work on the TV series ''Babylon Berlin'', '' The Queen's Gambit'', ''Deutschland 83'', '' Deutschland 86'' and '' Deutschland 89''. Life and work Marka studi ...
and featuring a theme composed by
Johnny Klimek Johnny Klimek (born 18 August 1962) is an Australian musician, music producer, and composer, best known for his innovative work in the underground electronica music scene and for his film scores. Life and career Klimek was born in Melbourne, A ...
and
Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The St ...
, was named the best title sequence of 2018 by industry website
Art of the Title Art of the Title (AOTT) is an online publication dedicated to title sequence design, spanning the film, television, conference, and video game industries. The publication is both an educational and historical resource and a contemporary publicati ...
. In December 2019, the
European Film Academy The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soc ...
awarded the series with the inaugural Achievement in Fiction Series Award at the
European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...
.


Awards


See also

* 1920s Berlin *
Adolf Hitler's rise to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
*
Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the U ...
*
Golden Twenties The Golden Twenties ( also known as the Happy Twenties (german: Glückliche Zwanziger Jahre), was a five-year time period within the decade of the 1920s in Germany. The era began in 1924 after the end of the hyperinflation following on World War ...
*
Weimar culture Weimar culture was the emergence of the arts and sciences that happened in Germany during the Weimar Republic, the latter during that part of the interwar period between Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918 and Hitler's rise to power in 193 ...
* '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1980 miniseries) *
Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...


Notes


References


Further reading


Official site of the Metropolitan Backlot
(primary location for the show)

Interview with Volker Kutscher at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung website

at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung website

at Spiegel Online website

at Medien Business website

at Woernitz Franken's website
A site with background information
Historical figures appearing in the series, Berlin history, music
Alban Bargain-Villéger. The Babylon of Interwar Berlin. Active History July 11, 2018

Christine Lehnen. 'Babylon Berlin' set in Germany's dark 1930s.
DW 8 October 2022 Season 4 *


External links

* * {{Tom Tykwer 2017 German television series debuts Fiction set in 1929 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 Television series set in the 1920s Television series set in the 1930s Post-traumatic stress disorder in fiction Grimme-Preis for fiction winners Neo-noir television series World War I in popular culture Weimar Republic Flappers