Western series "Black Gold": when Germany was still an oil country
The new German series "Schwarzes Gold" comes with a bang and has drama about money, power and greed. And a historical core: the oil boom in northern Germany around 1900.
A story about an oil boom in the countryside of poor people and intrigues to force the villagers off their land - it could hardly be more American. But instead of the Wild West, the new series «Schwarzes Gold» is set in the Lüneburg Heath in northern Germany. ARD wants to demonstrate that Germany can also «Western», including revolver shootouts and burning barns.
The six-part series, which is set around 1900, centres on the maid Johanna Lambert. Only her neighbour Richard, who is in love with her, knows that there is an oil deposit under her family's woodland. But as soon as his father, the big farmer Wilhelm Pape, gets wind of it, he does everything he can to secure the treasure for himself. As a true villain, he is not afraid to walk over dead bodies, as the villagers do not want to be driven from their land. Johanna tries to unite the farming families and resist the powerful landowner.
From 22 December, you can stream the series in the ARD Mediathek. It will be broadcast in the linear TV programme from 29 December.
Familiar names are involved
Two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer is responsible for the soundtrack together with violinist and composer Aleksey Igudesman.
Wilhelm Pape is played by Tom Wlaschiha, who played the mysterious Jaqen H'ghar in «Game of Thrones». He may also be familiar with the British actress Gwendoline Christie, who played the fighter Brianna von Tarth in the same series. In «Black Gold», she and New Zealander Marton Csokas (known for his role as the Elf Celeborn in «The Lord of the Rings») play an unscrupulous pair of oil traders travelling from abroad for the oil they have found.
Aaron Hilmer, who played a friend of the main character in the 2022 cinema production «Im Westen nichts Neues», takes on the role of Richard. Jessica Schwarz, Harriet Herbig-Matten, Lena Urzendowsky and Henny Reents are other faces from well-known German and international productions.
The oil fever began on the Lüneburg Heath
The series is based on historical reality. Today, Germany is not exactly known as an oil paradise - but that used to be different. Drilling was already taking place in the Heath in 1858, before the American oil rush. Fortunate landowners were able to become rich thanks to the growing interest in oil. Today, it would be hard to imagine oil derricks spoiling the idyllic heath landscape. «Black Gold» therefore draws attention to a period of little-known history.
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