It's interesting to hear that Deutschland 83 seems to be quite successful in the UK. German media website DWDL says that the first episode had 2.46m viewers (including time-shift) which allegedly is the highest-ever rating for foreign-language drama on British television, ahead of "The Returned" from France.

Over here, there was a bit of an online hype about the series after it had premiered on Sundance TV, and it got very favourable reviews in the US. Then It was shown on RTL, the No.1 commercial station in Germany, over four Thursday nights in November and December - and it flopped badly. Ratings went down from a mediocre 3.19m for episode 1 to a devastating 1.63m for the last episode.

Both the producers and the broadcasters were shocked - they thought it was high-quality mainstream material. On Twitter, Facebook and TV forums, some people said that viewers didn't expect that kind of programming on RTL, in a slot that's usually occupied by "Alarm für Cobra 11".

But I think the show just wasn't that good. The producers probably wanted too much: an espionage fairytale, Cold War drama, 80s retro, some humour, all rolled into one. I sat through the whole series but some of the plot holes were really painful to watch and the characters didn't seem authentic.

It's a shame because I think the basic idea of making a serial about a young East German spy who's sent to the west was just great. When I heard about it, I thought: "Great, they're probably going to show how he tries to adapt and blend in." I'd have written at least an entire episode about that kind of thing but they rushed through all the Apfelsine/Orange and Plaste/Plastik stuff in half a minute.

Of course there were East German spies in the Bundeswehr but they'd never have sent a virtually untrained, reluctant bloke into the very heart of NATO.

But hey, I don't want to spoil it all. If you can live with the plot holes, the rest of the series is probably going to be fun to watch. At least most of the actors are good and the 80s setting is more or less accurate.

I found it difficult to phone East Berlin even after reunification, (when trying to get the wheels in motion for claiming compensation for property appropriated by the regime)

Martin/Moritz doesn't really have an easily recognisable accent. And according to his legend, he's from Braunschweig, a West German town that was situated very close to the border, so he should have been okay.

Agree.
What it is, is a pretty enjoyable tv series.

I agree, its a bit of Sunday night fluff. Turn your brain off and enjoy it for what it is. I'm loving the retro look and of course the sound track

One of the catchy tunes from the soundtrack: "Keine Heimat" by Ideal (fronted by the fabulous Annette Humpe).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvQ1szm3GQ8

And the original ADCs friend didn't notice it wasn't him. Lets not analyse this series too much, its great fun. Loved the bit where he threw the Chinese girl over the railing and she just ran away, apparently indestructible. I hope she returns.

I saw a big massive advert board today in London.

How high is she? She would answer to people as well.

Thanks, though I had discounted that as a) it seemed better to get the disk/papers and leave him alive thereby fingering his organisation b) she didn't know if he had handed it off to an intermediate or stashed it somewhere, so finding out before she killed him seemed a good idea.

I note a few are mentioning the music, but there didn't seem very much this week in contrast to last.

I'm wondering why they didn't tell him they would help his mum get better and get her on the organ transfer list , as her sister said ... surely that would have been enough to encourage him to comply with their wishes ??

For anyone interested in reading of real life accounts of life in the DDR, Anna Funders "Stasiland" is a good read. Another is "Stasi: The Untold Story of The East German Secret Police" written by John O Koehler. A chilling read.



A recent tv documentary on the Top 20 Spy movies was quite interesting. Ex CIA and MI6 agents gave their opinions. Naturally Bond was quickly dismissed as pure entertainment but the one both voted in the number one slot for the closest to reality was Tinker Tailor.


That's true. They also used disillusioned people from the west instead who already had access in NATO and much much more! Far easier for them to successfully blend in!

And of course there's the ever-popular "Communist Era Television" thread here on Digitalspy.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...635294&page=12

I agree that the Smiley stories were closer to reality, after all John LeCarre was himself a spy in Europe for years.

However all the "adventure" spy stories need a lot of artistic licence to make them exciting - and I suspect that I would not enjoy them as much if they stuck closely to the truth.

I also like The Americans, and surely that has a great deal more far-fetched elements than D83. To my mind both have just enough contact with reality to make them worth watching.

All the uptight, middle-aged British spy stuff bores me to tears.
Amazed Deutschland 83 is not popular in Germany.

Yes... until she was well again. At which point they lose their leverage over him - though they could then threaten his family. But the promise of a transplant would be more of a positive and sweet carrot than coercion based on negative threats would. You'd go the extra mile in the hope of the reward being the transplant... conversely, you might do the bare minimum to keep threats at bay. If threatened you might even turn double in the hope that one day you'd get your family to the west. A careful balance.

Of course, once the carrot had been dangled long enough and Stamm was deeper and more valuably into the heart of NATO (assuming not exposed or dead) they'd have less need of the carrot so by that point it might be worth 'repaying' him with his mother's operation.


Assuming you're British, perhaps there's an answer to your first point in your second.

We often don't value what we know. Or think we know. The uptight Brit stuff - Smiley and co - is quite class-based and that will turn off some viewers. Perhaps Deutschland 83 is pressing similar cultural buttons in Germany - maybe a drama based on east vs west in the 80s is a bit too recent to generally appeal to those who would be the show's target audience there.

I've only watched ep. 1 so far but it failed to meet expectations to a massive extent. I know it's only a drama, but it requires a ludicrous level of suspension of disbelief, starting with the central premise - doesn't the adjutant who was bumped off have friends and family who might wonder what has happened to him? - and going downhill from there.

One or two things mentioned here already, like the forgetfulness drops at the party and him being able to break off from an army training run to hand over material. And the idea the American general would leave a briefcase - in which "Moritz" has already expressed a peculiar interest - in the office while he goes for lunch is beyond absurd.

No, that's not really the issue. We've got a lot of serials and TV movies about East/West German history, and although some people say they're fed up with the topic, the ratings are usually good.

The best example is Weissensee, a very well-written drama series by public broadcaster ARD that ran over 3 seasons with 6 episodes each. It starts out as the story of two families in East Berlin: a family of Stasi officials and a family of dissidents. I hope this comes to the UK as well. It might not be as fast-paced and modern-looking as Deutschland 83 but I think it's really good - and much more realistic, maybe comparable to The Lives of Others.

https://www.globalscreen.de/content/show/107144

I love it, great to have two good programmes on Sunday nights (along with Walking the Himalayas) at this dark, cold depressing time of year. Usually hate Sunday nights but am really enjoying Deutschland 83. Yes it has plot holes but it is gripping at the same time and well acted. Looking forward to the next episode.

Thanks for the recommendation. It looks good value on amazon. de and has English sub-titles so I might order it.

When Martin's aunt and her superior were talking about Moritz before they recruited Martin to impersonate him, they said that both his parents were dead, and he was raised by a great-aunt (presumably also dead by the time he was 24/25 at the time of his own death). No siblings were mentioned either. Possibly he had no close friends either - or at least no one who'd expect him to contact them while he was stationed in Bonn.

The American general left the briefcase in the office only after he was told by the German general that it was "the safest room on the base." (not true, as it turned out, but there you go).

I don't think the drops were 'forgetfulness drops' (is there such a thing?), just a sedative.

Why did the German General not simply hand the American General's briefcase to his ADC saying "Lock this away Stamm....we're going to lunch"?

Is the show called Deutschland 83 in Germany?

Was really looking forward to this, but watched the 1st 2 eps last night and was disappointed. Too many silly implausibilities.

Being as the Stasi seem to be able to insert personnel at will, wherever they want, throughout the West, why did they need "Stamm" at all. They already have a very senior asset, close to the General, at the military base so why can't he do all the spying?

How did they prevent the body of the real Stamm being discovered, being as how they killed him on a train? What happens when the real Stamm's friends, family and colleagues try to contact him?

Might stick with it, but such things try my patience.

Because the American General expressly did not want anyone else to touch it.