Season 1

Season 1

Berlin, 1888. After penniless Ida's life is saved at the Charite? Hospital she must work off the treatment costs. While she becomes acquainted with the most brilliant physicians of this era at the world-famous hospital, the self-determined young woman discovers her passion for medicine ...

Berlin, 1888. After penniless Ida is operated on as a patient of the Charité, she is forced to pay back her treatment costs by working as a nursing assistant under the bigoted regiment of deaconess Martha. In doing so, Ida discovers her fervor for medicine. In an age in which women hardly have a right to higher education, Ida is able to follow her free and rebellious spirt in its desire to live a self-determined future. Along her journey she meets extraordinary physicians such as Rudolf Virchow, as well as researchers and later Nobel Laureates Robert Koch, Emil von Behring, and Paul Ehrlich, who are all in stiff competition as they shape medical history.

This six-part miniseries portrays the world's most famous hospital as a microcosmic reflection of late 19th century Wilhelmine society. This period represents unprecedented scientific progress in medicine accompanied by radical changes in society and the economic upheavals of industrialization. Sönke Wortmann ("The Miracle of Bern", "The Pope") has combined this fascinating material with a rich, atmospheric density and an outstanding Alicia von Rittberg in the role of the bold and inquisitive Ida.

The Charité
Between breakthroughs in medical research and enormous social upheavals in 1888, the Charité is well on its way to becoming the most famous hospital in the world. It is a city within the city, following its own laws and rules. At the beginning of the Wilhelmine Period, up to 4,000 patients are treated annually. Along with the expected injuries caused by the booming Industrialization, patients are suffering from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, typhoid and cholera, as well as from sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis. In addition, there are over 1000 students, taught at the Berlin University, who are being trained in this famous hospital by the eventual Nobel Prize winners and most prestigious doctors of the time: Rudolf Virchow, the founder of the modern health care systems, Robert Koch, the discoverer of the tuberculosis virus, Emil von Behring, whose work contributed greatly to the healing of diphtheria and Paul Ehrlich, who developed the first drug against syphilis.

Sönke Wortmann - The Director
Director Sönke Wortmann is one of the big names in contemporary German cinema. His epic melodrama "The Miracle of Bern" (2003) was a world-wide success and his 2006 Football World Cup documentary, "Germany: A Summer's Fairytale", ranks among the country's most successful documentaries. He has also directed the opulent historical drama "The Pope" (2009) as well as "Maybe, Maybe Not" (1994), the most successful German film of the 1990s.