Considered to be German television's most important awards, the 2018 Grimme Prize winners are given to hit TV series "Babylon Berlin" and "Dark," among a record number of winners.
Image: 2017 X Filme/Frédéric Batier
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With 68 winners, the 2018 Grimme Prizes awarded on Friday celebrate a record-number of TV productions.
"Mass and class," said the director of the Grimme Institute, Frauke Gerlach, when the winners were revealed in March.
"The award winners have done an excellent job of showing a large cross-section of what television has to offer and its possibilities."
Among the winners were two original German television series that are well-known abroad.
"Babylon Berlin," the film adaptation of a detective novel set in Weimar-era Berlin, co-produced by ARD and pay-TV provider Sky, took home awards in the fiction category.
"Dark," produced by Netflix for its own platform, won for quality television, making it the first series produced by a streaming service to obtain a Grimme Prize.
"The quality of these high-class series shows that Germany can hold its own on the international series market," said Gerlach.
'Dark' and other German TV series to watch worldwide
'Dark' was Netflix's first German-language production; here are more German series that have reached an international audience.
Image: Netflix
Netflix German series 'Dark'
The first German language TV series produced by Netflix for the international market, "Dark" was released on December 1, 2017. The first season consists of 10 episodes and tells the story of four families living in a small German town. The disappearance of two young children in surrounding forest leads to investigations revealing that something shady has been happening there since the 1980s.
Image: Netflix
Dark worlds
The series was directed by Baran bo Odar and his wife, Jantje Friese, wrote the screenplay. The Swiss director filmed a similar story with the 2010 feature film, "The Silence," another thriller that interconnects two generations of a family in a small provincial German town. As the title suggests, his latest offering is a lot darker and claustrophobic.
Image: Netflix
Ambitious production: 'Babylon Berlin'
The most expensive non-English drama series ever produced, "Babylon Berlin" started airing in Germany last October. Netflix purchased broadcast rights for the US. Three directors, including Tom Tykwer, recreated the atmosphere of Berlin in the 1920s for this period drama.
Image: 2017 X Filme/Frédéric Batier
Amazon's German series 'You Are Wanted'
The first German series to be produced by Amazon, "You Are Wanted" started airing in March 2017 and was also made available worldwide through the Amazon Prime streaming service. It was directed by Matthias Schweighöfer, who also plays the lead role in this series dealing with cyber crime. Despite dividing the critics, the show's second season is already in production.
Image: picture alliance / Stephan Rabold/Amazon/dpa
A sequel for 'Deutschland 83'
Broadcast on SundanceTV, "Deutschland 83" was the first German-language series to air on a US network with English subtitles. The show obtained a number of accolades, including an International Emmy Award. The second season of this Cold War spy thriller, titled "Deutschland 86," has just been released on Amazon Prime.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Berlin mafia: '4 Blocks'
"4 Blocks," directed by Marvin Kren, is set in the Berlin district of Neukölln and is centered on different organized crime family clans. The series obtained rave reviews, with some critics comparing it to the US TV hit "The Sopranos." Since October 2017, it is available in over 150 countries on Amazon Video. A second season is in the making.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Handout/2017 Turner Broadcasting System Europe Limited & Wiedemann & Berg Television GmbH & Co.
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Additional awards
A third big winner of the award is "4Blocks," which follows a Lebanese family on the streets of Berlin's Neukölln district.
A frequent award winner is Jan Böhmermann and his satire show Neo MagazineImage: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Kaiser
Reporting about the riots in Hamburg surrounding the G20 summit in 2017, as well as reports on refugees and the loss of schoolchildren aboard the "Sewol," a ferry that sunk in South Korea, likewise received honors.
One of Germany's most important awards in the television industry, the Grimme Prize is named for the first Director General of the Nordwestdeutschen Rundfunks television station. It has adapted categories in recent years to reflect new media contributions.
