You might think Berlin needs another spy drama like Paris needs another Eiffel Tower. Well, think again.
Thanks to a wonderful ensemble cast, a script packed with suspenseful layers of intrigue and a retro vibe that drips danger around every bullet-scarred corner, Berlin Station is a worthy addition to the canon.
The drama, which begins its 10-episode first series on OSN First HD tonight, was well-received during its initial run in the United States late last year and has already been renewed.
If you're the kind of viewer who delights in espionage machinations, with all the requisite twists and turns, you will love the story of Daniel Miller, played by 45-year-old British actor Richard Armitage (The Hobbit, Hannibal), a newcomer to the CIA's station in the German capital.
“A lot of the time, on TV, there’s a competence fetish, where somebody has to be a genius at something,” says Armitage, “but I wanted Daniel to be very normal and have flaws, and not be a superhero.”
Miller has a secret mission he dare not discuss with his colleagues: to unmask a whistle-blower masquerading as “Thomas Shaw”.
Guided by an old friend – jaded veteran Hector DeJean, played by Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) – Miller learns to contend with the rough-and-tumble world of the field officer, including agent-handling, deception, danger and moral compromises.
As he is drawn deeper into Berlin’s hall of mirrors, he picks up the threads of a conspiracy that leads all the way back to Washington, is left wondering.
A master thespian and always a pleasure to watch, Emmy-winner and Oscar-nominee Richard Jenkins (The Visitor, Olive Kitteridge, Six Feet Under) co-stars as Steven Frost, a veteran of the Cold War days who is now the CIA's Berlin chief.
The 69-year-old American actor says he was attracted by the “heart” of the script.
“It was human,” he says. “I expected it to be one thing – I expected it to be just a spy thriller – and I found that it was about these people that do this job, and what they’re like, and what their lives are like, and what their personal lives are like. How does it intersect with their personal lives?
“And I thought it was just fascinating. I gravitate to things that are about real human beings, not archetypes or caricatures.”
Rounding out the cast is Michelle Forbes (The Killing, True Blood) as Valerie Edwards, a take-no-guff administrator at the station.
“It’s a tricky genre because it’s been very, very well visited,” says Armitage. “The thing that attracted me to this particular script was the currency and the immediacy of now. It’s happening in front of us. As we sit and watch CNN today, we’re seeing cyber-hacking and national-security threats, and that’s very much what our show is about.
“On one hand, Daniel is an American patriot, but on the other hand, he believes in freedom of speech and the truth, and sometimes those two things don’t connect.”
Comparisons with the US series Homeland, another contemporary spy drama, are perhaps inevitable.
"A crucial difference is that in Homeland, you're following Carrie. She is the focus. It is her drive that gets things done," says Berlin Station's creator and executive producer Olen Steinhauer. But, he adds, that's "not how intelligence works. Intelligence is networking. Intelligence is multiple people working together".
Adding to the authenticity, former CIA employee Bob Baer is a consultant on the series.
“Just remember these are normal people, these are not superheroes,” he says. “These are broken people just like us, who happen to work for the CIA.”
Just as important a part of the show as the human characters is Berlin itself. The series was filmed on the city's storied streets and at its Studio Babelsberg, a cinematic landmark that has been making film history since 1912, hosting legendary directors including Fritz Lang (Metropolis) and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (Nosferatu), as well as actress Marlene Dietrich, who filmed The Blue Angel on its stages.
Although set in our contemporary world of post-9/11 foreign policy and electronically-gathered intelligence, Berlin Station does not rely on Bond-style gadgets. In truth, the modern spook game is in some ways reverting to old-school techniques.
“It has been the trend in recent years, to go back to analogue spying,” adds Steinhauer. “When Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations hit, typewriter sales went through the roof here in Berlin.”
• Berlin Station begins Tuesday, January 17 at midnight on OSN First HD
artslife@thenational.ae
