Shown last night on our very first colour television set....a Grundig. Happy memories

Thank you for confirming that mistake - I thought it was odd when I watched it, and slightly before its time. I lived in West Berlin in the mid-80s and it was only in 1985 that there seemed to be any real awareness of AIDS, let alone having a test done.

It's odd that for a series that's year-specific, it seems to become rather 80s-generic in places. The Bhagwan 'cult' also seems slightly ahead of its time ...

Thanks for that. There are a couple of old documentaries on these events One on the man who saved the world and the other on the overall string of coincidences such as "able archer" that nearly led to us all shifting off this mortal coil in double quick time.

I think it was a case of just telling the soviet leadership what they wanted to hear, that they had already made their minds up and that any alternate view would be very unwelcome.In the 2 hour documentary on this event the Andropov Soviet leadership came across as an elderly bunch of ex "Great Patriotic War" old school communist duffers who ignored any information from their own spy's anyway.

I can't make my mind up about General Edel and how this will play out.

Actually I was at Tuebingen University in 1984 and one of the lecturers was part of the Bhagwan cult with the maroon clothes so I think it's safe to say those people would've been around in 1983. Also by 83 AIDS was all over the German media. Der Spiegel ran this cover story in 83 and I think we caught a glimpse of it in the drawer of Edel's secretary a couple of episodes back when she cleaned her hands out of fear of catching AIDS from Alex's mother

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-14021779.html

That article starting with the phrase "The gay plague..." says it all really.

I hope Edel jnr hasn't contracted it too.

Besides, not sure we'll really see thay play out, given that there's only a "feature length" special to come next week. I've loved the series, but its UK ratings have declined each week, sadly.

Doubt we'll see Martin/Moritz get up to any more shenanigans in a second season.

Was there a suggestion last night that Schweppenstette (the East German fixer guy) is Martin's father?! That's the way I interpreted it anway.....Schweppenstette talking about his children and Martin's mother talking about his father in the present tense and then hastily correcting herself.

Thanks to someone not using a spoiler on the IMDB site I've just had that question answered

Seems there are a lot of intricate sub plots. Martin's pregnant girlfriend working for East German intelligence for example and trying to manipulate him and he being completely unaware of it.

In an interview that was published yesterday, showrunner Jörg Winger says there will be talks about a second season with UFA, Fremantle, and RTL in the next couple of weeks. He also claims Deutschland 83 is "talk of the town" in the UK (I'm not so sure how realistic he's being about that), and that the series has had a very good start in Sweden.

http://www.quotenmeter.de/n/83644/jo...d-den-privaten

I really like, hope it gets a new series.

Would love to see this get a second series. So many stories and characters that could be explored further. I wonder when/ if General Edel realises there's more to Martin/ Stamm than meets the eye.

I don't think she was ever brainwashed. The audience just had not got to know her yet. Now we're seeing her true colours.


Indeed and I suspect it's more selfish ambition than being an ideological zealot.

Actually it's a German-American co-production (ie funded). But I would note entirely German created. It's possible they may make a Deutschland 85.

I thought she was brainwashed because she believes it's 'patriotic' to spy for one's country, regardless who she reports to the authorities.

She may or may not believe that. But even if she does that doesn't mean she has been brainwashed. At least no moreso than Lenora or Tobias. Brainwashed is an overused expression that seems to act as an exculpatory device for characters that takes away their agency. In some contexts it might be apt but not in this one. Maybe she's just not that impressionable young innocent that you may have presumed?

He's noticed that Martin's befriended both his son and daughter! I'd forgotten that Krammer was a spy.

The scene with Alex filming Gen.Jackson in his army jacket and underpants was very funny.

I've never presumed her to be that innocent. She's cold and unpleasant, I don't like her. A lot of young people, were indoctrinated into believing the West was a bad influence on society.( her words, a couple of episodes ago) - Reporting 'suspicious' people to the authorities was expected of them. Perhaps, there'll be a twist at the end, who knows?
Her reward was to get a flat.

Or a Deutschland 15, blind me how old are they now, and it would be boring.

I like her as a character (she is unlikeable but in a good way). She reminds a bit of Nina Hoss's character in the German film Yella. The missus refers to her as Jennifer Lawrence's evil twin. For me I suspect that Annett is not one of the manipulated but rather just another one of the manipulators. She seems possessive at times but I think it's more because she sees Martin as her meal ticket. Her dalliance with Tom makes me wonder if she wasn't on the uptake with the authorities already. Apparently in the GDR there was usually at least one Stasi informant in every family.

Not really. Screenwriter Anna Winger is American. I read that she wrote the scripts in English and her husband Jörg translated them into German.

I'm not quite sure but this might be one of the reasons why the series didn't catch on in Germany. Some of the dialogues didn't seem authentic to me, and most of the characters were just too artificial.

Oh I didn't realise this. I assumed they were both German.

And apparently it's Deutschland 86, not 85, that they are considering.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...germany-844053

For selfish reasons I hope they cast Susan Hoecke and/or Nora Tschirner if they greenlight another series.

Have read the writers would ideally like the show to be a trilogy (83/86/89) with it ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall. I thought it had the green light for series 2 already due to overseas sales of D83.

As far as I know, they had green light to develop the scripts for series 2.

You could be right. If she's that ambitious, Annette may have already joined the Party or decided to co-operate. The chat with Mr. S...? In the car was a give away. At the same time, wasn't it Lenora who suggested she move in with Martin's mother. Was that a hint for Annette to report anything suspicious? Is the baby really Martin's? Lol

Haven't seen Yella. Any good?

Double post