The best German TV shows & films to stream this Christmas
Here’s are a selection of German language TV shows & films that you can stream right now to help you improve or maintain your German/switch off and relax over Christmas…
Before we get into the list — click here to find out how you can enable more German audio and subtitles for a range of films and TV shows, such as Queen’s Gambit, on Netflix.
And look, we all need a laugh, seeing as it’s been quite the *insert adjective of choice* year, so we’ve put the comedies first. Dramas & films are further down the page.
🌴 Hazel Brugger — Tropical
One of the best young comics on the German comedy scene, Brugger offers an irreverant and unqiue take on all things German in this stand-up special released earlier this month.
💊 How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)
Ever wondered what would happen if a lovesick teenager started flogging class-A drugs from his bedroom and inadvertendly became one of the contintents biggest drug dealers? This offbeat comedy series should have you covered!
⚰️ The Last Word
Starring one of Germany’s most famous comedians Anke Engelke, who tries to deal with the sudden passing of her husband by becoming a funeral speaker. Has drawn parallels with Ricky Gervais’ ‘Afterlife’ due to sucessfully merging comedy, drama and emotion.
🎂 Nailed It! Germany
The weathers getting colder, there’s been a bake off on the telly, you’ve got a craving for baked goods and a hankering for hearing some German? Well scratch that itch with the German rendition of amateur bakers serving up dog’s dinners. Perfection.
⚔️ Barbarians
What’s that? You want a violent, historical war drama set in Roman times? Scroll no more.
🧪 Biohackers
Released in August, this TV thriller follows a young medical student as she becomes involved in the illegal biotechnology and gene manipulation.
😱 Dark
The final series of the this gripping sci-fi time-travel thriller was released earlier this year to rave reviews and managed that oh-so-rare task of ending things on a high. A must-watch for anyone with penchant for the unnatural.
🕵️ Deutschland 83 + 86
A spy drama set at the height of the Cold War, Deutschland 83’s scintillating story was widely praised and drew rave reviews. The series became the highest-rating subtitled drama in television history. Since March, the much-anticipated second season Deutschland 86 is available on All 4 as well.
🐕 Dogs of Berlin
The Netflix production starts with the murder of a famous Turkish-German football player. Two young cops try to find the murderer whilst confronting the chaos the killing unleashes within the Berlin underworld.
🏦 Bad Banks
The award-winning German-Louxembourg thriller series is set in the world of global finance. The young and rising investment banker Jana Liekam finds herself trapped in a vortex of corruption, greed and blackmail during a deadly battle between two rival banks.
⚖️ Shades of Guilt
Haunting German legal thriller in which defence lawyer played by Moritz Bleibtreu aims to tip the scales of justice in favour of those he represents as he probes complex cases that span various timelines.
👃 Perfume
A new spin on the best-selling novel ‘Das Parfum’ about scent & serial killing: At boarding school, a group of friends bond over their passion for scents (yep.) Years later, one is brutally murdered and disturbing secrets are revealed when the police try to find out who the killer is.
🔍 A Perfect Crime
Netflix’s first German documentary exploring the assassination of Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, a German official in charge of de-nationalising former East German companies, in 1991.
🏃 You Are Wanted
In this twisted cyber thriller, Matthias Schweighöfer, plays a young hotel manager made responsible for a cyber terrorist attack who tries to prove his innocence
👩⚕️ Charité
The six-part miniseries set in Berlin during 1988, tells the story of the orphan Ida, who starts working as a nurse at the famous Charité hospital where she gets as an inside look in to the cures for tuberculosis.
The Same Sky
This miniseries from 2017 is set in Cold War Germany and tells the story of the relationship between an East German ‘Romeo’ agent, a spy who uses seduction as a way to find out information, and his female target in the West.
Helen Dorn
This crime drama following the cases investigated by Detective Inspector Helen Dorn and her partner Gregor Georgi as they conduct interrogations, track down suspects and unearth secrets in Düsseldorf.
🎯 TATORT
Long-running German crime series ‘Tatort’ (crime scene) has been a weekly mainstay on German TV screens since the 1970s, with each episode following detectives in a different German city or town.
There are several to choose from if you’re based in the UK:
- ‘Inspector Borowski’ (featuring Sibel Kekilli who starred as Shae in Game of Thrones) is set in Kiel. ➡️ Watch on All 4
- ‘The Mind of a Murderer’ is set in Dortmund. ➡️ Watch on All 4
- ‘Inspector Falke’ is set in Hamburg. ➡️ Watch on All 4
Seeing as we can’t list all of them (sorry but we have Plätzchen to bake), click
here for every single German film on Netflix
here for every single German film on Amazon
Have we missed out your favourite show or do you have a recommendation we should include?
Then get in touch! 🐦Twitter /📸 Instagram
Hotel Adlon
Dubbed the German answer to Downton Abbey, this lavish three-part historical drama set in the prestigious and tradition-steeped hotel in central Berlin. spans a 90 year period from 1904–97 gives viewers an an insight into Berlin’s turbulent history; from the end of the German Empire, the World Wars and golden twenties to the Cold War and the city’s separation.
