Fans of true crime will want to tune in to TOPIC’s streaming platform for the premiere of the new German mini series, “Dark Woods.” Based on the real-life disappearance of a woman in 1989 and the subsequent search to find out what happened to her, “Dark Woods” takes place in the German towns of Hamburg and Lower Saxony.
The show follows the 1989 disappearance of Barbara Neder, the sister of a high-ranking Hamburg police officer, Thomas Bethge. Around the same time of her disappearance, four serial murders took place in the nearby woods in Lower Saxony, but the cases weren’t linked. Instead, the local police suspected Barbara’s husband Robert, who was in the process of divorcing his wife for another woman. The series chronicles the investigation, and her brother Thomas’s unrelenting quest to find his sister.
Taking place over the span of thirty years, “Dark Woods” follows Thomas’s on-the-side and unofficial search for Barbara, along with colleagues Anne Back and Frank Behringer. Facing many roadblocks throughout his investigation, including a police department that won’t investigate, a suspect that no one takes seriously, and family grief and turmoil, Thomas finally thinks he gets a promising lead on the case.
“Dark Woods” brings a story inspired by true events to life on the screen in an authentic way, similar to Netflix’s popular series, “The Serpent.” It’s not extremely fast-paced, or overly dramatized, but instead draws viewers in with its gritty take on humanity and how we adapt and react to tragedy. While a few characters are a bit one note, the main players — namely Matthias Brandt, who plays Thomas Bethge, Karoline Schuch, our Anne Back, and Nicholas Ofczarek as Robert Neder — more than make up for it. With lots of twists and turns, dead ends, and suspicious persons, “Dark Woods” has pretty much all you could want out of a mystery/thriller.
The series comprises of six episodes, each 45 minutes in length. Prepare to put away your phones and pay attention, as the show is in German, with subtitles in English. It’s definitely worth a watch, and true crime fans can have fun after the series by looking into the real life events that inspired this story. “Dark Woods” comes out exclusively on TOPIC on May 13, 2021.
Topic is available to US and Canadian audiences on Topic via topic.com, AppleTV & iOS, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, The Roku Channel and Bell Fibe (in Canada).
Watch the trailer below:
