For German language learners, it has never been easier to practice your listening skills. Many online streaming video services now allow you to watch German TV shows. There are quite a few German series on Netflix that you can choose from and most are Original Series that you will not be able to find elsewhere. But whether you are looking to practice your German language skills or you just want to be entertained (or maybe a little of both!), I have pulled together twenty great German shows that you can stream now.
If episodic television isn’t your thing, check out my list of 25 movies you can stream now on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
Note: Updated for 2025, to add new TV shows and remove those that are no longer available for streaming.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Top Picks for Learners
- Best for Beginners: Nailed It! Germany
- Best for Intermediate: Maxton Hall or Criminal: Germany
- Best for Advanced: Babylon Berlin or Bad Banks
At-a-Glance: 20 Best German TV Shows
| Show Title | Genre | Where to Watch |
|---|---|---|
| We Children from Bahnhof Zoo | Drama | Amazon Prime Video |
| Babylon Berlin | Thriller / Crime | Netflix |
| Dogs of Berlin | Crime / Drama | Netflix |
| You Are Wanted | Thriller | Amazon Prime Video |
| Nailed It! Germany | Reality / Comedy | Netflix |
| Bad Banks | Thriller / Drama | Hulu |
| Dark | Sci-Fi / Thriller | Netflix |
| Das Boot | War / Drama | Hulu |
| Freud | Crime / Mystery | Netflix |
| Unorthodox | Drama (Miniseries) | Netflix |
| Inside Borussia Dortmund | Documentary / Sports | Amazon Prime Video |
| FC Bayern – Behind the Legend | Documentary / Sports | Amazon Prime Video |
| Criminal: Germany | Crime / Thriller | Netflix |
| LOL: Last One Laughing Germany | Reality / Comedy | Amazon Prime Video |
| Maxton Hall | YA / Drama | Amazon Prime Video |
| The Gryphon | Fantasy | Amazon Prime Video |
| Love Addicts | Comedy | Amazon Prime Video |
| One Mic Stand | Reality / Comedy | Amazon Prime Video |
| Joko Winterscheidt Presents: Climate Change | Documentary | Amazon Prime Video |
| The Teddy Teclebrhan Show | Comedy / Variety | Amazon Prime Video |
German Thrillers & Crime Shows
We Children from Bahnhof Zoo
In the late 1970s, two journalists wanted to document the dark side of life for Berlin teens. They began interviewing 16-year-old Christiane F. In 1979, a book called Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo was published based on these interviews. The book shocked Germany with its accounts of teens addicted to heroin, involved in the sex trade, and more. In 1981, a film was made of the book which included an appearance and music from David Bowie. In 2021, Amazon rebooted it as a streaming television series.
Language Learning Note: Best for advanced learners. Expect gritty, fast-paced dialogue with significant 1970s Berlin slang related to drug use and street life.
Watch We Children from Bahnhof Zoo on Amazon.
Babylon Berlin
A dark thriller, Babylon Berlin captures the excitement, indulgence, and uncertainty of the German capital city in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Based on the books of author Volker Kutscher, the series tells the story of Gereon Rath, a police detective from Cologne, and Charlotte Ritter, a flapper who aspires to become a police detective. Rath is sent to Berlin to assist in one case but gets wrapped up in something larger.
Babylon Berlin is, without a doubt, one of the most lavish German TV shows. The series is written and directed by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten and stars Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries.
Language Learning Note: Ideal for upper-intermediate to advanced learners. Features a mix of clear, formal police language and authentic 1920s/30s-era slang.
Watch Babylon Berlin on Netflix.
Dogs of Berlin
On Dogs of Berlin, a German TV show on Netflix, police officers Erol Birkan and Kurt Grimmer investigate after a famous (and fictional) German-Turkish soccer star is found dead hours before an important game. As the investigation into the murder starts, no one seems to be quite as honest as they first appear. And that includes the police!
Language Learning Note: Good for intermediate to advanced learners. The dialogue is very modern, urban, and fast-paced, with a good amount of police and street slang.
Watch Dogs of Berlin on Netflix.
You Are Wanted
One day, Lukas is managing a hotel in Berlin on You Are Wanted. The next day, after a cyberattack, he is suspected of being a member of an activist terrorist group. No matter where Lukas turns, he is being pursued and followed. No one trusts him. Not even his own family. Can he figure out who is behind this? And, more importantly, how to end it?
Matthias Schweighöfer portrays Lukas while Alexandra Maria Lara plays his wife Hanna. You Are Wanted was the first Amazon Original Series not in English to be released internationally.
Language Learning Note: Great for intermediate learners. The plot is fast-paced, but the German is modern and conversational. A good way to pick up contemporary vocabulary, including some tech terms.
Watch You Are Wanted on Amazon Prime Video.
Bad Banks
Jana Liekam (portrayed by Paula Beer) is a young woman working in investment banking, and she has big ambitions. After she is wrongly fired, she is quickly pulled into a scheme controlled by the head of her former company. Jana’s been given her dream job in Frankfurt, but everything comes with a price. And on Bad Banks, everyone has their own designs on power and money.
The show bounces around between Luxembourg and Frankfurt, among other spots. As such, there’s a mix of German, French, and English spoken. Once you start watching Bad Banks it can be difficult to stop!
In addition to Beer, the show also features Albrecht Schuch as Jana’s coworker, Adam, and Tobias Moretti who portrays Quirin Sydow, the chief financial officer of Deutsche Global Invest.
Language Learning Note: Best for advanced learners. Features a lot of specialized, fast-paced financial and business vocabulary. Be prepared for a mix of German, English, and French dialogue.
Das Boot
Das Boot sails again. The thrilling book turned dramatic film is now a television series. A sequel to the 1981 film, the series begins roughly nine months after the events of 1942. The series follows the life and work of a crew for a German U-boat as well as the French Resistance.
Language Learning Note: Good for intermediate to advanced learners. Expect a significant amount of specific military and nautical vocabulary from the 1940s setting. Dialogue is often tense and clipped.
Freud
No doubt that you have heard of Sigmund Freud, but you may never have seen him like this. In the German series Freud for 2020 on Netflix, the psychoanalyst is still an unknown young man in Vienna, Austria, in the 1880s. The series follows Freud as he investigates a murder and gets mixed up with the rich and powerful.
Language Learning Note: Good for intermediate learners. The 1880s Vienna setting means the German is formal and clear, but it also includes specific psychological and investigative terms.
Criminal: Germany
In the fall of 2019, Netflix released its Criminal series in an unusual way. Four series, based in four countries (France, Spain, the UK, and, of course, Germany), were all released on a single day. Each series has three episodes set in a police interrogation room. In addition to being a very unique German series on Netflix, this is a must-see for fans of psychological thrillers and crime stories.
Criminal: Germany stars Nina Hoss and Peter Kurth (who you can also see in Babylon Berlin).
Language Learning Note: An outstanding choice for intermediate learners. The entire series is dialogue-heavy, set in an interrogation room. It’s a masterclass in clear, tense, and persuasive German.
Watch Criminal: Germany on Netflix.
German Dramas
Unorthodox
Based on the 2012 autobiography of Deborah Feldman (Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots), Unorthodox is a four-part Netflix miniseries following Esty, a young Jewish woman.
After Esty flees an arranged marriage and her Ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn, New York, she ends up at her mother’s in Berlin. Esty is forced to navigate a new life in a new country while her husband decides to try and find her.
The miniseries is not solely in German; it is in English and Yiddish, too.
Language Learning Note: A great series, but be aware it’s not entirely in German. The dialogue switches between English, Yiddish, and modern, conversational German.
Maxton Hall
Maxton Hall – The World Between Us is based on the book Save Me by Mona Kasten. The series has been an international hit, lauded as Amazon Prime Original’s most successful launch for a non-American series.
The Young Adult show focuses on a group of students at a private school named Maxton Hall. One of those students is Ruby. From a more modest background, Ruby was awarded a scholarship to attend the school, and she has big ambitions for her future. But when she sees something she shouldn’t have, a super wealthy student named James makes it clear she shouldn’t open her mouth.
Language Learning Note: Ideal for intermediate learners. As a Young Adult show, the dialogue is modern, clear, and revolves around easy-to-follow themes like school, relationships, and social drama.
Watch Maxton Hall on Amazon Prime Video.
German Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Dark
Dark is the first original German series on Netflix. Set in Southwestern Germany, the show delivers on the title’s promise. After children begin to vanish in the town, families begin a frantic search to find them. But their search takes them where they least expect it: time travel into the past.
Language Learning Note: This is for advanced learners. The plot is complex (time travel!), and the dialogue is often philosophical and dense. It’s a challenge, but rewarding.
The Gryphon
The Amazon Prime Original series The Gryphon is based on Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein’s 1989 best-selling fantasy novel Der Greif.
Set in a small town, Mark is a bit of an outcast. On his 16th birthday, his brother Thomas reveals that their family has a big secret. For generations, the family has passed down the chronicle that describes the Gryphon. Thomas assures Mark that this is not a mythical creature, but one they have to fight. That’s when Thomas is kidnapped in the Gryphon’s world and Mark decides he needs to save him.
Language Learning Note: Good for intermediate learners. The core dialogue is modern (teen protagonists), but you will need to learn specific fantasy-related vocabulary (creatures, chronicles, etc.).
Watch The Gryphon on Amazon Prime Video.
German Comedy & Reality Shows
Nailed It! Germany
Wer kann, der Kann!, as it’s known in Germany, is the German version of the American Netflix series Nailed It! Each episode of this baking show features three contestants who are ordinary people with no real baking experience. The host challenges the contestants to make something fantastic to look at and delicious to eat. It’s colorful, silly, over-the-top, and not a good representation of baking.
Language Learning Note: Excellent for all levels, especially beginners. The speech is modern, unscripted, and conversational. The visual context (baking) makes it easy to follow along.
Watch Nailed It! Germany on Netflix.
LOL: Last One Laughing Germany
In 2016, a Japanese television show called Documental challenged ten comedians. The comedians had six hours to attempt to make one another laugh. The twist? Anyone who laughs is eliminated. Since then, the show has spawned international versions under the Last One Laughing name.
In the spring of 2021, Amazon Prime Video launched LOL: Last One Laughing, the German version of the show. Hosted by Michael Bully Herbig, the German LOL has been a big hit in the country. Which German comedian will win? You’ll have to watch to find out.
Comedians and entertainers who have competed on the show include Bastian Pastewka and Axel Stein.
Language Learning Note: This is a fun challenge for advanced learners. The humor is extremely fast, relying heavily on puns, cultural references, and wordplay that can be difficult for non-native speakers to catch.
Watch LOL: Last One Laughing Germany on Amazon Prime Video.
Love Addicts
When Zoé lets her private life interfere with her professional life, she suddenly finds herself in a group for Anonymous Love and Sex Addicts. There, she meets Nele, a romance addict; Ben, who struggles with relationships; and Dennis, who simply wants to please everyone he meets. In the comedy series Love Addicts, the four bond over their struggles and try to support one another.
Language Learning Note: Great for intermediate to advanced learners. This is a dialogue-heavy comedy, so the speech is modern and conversational. Expect a lot of vocabulary related to relationships, dating, and therapy.
Watch Love Addicts on Amazon Prime Video.
One Mic Stand
German comedian Teddy Teclebrhan wants to make everyone a stand-up comedian. That’s the premise of One Mic Stand, an Amazon Original Series. In the show, well-known comedians mentor celebrities who are not necessarily known for their humor. Hazel Brugger assists politician Dr. Karl Lauterbach while famed late-night host Harald Schmidt guides footballers Mats Hummels and Christoph Kramer.
Language Learning Note: A fun watch for intermediate learners. You get to hear conversational, “coaching” style German as comedians mentor celebrities. The final stand-up routines are a good test of your cultural and humor comprehension.
Watch One Mic Stand on Amazon Prime Video.
The Teddy Teclebrhan Show
Anyone who has seen Teddy Teclebrhan on Last One Laughing knows just what a wild card he is. On The Teddy Teclebrhan Show, he unleashes new characters and sketches and brings celebrities into his chaotic world. All of this in front of a live audience and with live music.
Language Learning Note: This is for advanced learners only. Teddy is known for using multiple characters, dialects, and heavy slang. It’s “chaotic,” fast, and will be a significant challenge.
Watch The Teddy Teclebrhan Show on Amazon Prime Video.
German Documentaries & Sports
Inside Borussia Dortmund
If you love German soccer (or, if you prefer, football), then Inside Borussia Dortmund is for you. The four-part series goes behind the scenes of one of the Bundesliga’s top clubs during their 2018-2019 season. Each episode is more than an hour long and offers interviews with players and staff while also offering a peek inside the locker room, training facilities, and more.
Amazon offers the series both with English subtitles or dubbed in English. But dubbing won’t help you practice German, so stick to those subtitles if you need them!
Language Learning Note: Perfect for soccer fans at any level. This is unscripted, conversational German. You’ll hear a mix of interviews and casual locker-room chat, picking up lots of sports vocabulary.
Watch Inside Borussia Dortmund on Amazon Prime Video.
FC Bayern – Behind the Legend
Borussia Dortmund isn’t the only German team that has let its fans see what happens behind the scenes. German football juggernaut FC Bayern Munich has its own streaming series on Amazon. The series was recorded following the team’s 2020 Treble-winning season, when the team won the UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga, and the DFB-Pokal. The club was also reevaluating some management challenges. The team is full of many strong personalities and the series is sure to entertain many football fans.
Language Learning Note: Like the Dortmund series, this is excellent for learners. It’s real, unscripted German from players and management, so it’s a great way to learn modern sports and business vocabulary.
Watch FC Bayern – Behind the Legend on Amazon Prime Video.
Joko Winterscheidt Presents: Climate Change
For years, Joko Winterscheidt has been doing crazy and silly stunts on television with comedy partner Klaas Heufer-Umlauf. With Joko Winterscheidt Presents: Climate Change, the comedic television host turns his attention to a more serious topic: climate change. The six-part series is a documentary that investigates how we can live in a more sustainable world and the individuals who are trying their best to do something about it.
Language Learning Note: Excellent for all levels. As a documentary, the speech is very clear, formal, and explanatory. This is a perfect way to learn specific, high-utility vocabulary for climate change and sustainability.
Watch Joko Winterscheidt Presents: Climate Change on Amazon Prime Video.
Tips for Streaming German TV Shows
How to Find Free German Shows
Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video are subscription services. But, some German television broadcasters offer streaming of their shows online for free. Usually, there’s an expiration date, so to speak, on these episodes, so be sure to prioritize!
A Note on Subtitles and Dubs
From a language learning perspective, you can assume that shows from German providers will be broadcast in German and offer German subtitles. All other providers will likely offer the show in German or dubbed in the local language. Similarly, there will likely be subtitles in the local language. The one exception to this is Netflix, which frequently offers subtitles in German regardless of your location.
Finding Shows on Other Platforms
Don’t have Hulu or another streaming service to watch these German TV shows? Some shows are available, for a fee, on other platforms. For example, Das Boot is included with Hulu but is also available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video.
For Different Tastes (Soaps & More)
TV comedies and thrillers are great, but they aren’t for everyone. If you prefer drama, here are 5 German soaps to stream. (And learn German, too!)
Armchair Travel to Munich & Bavaria
If you want to get a taste of Munich and Bavaria without leaving your sofa, check out these movies and TV shows set in Munich and Bavaria!
What Are Your Favorite German Shows?
That’s my list of the 20 best German TV shows you can stream right now. Whether you’re an advanced learner looking for a challenge like Dark or a beginner who wants to have fun with Nailed It! Germany, there’s never been a better time to start watching.
Now I’d love to hear from you: Did I miss any of your favorite shows? What’s the best show you’ve used to help learn German? Let me know in the comments below!
Tatort is in Mhz choice in Prime or their own plataform with English subtitles.
Most European series and film.
I like SOKO Potsdam very much. The German seems as colloquial as it gets. Unfortunately, there appears to be no evidence that the series ever had subtitles — German or English — or was put on DVD. PBS offers the first four seasons in German with British subtitles. I’m going to try to stream the rest on ZDF via a VPN. Thanks for the useful article.