Deutschland 83

Deutschland 83 is an eight-episode German television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who in 1983 is sent to the West as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. It is a co-production between AMC Networks' SundanceTVand RTL Television by the production company, UFA Fiction, with international distribution by RTL Group's FremantleMedia International and North American distribution by Kino Lorber. The series premiered on 17 June 2015, on SundanceTV in the United States, making it the first German-language series to air on a US network. The broadcast was in the original German language, with English subtitles. It subsequently aired in Germany beginning in November 2015, and later in the UK on Channel 4 beginning in January 2016.

A second series, entitled Deutschland 86 is a possibility and not out of the question, according to the producers. Wolf Bauer, head of producer UFA Fiction, said a second series of the show could be greenlit, even if the series does not achieve huge viewings in Germany. Deutschland 86 would be set in 1986, three years after the original series. If a second season was to happen, there would be a strong possibility that a third season Deutschland 89, would follow on. It would be set in the dramatic year of 1989, the year when the Berlin Wall came down.

Cast

 * Jonas Nay as Martin Rauch / Moritz Stamm, code name Kolibri (Hummingbird), a border patrol guard from East Germany, who goes undercover in West Germany as a oberleutnant and aide-de-camp to Major General Edel, impersonating the murdered soldier Moritz Stamm.
 * Maria Schrader as Lenora Rauch, Martin's aunt and one of his handlers for the Stasi. She is a cultural attaché of the East German Permanent Mission (StäV) in Bonn.
 * Ulrich Noethen as General Major Wolfgang Edel, Martin's boss in the Bundeswehr. General Edel works with the Americans at NATO on the deployment of Pershing II Weapon System missiles.
 * Sylvester Groth as Walter Schweppenstette, Lenora's boss at the East German Mission.
 * Sonja Gerhardt as Annett Schneider, Martin's fiancée who lives in Kleinmachnow, East Germany.
 * Ludwig Trepte as Oberleutnant Alex Edel, General Edel's son who serves in the military with Martin.
 * Alexander Beyer as Tobias Tischbier, a professor at the University of Bonn and Martin's handler who works in the Stasi's foreign arm, the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (HVA).
 * Lisa Tomaschewsky as Yvonne Edel, General Edel's daughter who is a member of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult.
 * Carina Wiese as Ingrid Rauch, Martin's mother who lives in Kleinmachnow, East Germany.
 * Godehard Giese as Lieutenant Colonel Karl Kramer, a fellow spy who helps Martin.
 * Errol Trotman Harewood as Major General Arnold Jackson, the American general who works with General Edel on the deployment of the Pershing II Weapon System missiles.
 * Michaela Caspar as General Edel's secretary Mrs. Netz
 * Vladimir Burlakov as Thomas Posimski, a colleague of Annett's
 * Jens Albinus as Henrik Mayer, NATO head analyst.
 * Nikola Kastner as Linda Seiler, Mayer's secretary.

Episodes
Creator Anna Winger said that all of the episode names originate from NATO military exercises from 1983.

Production
The show was created by the husband and wife team of American novelist Anna Winger and German TV producer Joerg Winger. It is produced by Joerg Winger, Nico Hoffman, and Henriette Lippold. Anna Winger said that they did extensive research with experts who were from both sides of Germany. Historian Klaas Voss from the Hamburg Institute for Social Research was very important in providing historical information. Jonas Nay, who played Martin, said he received technical assistance from military adviser/NATO expert Steffen Meier.

The show was shot in and around locations in Berlin, Germany. A suburb in east Berlin was used to portray period East Germany. For some scenes the Stasi headquarters (in German, the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit) was used as a location and the production was able to film at the Stasi Museum, which is the actual site of the original headquarters. The actual headquarters for the HVA was however in Gosen about 28 km (17 miles) south east of the Berlin TV tower, less than 1 km (0.6 miles) SE of the Berlin city limits, and approximately 4.5 miles (7.5 kilometers) south of the city of Erkner. The backup bunker for the headquarters of the HVA was also located there.

Directors Edward Berger and Samira Radsi used the same crew—and often the same locations—to shoot their respective episodes. One director would prepare for shooting while the other was shooting. They worked in parallel like this throughout the filming of the show. Radsi said she knew producer Winger from working together on the popular German TV show, SOKO Leipzig.

SundanceTV created a digital marketing strategy that reflected the use of locations in Germany that were meant to recreate both East and West Germany in the early 1980s. Reflecting both the intertitle of the show, the marketing team created sliders that show locations as they were in contrast to the current day. The opening credits were created by Saskia Marka.

Music
The show is notable for its extensive use of 1980s popular music, including Nena's "99 Luftballons", David Bowie, New Order and the Eurythmics among others. Each week's episode has a playlist of music from and/or inspired by the episodes. The score was created by Reinhold Heil, who produced the song "99 Luftballons."

Heil, who often collaborates with Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), said that he was on board the project when he saw the first scene of the show, where two teenagers are being interrogated by the border guards (one of whom was Martin, the main character) for attempting to smuggle two books by Shakespeare and Marx across the border. He said that it was very realistic, which comes from his similar experience when he was caught smuggling music (Stravinsky and Bach). The theme for the respective English-subtitled North American and UK broadcasts of the series featured Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)" – the English-language version of Schilling's big 1983 European hit "Major Tom (völlig losgelöst)". However, the markedly different introductory sequence for the German broadcast of the series used New Order's 1983 hit "Blue Monday".
 * Episode 1 – "Quantum Jump": DJ Geespin of Power 105.1
 * Episode 2 – "Brave Guy": WFMU Station Manager Ken
 * Episode 3 – "Atlantic Lion": DJ John Fell Ryan of the NYC band Excepter and the documentary Room 237
 * Episode 4 – "Northern Wedding": DJ Jonathan Tooubin of New York Night Train[
 * Episode 5 – "Cold Fire": DJ Takefive of CÜR Music
 * Episode 6 – "Brandy Station": Top 10 Songs of 1983 According to Billboard
 * Episode 7 – "Bold Guard": DJ David John Bishop
 * Episode 8 – "Able Archer": Composer Reinhold Heil
 * Episode 8 – "Able Archer" (finale bonus): Creator Anna Winger

Critical response
Deutschland 83 was met with excellent reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the show a 100% score with an average rating of 8.2/10, sampled from 22 reviews. The consensus states: "An engrossing drama with a fun '80s soundtrack, Deutschland 83chronicles an intense spy story that brings viewers uncomfortably close to the Iron Curtain." On Metacritic, it holds a score of 79 out of 100, based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The first two episodes of Deutschland 83 premiered at the Berlinale 2015 to very positive reviews. In its US television premiere, it also received positive reviews, with mention of its humour and successful depiction of a Cold War thriller, with favorable comparisons to the US show, The Americans. Many critics called it the best show of the summer of 2015.

Critic Emily Nussbaum from The New Yorker called the show a gorgeous, slinky thriller, comparing the set design and complete period immersion as being "nearly as aesthetically aspirational" as Mad Men, and although she thought the show pushed limits of believability with Martin's character becoming a bit Zelig-like, Nussbaum didn't consider that a huge issue. In a mixed review, The New York Times compared the show to a show broadcast on The CW.

Clemens Poellinger from the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet awarded the series a 5/6 rating. He praises the "excellence in time-faithful environment and details" but also points out the similarities with the series Weissensee.

Broadcast
The series premiered in the United States on 17 June 2015, on Sundance TV, making it the first German-language series to air on a US network. In Germany, it began to air after the U.S. run on RTL 26 November 2015.

It premiered in Ireland on 29 November 2015, on RTÉ2. All episodes were added to Australian streaming service Stan in December 2015. On 14 January 2016, the series was made available for streaming in The Netherlands via Videoland.

It premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2016, with the final two episodes shown back-to-back on 14 February. It has since become the most popular foreign-language drama in the history of British television with an audience of 2.5 million viewers as of January 2016.