iWorld
Amazon, UFA Fiction tie up to premiere Deutschland83 on Prime in ’18
MUMBAI: Amazon and UFA Fiction announced that the sequel to the nationally and internationally award-winning series Deutschland83 will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in Germany in 2018.
In addition, all episodes of Deutschland83 are now available for streaming for Prime members in Germany and Austria.
Created by Anna Winger (Head Writer) and Jörg Winger, and executive produced by Jörg Winger, Sebastian Werninger, and Ulrike Leibfried, the shooting of Deutschland86 will commence in 2017.
Under the terms of the agreement, RTL Television, which commissioned Deutschland83 in 2014 and aired the first season in autumn 2015, has secured a first-look option for the linear TV rights and expects to air the sequel on German free-to-air television in 2018/2019 after Amazon’s first window.
FremantleMedia International, the global distribution arm of FremantleMedia, will continue to sell the high-end drama series to broadcasters and streaming services around the world. Season two of the German thriller, will debut in the US on SundanceTV, who will continue as co-production partners in the US, followed by Hulu (US), Channel 4 and Walter Presents (UK), Sundance Channel (Canada), Crave (Canada), Super Ecran (French-speaking Canada), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), RUV (Iceland), CMore (Scandinavia), RTE (Eire), Canal+ (France), Movistar+ (Spain), Sky Italia (Italy), Paramount (Italy), OTE (Greece), Telenet (Belgium), RTL Klub (Hungary), HRT (Croatia), Hotvision (Israel), Sinema TV (Turkey), with more deals to be announced.
FremantleMedia International sold the first season, Deutschland83, to 38 broadcasters and SVOD platforms globally, which took the series to over 110 territories worldwide. The series was the first ever German-language drama to have aired on a major US cable channel (SundanceTV) and became the UK’s highest ever rated foreign-language drama launch when it debuted on Channel 4.
UFA co-CEO Nico Hofmann says, “With this latest collaboration between Amazon, RTL Television, FremantleMedia International and UFA, a long-awaited wish comes true. This latest deal is a milestone in co-production history. It will be resetting standards for the upcoming years.”
FremantleMedia International CEO Jens Richter says, “Deutschland83 achieved tremendous ratings worldwide and together with our fantastic group of partners we were able to help turn the series into the most successful German drama of our time. The storyline for season two looks to be as thrilling as the first and we’re looking forward to working with Amazon and our distribution partners to accomplish further success.”
Amazon Prime Video Germany managing director Dr. Christoph Schneider says, “After the Amazon Original You Are Wanted with Matthias Schweighöfer and Michael Bully Herbig’s Bullyparade – Der Film, Deutschland86 is the latest German-made production that will be available exclusively on Prime Video. German series and movies are very important for our Prime members and we are happy to continue to build on our engagement with German production industry and bring great new shows to our customers.”
RTL Television programming managing director Frank Hoffmann says, “Practically no other German drama series has attracted so much attention or generated so much buzz over the past few years, especially on the international markets. As the rights holder and broadcaster of Deutschland83, it has been our clear goal to ensure that this exceptional UFA Fiction and FremantleMedia International series could continue – and this has now been achieved with a new partner. It goes without saying that we are looking forward to broadcast Deutschland86 free-to-air on RTL Television.”
The ground-breaking agreement with Amazon Prime also demonstrates the growing success of FremantleMedia’s push into high-end scripted content. In August, Amazon and FremantleMedia International announced that the fantasy drama American Gods will launch exclusively for Prime members in Germany, Austria, UK and Japan in 2017. In September, much acclaimed
The Young Pope – produced by FremantleMedia’s Wildside for Sky, HBO and Canal Plus – celebrated its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. At this year’s MIPCOM, the world’s entertainment content market, UFA Fiction will show the two high end drama-series The Same Sky (Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel; Screenwriter: Paula Milne), which joins the line-up of world premiere TV Screenings, and Charité (Director: Sönke Wortmann) which deals with the history of the world famous Berlin hospital.
Created by Anna Winger and Jörg Winger, Deutschland86 returns three years later and picks up the story of East German Agent Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) and his compatriots in the Stasi Foreign Intelligence in 1986. Martin has been banished to Africa until Aunt Lenora recruits him to fight for the last gasp of Communism abroad. Set against the backdrop of real events during the last “Summer of Anxiety,” when terrorism raged across Western Europe, Martin’s dark mission takes him to Johannesburg, Tripoli, Paris, West Berlin and finally back to East Berlin, where he is forced to face new realities at home – and to make an impossible decision.
Deutschland83 was awarded many national and international awards, among them a Grimme Preis, a Goldene Kamera, a Peabody and a Satellite Award. For his role as Martin Rauch, Jonas Nay won a Golden Nymph award at the Festival de Télévision in Monte Carlo, and the German Television Award. Deutschland83 is also nominated for the International Emmy Awards 2016 in the category “Drama Series”. Deutschland86 is a production of UFA Fiction in cooperation with Amazon,FremantleMedia International and UFA Distribution.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
