BABYLON BERLIN, SPRING 1929
A metropolis in turmoil. From economy to culture, politics to the underworld – everything is in the grip of radical change.
Speculation and inflation are already tearing away at the foundations of the still young Weimar Republic. Growing poverty and unemployment stand in stark contrast to the excesses and indulgence of the city’s night life and its overflowing creative energy.
Gereon Rath, a young police inspector from Cologne, is transferred to Berlin in order to solve a criminal case – a porno ring run by the Berlin Mafia. What at first glance appears to be simply a matter of extortion soon reveals itself to be a scandal that will forever change the lives of both Gereon and his closest associates.
Together with stenotypist Charlotte Ritter and his partner Bruno Wolter, Rath is confronted with a tangled web of corruption, drug dealing, and weapons trafficking, forcing him into an existential conflict as he is torn between loyalty and uncovering the truth. And we are left wondering: in this story, who is friend and who is foe?
With the political unrest spurred by May Day demonstrations and rising National Socialism, even an institution like the “Rote Burg,” Berlin’s police headquarters and the centre of democracy and the constitutional state, is increasingly becoming the melting pot of a democracy whose days are numbered.
THE SERIES
THE SERIES
Based on the best-selling novels by Volker Kutscher, BABYLON BERLIN is the first German TV series where viewers can emotionally experience the story of the political developments leading from the Weimar Republic to the spread of National Socialism.
Through the eyes of Gereon Rath, the young police inspector from Cologne, we get a glimpse behind the scenes of the “Roaring Twenties,” which not only brought the Great Depression, but where “dancing on the volcano” became the stuff of legend.
Whilst filming seasons 1 & 2 from May to December 2016, X Filme Creative Pool, ARD, SKY, and Beta Film have brought the 1920´s back to life on original sites in Berlin, namely the back lot set “Neuen Berliner Straße” at the Studio Babelsberg and in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Sky has broadcasted the first two seasons (episodes 1-16) in 2017 and ARD in 2018. As co-producer, Beta Film is responsible for the worldwide distribution of the series.
The third season was shot from November 2018 till May 2019 on original sites in Berlin, at the Studio Babelsberg and in North Rhine-Westphalia. It will be released on Sky Germany on 24th January 2020.