New film exploring David Bowie’s Berlin years announced

David Bowie in 1977 — (Image credit: Mike Maloney/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

The BBC have announced details of a new David Bowie documentary. The show, which currently has a working title of Bowie In Berlin, will document the Thin White Duke’s relocation to the German capital, a move that birthed some of Bowie’s most experimental and inventive records. Whilst in the city, he made the trio of albums known as his Berlin Trilogy – Low, “Heroes” and Lodger – and also produced and co-wrote a pair of imperious Iggy Pop albums, The Idiot and Lust For Life.

The documentary is being directed by Francis Whatley, who helmed previous Bowie films Finding Fame, The Last Five Years and Five Years and executive produced by presenter and interviewer supreme Louis Theroux in his role as Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Mindhouse, the production company he co-launched in 2019.

The film, planned to air in autumn 2026, will tell the story of Bowie’s years in Berlin in his own words alongside those of four women, Clare Shenstone, Romy Haag, Sarah-Rena Hine and Sydne Rome, who “shared this life during this time,” a press release announced. “Each of these extraordinary women have their own unique insight into the singer’s life, art and character,” it continued, “providing a secret history of Bowie’s time in the city.”

Speaking about the documentary, Theroux described it as a “dream project.” “Francis’s three previous Bowie films are the gold standard for Bowie filmmaking and indeed for docs about music in general,” Theroux said. “To have his artistry focused on the Berlin years - using the lens of the women in Bowie's life - is a perfect match of director and material. There’s a wonderful unity of time and place to Bowie’s period in Berlin.”

Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, Champions Journal, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter The New Cue with fellow former Q colleague Ted Kessler. He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he's interviewed some of the world's biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Radiohead, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Florence + The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more.

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