Scripted

The success story continues: The thrilling crime series Babylon Berlin which gained record ratings on its debut on Sky, has taken German Free TV by storm. The series by scriptwriter/director-trio Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten reached up to 8.5 million viewers on ARD, maintaining a strong 7.8 million viewership (24.5%) in average. The tremendous, stable success over all three consecutive episodes is also mirrored in the younger target group: 21.2 percent turned in, tripling the channel’s average among the 14 – 49 year olds. Babylon Berlin ran on Sky with the best ratings of non-English series ever, beaten only by the seventh season of Game of Thrones. The series, set in 1920’s cultural and social melting pot Berlin, is also internationally a bestseller: Co-producer Beta Film has sold season one and two (16 hours) to almost 100 territories throughout the world, amongst them the US, all of Europe, Australia, Africa and India.

Lauded by international media as “fabulous and stunning” (THE GUARDIAN), “dark, flashy, and addictive” (NPR) and “the most bingeable new drama since "The Crown" (VOGUE), Babylon Berlin collected a number of awards, including four German Television Awards, the Grand Prize at Seoul International Drama Awards, the Austrian Television Award ROMY as “TV Event of the Year”, and the Magnolia Award of the Shanghai TV Festival, the most important TV festival in Asia. The third season is already in pre-production, shooting is set to start in November.

Babylon Berlin is set in Berlin during the Roaring Twenties, a metropolis for those with talent and ambition, but a dead end for the impoverished masses striving for a better life. It is a time of organized crime and political extremism. The old militaristic elites have not yet abdicated, while an even more dreadful monster starts flexing its muscles. The show follows Gereon Rath, a police officer from Cologne, investigating with his own agenda in the capital. Starring Volker Bruch (“Generation War”) and Liv Lisa Fries (“The Wave”), Babylon Berlin is produced by X Filme Creative Pool, ARD Degeto, Sky and Beta Film.