'Babylon Berlin' creators get funding for third season of hit crime-drama

The creators of big-budget European TV drama series Babylon Berlin have got funding for the third season of their Sky hit.

German funding body Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg has committed €120,000 to the development of the screenplays for the next season (eight episodes) of the lavish period crime-drama which writer-directors Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries are working on now.

Season one and two have been shot and are already available to air on Sky. During the recent Tallinn Film Festival the creators confirmed on stage and separately to Screen their desire to make at least six or seven seasons of the show.

Season one is set in 1929 and the creators have previously said that each subsequent season will capture one year up until 1936. However, the show has not yet been officially greenlit by a broadcaster for a third season.

The well-received series is a landmark in German-language drama in terms of its $47m budget and its scale.

Volker Bruch (Generation War) and Liv Lisa Fries (The Wave) star in the sweeping story of organized crime and political extremism in 1920’s Berlin. Producers are X Filme, ARD Degeto, Sky Germany and Beta Film.

Sky airs the series in Germany, Italy, and the UK while Beta has sold the show to more than 60 markets. Netflix picked it up for US, Australia and New Zealand; Telefonica acquired for Spain; Group AB has the rights for France. Scandinavian pubcasters are DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, and YLE in Finland. HBO Europe has the series in Czech Republic and Romania.

Babylon Berlin drew more than one million viewers on linear and catch up after six days in Germany, making it the most successful series start in the territory behind Game Of Thrones.

Medienboard CEO Kirsten Niehuus said: “Babylon Berlin is a great success for a German-language series in Berlin and among international audiences. To avoid addiction to more Babylon going unfulfilled we are happy to support the continuation of this extraordinary series orginally based on the novel by Volker Kutscher.”