The summer was very long, the evenings are getting shorter, TV couches and streaming series are even more in demand. Netflix, Amazon Prime
Saara and the secret service nerds
The US intelligence agency NSA is almost as well known as the CIA or the FBI. The British equivalent is called GCHQ. The acronym stands for Government Communications Headquarters, the facility is based in Cheltenham. On her first day as a GCHQ student trainee, two things happen to Saara Parvin (Hannah Kalique-Brown) in the tech thriller “The Undeclared War”: She witnesses a cyberwar attack on the two largest British telecom companies. And not the army of predominantly male nerds, but she finds a second, even more dangerous computer malware hidden in the first virus. In short: both her boss Danny Patrick (Simon Pegg) and the black Prime Minister (Adrian Lester) quickly realize that nothing works without Saara. The series by showrunner Peter Kominsky is not only extremely exciting. The visualizations are remarkable when Saara chases the villains through the depths of the programming codes and libraries. Sky, six episodes, from 2.9.
Munich and again the terror
This is where fiction meets reality. After all, not a day goes by without a note, without stories about the 50th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village. From here, the six-part Sky original series “Munich Games” starts to ask similar questions about the present and a renewed terrorist threat for Israeli athletes in the Bavarian state capital as they did after the attack. How, by what means, can something like this be prevented? Is the German secret service ready for such a mission? Shouldn’t that be left to the Mossad? Has the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians changed since 1972? The pivot of the story is a football friendly match between an Israeli and a German team in Munich 2022 and two protagonists of the two secret services, who after the terror warning, one suspects, come very close with their different investigative methods: Oren Simon (Seyneb Saleh), a Mossad agent stationed in Berlin, and Maria Köhler (Yousef Sweid), a German LKA officer with Lebanese roots. A fast-paced and gripping streaming series (created by Michal Aviram, director: Philipp Kadelbach) that hits the nerve of the times. The question remains: could and can a terrorist attack like the one in Munich be prevented? See for yourself. Suitable for commemoration. Sky, from September 4th, six episodes.
A woman wants to go upstairs
Monarchy first. In “The Serpent Queen” we get to know the famous Catherine de Medici (Samantha Morton, “The Walking Dead”) from a whole new side. Part brutal, part humorous, this dark historical drama chronicles the rise of the legendary queen who, as a 14-year-old orphan in a foreign country, enters into an arranged marriage at the 16th-century French court. Although she is a commoner, her uncle Pope Clemens has negotiated a large dowry and a political alliance from which many heirs are expected in exchange for the marriage. Starzplay, from 11.9.
Three petrol junkies on a grand tour
Prime Video’s September highlight is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. As reported, the series prequel premieres on September 2nd, and there are new episodes on Fridays until October 14th. The three petrol junkies Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May also have a large worldwide fan community. Since 2016 their PS show “The Grand Tour” has been running on Amazon Prime. The new special “A Scandi Flick” starts in the middle of the month. In their first road trip after the pandemic, the three protagonists, who were allowed to live out their passion for fast cars under the title “Top Gear” for many years on the BBC, set off with their favorite rally cars into the icy expanses of the Scandinavian Arctic Circle. And as usual, they are accompanied by accidents and chaos. Amazon Prime Video, from 16.9.
Die Andere Sisi
Monarchy for the second time. More Elisabeth, less Sissi. More space for Emperor Franz Joseph and his mother Sophie, less personality cult around the Empress of Austria and later Queen of Hungary, that’s how showrunner Katharina Eyssen (“Time of Secrets”) created the Netflix series “The Empress”. As a modern series about a historical female figure, beyond the clichés of the Ernst Marischka trilogy from the 1950s. A public execution is on the agenda for the emperor in the morning, and Sisi has to watch her favorite horse get the coup de grace. Devrim Lingnau plays the untamed, rebellious empress, while Philip Froissant has taken on the role of the inexperienced emperor. Melika Foroutan can be seen as the dominant Empress Mother Sophie. Jördis Triebel gives Elisabeth’s mother Ludovika Duchess in Bavaria. And the whole thing takes place between the intimidating splendor of the Habsburg monarchy, the untamed power of nature and threats from home and abroad. Netflix, six episodes, starting September 29th.
When England became too boring
Something completely different: Punk in series, the mini-series “Pistols” on Disney about the most important and biggest punk band, which triggered a rock-n-roll revolution in 1976 with their first single “Anarchy in the U.K.”. The format is based on guitarist Steve Jones’ memoir (Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol). We follow founding member (Toby Wallace) into the heart of a terribly bored England in the mid-1970s and the invention of a band that saw “no future”, threatened to shake the establishment and in the process changed music and culture forever Has. Of course, the magic center of the band remains bassist Sid Vicious (Louis Partridge), although he could hardly play the bass. All directed by Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting”). From 9/28, six episodes, Disney .
Criminal Lusatia
A mysterious murder of a girl brings Maik Briegand (Misel Maticevic), who, like his father and brother, became a police officer in GDR times, back to the place of his childhood: Lauchhammer. Together with the LKA investigator Annalena Gottknecht (Odine Johne), Briegand begins to remove the secrets of the past layer by layer. The future of Germany is currently being negotiated in Lusatia: Structural change, climate change, cultural change: the crime story has an oppressive, formative background. The series is basically the ARD contribution for October 3rd, so the script, direction and cast have been hired. “Lauchhammer – Death in the Lausitz”, six episodes, ARD media library.
One man for two women
Two years after the airing of the comedy “Annie: Upside Down” there is a double reunion with Annie Frieding, the unconventional mother, nurse and friend with special relationships, with two new films: Can a man make two women happy at the same time? Starring again: Bernadette Heerwagen, Thomas Loibl and Kathrin von Steinburg. All three comedies from 8.9. in the ZDF media library.
