# The best German TV series of all time

German series with the best critic and audience ratings (Filmstarts, Moviepilot, IMDb), from TV classics like Monaco Franze to streaming hits like Dark.

- 46 votes · 20 items
- Jan 15, 2026 · staffel_hannover
- https://even.best/en/l/303/the-best-german-tv-series-of-all-time

## Top 20

1. **Heimat** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — ARD, 1984. Edgar Reitz tells 60 years in the Hunsrück village of Schabbach.
2. **4 Blocks** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — TNT Serie, 2017–2019. An Arab clan in Berlin's Neukölln; Grimme Award.
3. **jerks.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — ProSieben/Joyn, 2017–2023. Christian Ulmen and Fahri Yardım play exaggerated versions of themselves.
4. **Babylon Berlin** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Sky/ARD, 2017–. Inspector Gereon Rath in 1929 Berlin; the most expensive non-English series of its time.
5. **Deutschland 83** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — RTL/Amazon, 2015–2020. A young East German soldier is sent west as a spy; International Emmy.
6. **Weissensee** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — ARD, 2010–2018. Two families in East Berlin between the Stasi and love.
7. **Stromberg** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — ProSieben, 2004–2012. Christoph Maria Herbst as an insurance office manager; Germany's answer to The Office.
8. **The Crime Scene Cleaner** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — NDR, 2011–2018. Bjarne Mädel cleans crime scenes and has philosophical conversations.
9. **Dark** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Netflix, 2017–2020. Time travel and four families in Winden; voted the best Netflix series in a Rotten Tomatoes poll.
10. **Dear Child** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Netflix, 2023. A woman escapes captivity, or does she? Based on Romy Hausmann's best-seller.
11. **Turkish for Beginners** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — ARD, 2006–2008. A German-Turkish blended family in Berlin.
12. **Kir Royal** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — ARD, 1986. Franz Xaver Kroetz as gossip reporter Baby Schimmerlos in Munich high society.
13. **Unorthodox** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Netflix, 2020. A young woman flees an ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn for Berlin; Emmy for directing.
14. **Berlin Alexanderplatz** (0 · ▲2 ▼2) — ARD, 1980. Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 15-hour adaptation of Döblin's novel.
15. **Die Discounter** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Prime Video, 2021–. A mockumentary about the staff of a Hamburg discount supermarket.
16. **Monaco Franze** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — ARD, 1983. Helmut Fischer as a charming Munich ladies' man; a cult far beyond Bavaria.
17. **Club der roten Bänder** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — VOX, 2015–2017. Teenagers on a hospital ward; based on the Catalan series Polseres vermelles.
18. **Ein Herz und eine Seele** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — WDR, 1973–1976. 'Ekel Alfred' Tetzlaff, the grumpy family man from the Ruhr.
19. **How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Netflix, 2019–2025. A schoolboy starts an online drug shop from his bedroom; loosely based on a real case.
20. **Das Boot (1985)** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — ARD, 1985. The extended series version of Wolfgang Petersen's U-boat film.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.