Cameras have just started rolling in and around Hamburg as production commences on the six-part TV event mini-series (6 x 45’) DARK WOODS (German working title: Das Geheimnis des Totenwaldes), one of the most incredible crimes in post war Germany history. Inspired by the true case of a missing woman in Lower Saxony, the crime drama stars leading actors Matthias Brandt (Babylon Berlin), Karoline Schuch (Hanna’s Journey), August Wittgenstein (Das Boot), Silke Bodenbender (Vater Mutter Mörder) and Nicholas Ofczarek (Pagan Peak).

Directed by Sven Bohse (Ku’damm 56 & 59), and with screenplays written by International Emmy and Grimme Award winner Stefan Kolditz (An die Grenze, Generation War), DARK WOODS is produced by ConradFilm and Bavaria Fiction on behalf of NDR and ARD Degeto for Das Erste. Commissioning editors are Christian Granderath and Sabine Holtgreve (NDR) and Carolin Haasis (ARD Degeto); Maren Knieling (Bavaria Fiction) is the executive producer.

Inspired by a real criminal case, which has remained unsolved for nearly thirty years, DARK WOODS portrays a brother’s increasingly desperate search for his sister and the continued deep distress her loss causes her family. Wolfgang Sielaff – the brother of the real missing woman who inspired this event series and former Head of the Hamburg State Office of Criminal Investigation and police chief in Hamburg – and Reinhard Chedor (also former Head of the Hamburg State Office of Criminal Investigation) will assist the production as consultants. With shooting ending on November 6th, the event mini-series is set to premiere in the second half of 2020 on Das Erste.

Global Screen will handle international distribution.