German TV

News and reviews of German TV

Deutschland ’86
Competitions

Competition time: win a copy of Deutschland ’86 on DVD

7 May 2019 Rob Buckley Post a comment

It’s May, spring is in the air. Surely it’s time for another chance to win some German TV on DVD?

Following on from last month’s Babylon Berlin competition, this month, TMINE is giving away two copies of Deutschland 86 on DVD. Here’s the rundown:

Deutschland ’86

In 2016 a German language drama premiered on Channel 4; it has since become the most popular foreign-language drama in the history of British television with an audience of 2.5 million viewers.

That drama was Deutschland ’83, a gritty Cold War drama with a soundtrack that hit all the right nostalgic buttons (99 red balloons anyone?).

Three years later and the series returns – as Deutschland ’86: East Germany is broke, Perestroika is real, terrorism plagues Europe, the AIDS crisis intensifies and the struggle against apartheid rages on. And there’s still plenty of ’80s pop music, of course.

Banished for his sins in 1983, Martin Rauch wallows in limbo until his Aunt Lenora conscripts him into her plan to drum up hard currency abroad. They set off on an adventure through Africa, Western Europe and finally home to East Germany. Can mafioso-style Capitalism save Communism just in the nick of time?

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Babylon Berlin nightclub scene
Competitions

And the winners of the Babylon Berlin competition are…

8 April 2019 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

For the past two weeks, TMINE has been running a competition to win one of two boxsets of seasons one and two of the rather marvellous Babylon Berlin on DVD.

All you had to do to enter was ‘Like’ the TMINE Facebook page and leave a comment on the competition entry post. Since Disqus malfunctioned for at least one person, I allowed commenting on the Facebook post announcing the competition for said person.

Entry closed last night and the following people were all smart and talented enough to want to have Babylon Berlin on DVD and to follow the instructions:

Look at the advanced technology that runs TMINE, hey? Have you ever seen its like before?

Anyway, as usual, together with the mighty power of the Internet Random Number Generator, I’ve picked two people at random from the entries to receive the DVDs. And they are…

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Acorn TV's London Kills
Airdates

When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including Dead To Me, Undercover and The Society

5 April 2019 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK

Acquisitions

The following shows have been acquired this week, but don’t yet have a premiere date:

  • Paramount UK has picked up Paramount US’s forthcoming Emily in Paris. That’s not gone into production and won’t air in the US until 2020, so let’s not be too harsh on them for not telling us when we can watch it over here.
  • BBC One has acquired Acorn (US)’s London Kills. That’s BBC One importing a US drama filmed in London from a US network dedicated to importing UK TV shows. My head hurts.
  • More 4 has bought up Global (Canada)’s Mary Kills People. No idea why they can’t tell us when that’s airing.

Oops, I missed it

Meanwhile, in a new sub-feature of “When’s that show starting?”, I’m going to be highlighting foreign shows that have had airdates announced but which I somehow missed or that didn’t and have just become available in the UK. Oops.

Anna Loos and Matthias Matschke in ZDF (Germany)’s Helen Dorn

Helen Dorn (Germany: ZDF; UK: Walter Presents)

Helen Dorn (Anna Loos) is an expert police commissioner, whose years of experience have given her a killer instinct when it comes to crime. Fearless and tenacious, her drive and perseverance have won her a reputation for being the best in her field. Despite a robust and resilient exterior, she hides a vulnerable side which is grounded in her past.

On the department head’s orders, Helen Dorn become involuntary partners with Detective Chief Superintendent Gregor Georgi (Matthias Matschke), with Helen in the role of Georgi’s superior. After initially ruffling some feathers, as Gregor thought he was about to take over a case as head investigator and not confronted with a new superior, the two prove to be a solid pairing: Helen’s famed intuition is matched by Gregor’s rational analysis and precision. But will he be able to unearth her mysterious past?

The Secret City (Russia: Janson Media; UK: Amazon)

Based on the sci-fi novels of Vadim Panov about “the other” Moscow where in a parallel reality the last representatives of the disappeared civilizations live. For thousands of years in the territory of Moscow there existed another – the Secret City, inhabited by those who ruled long before humans.

I know literally nothing about this and I’ve been able to find out about the same. Can’t even find a trailer. But it’s here.

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The Name of the Rose
Italian TV

Review: Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) 1×1 (Italy: Rai 1; UK: BBC)

2 April 2019 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

In Italy: Aired on Rai 1 in March
In the UK: Acquired by the BBC

There’s a certain irony that while Netflix is introducing the rest of the world to foreign TV shows made in their native languages and in their own styles, national broadcasters in Europe are still keen on “the international co-production”. These have been around for ages and basically involve two or more big broadcasters from different countries getting together to make a production. They pack the cast with their own native talent… then force them all to speak English. They then simultaneously water down the script for “international tastes” – in other words, strip it of anything that won’t translate easily into other languages or cultures.

Rai 1 (Italy) and Tele München Gruppe (Germany)’s Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) may be an advance on that standard formula and a definite cut above the average co-production of yore, but it’s also something that feels like it’s been stripped of flavour to suit “international tastes”.

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Babylon Berlin
Competitions

Competition time: win a copy of Babylon Berlin on DVD

27 March 2019 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

It’s been a little while, I know, since the previous TMINE competition. But look at this! Here’s a chance to win series one and two of Babylon Berlin on DVD and there’ll be a chance to win Deutschland ’86 in a few weeks, too.

Babylon Berlin, of course, was one of TMINE’s Top 14 Shows of 2017. But in case you don’t know about it, here’s the Spiel (did you see what I did there?)

THE CRITICALLY acclaimed, multi award winning hit German period drama Babylon Berlin follows a young police inspector uncovering a tangled web of corruption amongst the political, social and sexual extremes of the Weimar Republic. Making waves at home and internationally after its run on Sky Atlantic, and with its third series due later this year, Babylon Berlin Series One & Two Box Set is set to arrive on DVD courtesy of Acorn Media International.

The lavish, $40m series is Germany’s most expensive drama to date, and explores a metropolis in turmoil: growing poverty stands in stark contrast to the excesses and indulgence of the night life in 1929 Berlin.

Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), an ex-soldier from Cologne, is transferred to Berlin to investigate one of Berlin’s biggest pornography rings, together with stenotypist Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) and his partner Bruno Wolter (Peter Kurth). Rath is forced into an existential conflict, torn between loyalty and uncovering the truth as an even greater conspiracy unfolds: Soviet rebels confronting the rise of National Socialism. Berlin’s police headquarters increasingly become the melting pot of a democracy whose days are numbered.

The social climate and political factors that coalesce into a growth in power of the populist far-right has striking political relevance even now, 90 years after the show is set. With a rare 100% critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, Babylon Berlin is perfect for your next box set binge.

Babylon Berlin Series One & Two will be available digitally to download and keep from iTunes, Amazon Prime Video and Google Play on 1 March 2019 and arrives on DVD as a four-disc box set on 1 April 2019.

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