Spy thriller “Unfamiliar”: a tour of Berlin’s mysterious places

Meret takes cover one overcast morning in Berlin. A former agent of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), she’s hunkered down on the roof of a former GDR building. Armed with a telephoto lens, she zooms in on the bank of the Spree Canal. A man’s corpse is lying there and police are securing the scene.

This marks the start of one of the key scenes in the German Netflix series “Unfamiliar”. A murder forces Meret and her husband Simon back into the murky realm of the intelligence services - a world they’d been very keen to escape. The six-part series features covert operations in places as diverse as Belarus and Morocco amid spiralling new tensions between Russia and the West.

The whole series centres around Berlin. Virtually no other European city has been so scarred and defined by conflicts between East and West. Today it is the seat of the country’s government, parliament and foreign intelligence service. In “Unfamiliar”, the city becomes the real-life setting for a tale of loyalty, diplomacy and political upheaval.

Within a matter of days, the series directed by Lennart Ruff and Philipp Leinemann had taken the top spot on Netflix charts in 35 countries and viewed around 15 million times. Quite an unusual feat for a German production.
 

Its success comes thanks in part to the filming locations. “Unfamiliar” unfolds in genuine Berlin settings - in places where politics is made and history is tangible.

Protagonists Meret and Simon move around the city, from the Spree Canal in Berlin’s Mitte district to the headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, through the government district and out to the Tegel and Wannsee neighbourhoods of Tegel and Wannsee in the northeast and southwest of the city respectively. From its political centre to its suburban outskirts, the city takes a prominent role.

The trail leads to the BND

For the very first time, the BND allowed scenes for a German series to be filmed inside its own offices. “Unfamiliar” uses the headquarters of the foreign intelligence service in Chausseestrasse as a real-life setting. The new building, which opened in 2019, occupies several city blocks in Berlin’s Mitte district. From outside, the light-coloured concrete building appears aloof and almost hermetically sealed, an impression reinforced by high fences and secure access points.

Inside the building, thousands of people are busy analysing information and compiling reports. In the series, it is in these offices that some of the action takes place. The characters are depicted in offices, meeting rooms and hallways that are not otherwise publicly accessible. This lends the scenes a particularly close-up and personal feel. Production was subject to strict security rules and the team had to liaise closely with the BND in order to be allowed to film in this highly regulated building.

Berlin’s Tegel Airport - a transit point without a future

Shots are fired in front of Berlin’s disused Tegel Airport. Inaugurated in 1974, the terminal building with its striking hexagonal design stands abandoned and desolate, the control tower rising up into the sky like a relic of post-war West Berlin. For decades, Tegel was the main gateway to and from a city that was divided for nearly 40 years - and was shut down in 2020. Where aircraft used to take off, an agent lies bleeding on the broad access road.

Cube Berlin – the illusion of transparency

Berlin is reflected in the glass facade of the Cube, a building adjacent to the city’s main railway station. During a high-speed pursuit, Meret and Simon are seen racing through the government district, their silhouettes multiplied by the reflective surfaces. The Cube is symbolic of the new, digital Berlin. In “Unfamiliar”, the glass facades are a screen projecting scenes of modern-day spies at work.

NAG building - history as a stage for the present day

Russia’s new female ambassador appears for the first time in the former factory of the National Automobil-Gesellschaft, or NAG for short. In the early 20th century, the firm produced cars and lorries here. The 1917 brick building with its high-ceilinged halls and arched windows recalls Berlin’s industrial heyday. It becomes a stage for diplomatic encounters in “Unfamiliar”. Historic industrial architecture meets contemporary politics in a building featuring steel girders and brick walls.

Wannsee Lido - a deceptive idyll

Wannsee Lido is one of the most tranquil spots in Berlin. Surrounded by forest, water and sailing boats. In “Unfamiliar”, however, the idyllic setting is disturbed. An earlier operation in Belarus catches up with Meret and her partner Simon. The conflict spills over onto the bathing platform. It is precisely this contrast that reinforces the impact: even when things look peaceful and relaxing in Berlin, the past is never far away.

“Unfamiliar” takes the viewer through a Berlin in which the past and present of political power remain visible. Anyone who has watched the series will look more closely when they next visit the city - at concrete facades, glass buildings and seemingly nondescript places that conceal far more than they could possibly imagine.