Angela Merkel Detective Series Lands U.S. Home

The TV series that reimagines Angela Merkel as a small-town detective has found a U.S. home.

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Kino Lorber’s MHz Choice streamer has picked up Miss Merkel from Fremantle, two 90-minute tongue-in-cheek mysteries, with a third planned.

Starring vet German actress Katharina Thalbach ( The Tin Drum ), the RTL series, which has sold to a number of European networks, is based on the books by writer, humorist and actor David Safier ( Berlin, Berlin ). It imagines the former German chancellor moving to a small town with her husband and her pug, Helmut, as she discovers a new calling as an amateur detective. Safier pens the adaptations with Stefan Cantz ( Tatort, Nord Nord Nord ), with Christoph Schnee ( Homicide Hills , Tator t) directing.

Lance Schwulst, EVP Content Strategy, MHz Choice, said he had “committed to the series before my sales agent had finished her pitch.”

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“It’s such an idiosyncratic premise that I knew it had to be right,” he added. “ Miss Merkel will be another comedic gem from Germany on MHz Choice and I’m delighted that a third episode is planned.”

MHz Choice is the U.S. home of Babylon Berlin , the neo-noir Sky/Ard Degeto series that was recently dropped by Netflix in the States. The streamer, which was formed via a JV between Kino Lorber’s MHz Choice and Topic, also shows the likes of The Killing , The Bridge , Detective Montalbano , The Sea Beyond and Pagan Peak .

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