David Bowie’s transformative years in Berlin will be the focus of the new documentary, Bowie in Berlin, set to air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in Fall 2026.
The planned 90-minute documentary coincides with the 50th anniversary of the music legend’s arrival in Berlin and will focus on his time there from 1976 to 1978.
During this period, he withdrew from the public eye, retreating from fame to live in Cold War-era Berlin, where he recorded three of his most iconic studio albums — collectively known as The Berlin Trilogy: Low (1977), featuring “Sound and Vision”; “Heroes” (1977), with its legendary title track; and Lodger (1979), which included “Fantastic Voyage.” These records are regarded as Bowie at his most innovative and experimental.
Bowie in Berlin will feature archive footage and rare interviews with four women who were integral to his time in the city: Clare Shenstone, Romy Haag, Sarah-Rena Hine, and Sydne Rome.
It will be directed by Francis Whately, who previously helmed several acclaimed Bowie documentaries, including David Bowie: Finding Fame, David Bowie: Five Years, and David Bowie: The Last Five Years.
Just recently, Bowie’s final albums were collected in the latest box set, I Can’t Give Everything Away 2002-2016, as a 13-disc CD set and an 18-LP vinyl box set.