German TV Is Going Beyond Spies and Nazis Thanks to Netflix
- Productions ‘Dark’ and Sky’s ‘Babylon Berlin’ are making waves
- Pay-TV and streaming companies draw international audiences
Germany has long been a global force in movies -- from Fritz Lang’s 1920s masterwork “Metropolis” to the 2006 Stasi thriller "The Lives of Others" -- yet its TV dramas never really sold globally. That’s now changing.
Today, "made in Germany" programming is suddenly in vogue with the rise of streaming services and increasingly global ambitions of pay-TV operators. Amazon.com Inc. later this year will stream "Deutschland86," a show about an East German spy in the West, after the first season won praise in the U.S. and Britain. "Dark," a supernatural family saga that’s Netflix Inc.’s first German production, is scheduled for a second season. And Sky Plc will later this year air a sequel to Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 Oscar-nominated submarine story “Das Boot,” after its 1920s sex-and-crime saga "Babylon Berlin” sold to more than 60 countries.