'Dogs of Berlin': Berlin gangster crime series debuts on Netflix

The multilayered underworld drama showcases Berlin's cultural diversity and will stream on Netflix in 190 countries from December 7. 

The series stars Felix Kramer and Fahri Yardim as two unconventional cops who are taking up the fight against crime in Berlin’s underworld. The exciting cast also includes Katharina Schüttler, Anna Maria Mühe, Katrin Sass, Hannah Herzsprung, Antonio Wannek, Mišel Matičević, Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Constantin von Jascheroff, Alina Stiegler, Branko Tomovic, Seyneb Saleh, Yung Ngo, Urs Rechn and Uwe Preuss.

Dogs of Berlin's labyrinthine plot revolves around two unconventional cops, Erol Birkan and Kurt Grimmer, who investigate the murder of German-Turkish football star Orkan Erdem. There's a long list of potential suspects: Neo-Nazis from the former East Berlin district of Marzahn; the Turkish family clan related to the victim; some crazy football fans; or the illegal sports betting mafia. A far-reaching conspiracy might even lead to the capital's highest political office.

Dogs of Berlin director and mastermind Christian Alvart describes Kurt Grimmer (Felix Kramer) as the "morally questionable policeman who used to be a neo-Nazi and escaped the scene." By contrast, Erol Birkan (played by Fahri Yardım, best-known for his turn in Almanya: Welcome to Germany) is "a super liberal, Turkish, gay policeman, the upright hero so to speak, principled and with good character."

To uncover the truth, the two very different investigators are reluctantly brought together for a mission that will reveal much about their own contradictory pasts.

 

 

 

In this spirit, Dogs of Berlin takes the viewer on a wild ride through Berlin's world of football and its dark underside, the sports betting scene; into illegal biker clubs; neo-Nazi terrorist cells in the former east; the bohemian vestiges of Prenzlauer Berg; the gangsta rap scene; the contrasting lives of middle-class German housewives and German-Lebanese mafia clans. 

In doing so, the series also aims to ask some bigger questions. Can one escape from the environment into which one was born? Are we dogs or masters? By exploring the diverse milieus of the German capital where cultures and lifestyles constantly collide, the series, shot exclusively in Berlin and environs, inspires the viewer to find answers.