“Babylon Berlin” is a slow-burning, atmospheric crime drama that uses 1929 Berlin as a stage for something far darker than its surface suggests. Created by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten, the series premiered on Sky 1 on 13 October 2017, and it ran for five seasons across 48 episodes before ending on 12 November 2022. It is a period piece, but it feels less like history lesson and more like a living, breathing city of shadows.
Trailer, via Sky TV.
The Lead Characters
The show follows Gereon Rath, a police inspector played by Volker Bruch, who is transferred from Cologne to Berlin on a secret mission to dismantle an extortion ring. He is paired with Charlotte Ritter, a police clerk played by Liv Lisa Fries, who dreams of becoming an inspector herself. Their partnership anchors the series, and the chemistry between the two leads carries the early episodes through their quiet investigations.
Setting the Scene
The setting is the Weimar Republic, a period of German history often remembered for its cultural flowering and its political chaos. “Babylon Berlin” captures both sides of that coin. The streets are clean and shiny, the cafes are full of light, and the fashion is sleek and modern. But beneath that surface, there is corruption, violence, and a growing sense of dread as the country moves closer to fascism.
The Neo-Noir Style
The series is a neo-noir, and it plays that card with confidence. There is a pulp quality to the storytelling, with its blackmailers, its secret agents, and its tangled webs of conspiracy. But the show also has a historical weight that keeps it from sliding into pure entertainment. The rise of Hitler is a shadow hanging over the entire narrative, and the series ends with Season 5 set in 1933 as he comes to power.
“Babylon Berlin is a German neo-noir television series.”
That description is accurate, but it undersells the scale of the production. This is a lavish, expensive-looking series that treats its period setting with care. The costumes are precise, the sets are detailed, and the cinematography is moody and saturated. It looks like a film, and it plays like one too, with long takes and a deliberate pacing that rewards patience.
International Distribution
The show is also notable for its international reach. Netflix streamed seasons 1 to 3 exclusively in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States until February 2024, when those streams were removed. Then all four seasons dropped on the Australian free-to-air streaming service SBS on Demand in March 2024. The first three seasons began streaming on MHz Choice in the United States and Canada in April 2024, with the fourth season added in June.
That distribution history matters because it shows how seriously the show was taken. A series this ambitious, this expensive, and this culturally specific rarely travels this far. The fact that it found homes across multiple platforms speaks to its quality, even if the removal from Netflix was a blow to its visibility.
Literary Origins and Character Depth
The series is based on novels by Volker Kutscher, and that literary foundation shows in the writing. The dialogue is sharp, the plotting is dense, and the characters are given room to breathe. Rath is not a hero in the traditional sense; he is a bureaucrat, a man of rules, and a man who is out of his depth. Ritter is his foil, younger, quicker, and more intuitive, and their dynamic drives the central tension of the show.
The supporting cast is strong. Ulrich Noethen plays Dr. Edmund Forster, a character whose role evolves across the seasons. Other recurring figures include officers, informants, and criminals who populate the city’s underworld. The show is populated with memorable faces, even if some of them disappear as quickly as they arrive.
Pacing and Payoffs
The pacing is the show’s biggest strength and its biggest weakness. The first season, which runs 16 episodes, is a continuous arc, with the first eight officially known as Season 1 and the second eight known as Season 2. That format asks viewers to commit to a long haul, and the payoff comes slowly. Some episodes feel like setup, and the mysteries take their time to resolve.
But that patience pays off. When the show finally delivers its answers, they land with weight. The finale of Season 5, set in 1933, is a fitting end to a series that spent five years building toward it. The series does not flinch from the horror of what is coming, and it does not offer easy comfort.
“Babylon Berlin” is a masterclass in period crime drama. It is meticulously crafted, acted with conviction, and anchored by a central partnership that holds the whole thing together. It is not for everyone; the slow burn will test the patience of casual viewers. But for those willing to invest the time, it offers a rich, rewarding experience that few other shows can match.
It is a show about a city on the edge, and it captures that feeling perfectly. The decadence is real, but the sin underneath is deeper than anyone wants to admit. It is a show about the end of an era, and it does not flinch from showing what that end looks like.
10 of 10.
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