Non-English-Speaking TV Shows
Catalan
Benvinguts a la família (dark comedy, dramedy): Trying to organize her blended family, single mother Àngela receives notice that they are being evicted due to her ex’s unpaid debts against the home. She must turn to her wealthy father, Eduardo, who kicked her out as a teenager, for help.
Merlí (dramedy, teen drama): Merlí Bergeron, a philosophy teacher, is evicted from his apartment and forced to live with his mother. He must also take care of his son, Bruno, who had been living with his ex-wife, until then. With his unpredictable and unorthodox methods, Merlí makes his students think and express their opinions, and also helps them with their problems, even in a censurable way.
Nit i dia (+ Spanish) (thriller): The show follows the day-to-day lives of police officers, medical examiners, and judges as they solve crimes and confront the darkest side of reality.
Pubertat (drama): Sociologist and activist Júlia Esparver deals with accusations of sexual aggression against her son Roger, his cousin, and his cousin’s friend, who reportedly abused a fellow member of a casteller association.
Danish
Borgen (political drama): The show chronicles how Birgitte Nyborg Christensen, a minor centrist politician, becomes Denmark’s first female prime minister against all the odds.
Dutch
Skam NL (teen drama): It follows the daily lives of high school students in Utrecht and the various problems they face. Each season focuses on a different central character and particular themes.
wtFOCK (teen drama): The daily life of a group of friends in Antwerp. The show deals with daily events such as friendship, love, and the search for identity. Each season centers on a different character, their daily life, and their struggles.
French
13 novembre: Fluctuat nec mergitur (documentary): It explores the events of November 13, 2015, when ISIS terrorists attacked six locations in Paris.
Au service de la France (dramedy): Set in 1960, the story follows André Merlaux, who eagerly accepts a cryptic summons to become a trainee officer in the French Secret Services. It is the height of the Cold War, and France’s position as a great power is in crisis due to independence movements in its colonies.
Baron noir (political drama): Philippe Rickwaert, a Member of Parliament and the mayor of Dunkerque, sees his future collapse when his mentor, the leftist candidate, sacrifices him to save his campaign for the presidential election. Determined to reinvent his career, Rickwaert uses cunning and connections to win political battles against his betrayers.
En place (comedy): After a public altercation with Éric Andrei, the mayor of Bobigny and left-wing presidential candidate, Stéphane Blé, a youth center coordinator, becomes a social media sensation. He is then approached by William Crozon, a political advisor, who convinces him to become the first Black presidential candidate.
Le bureau des légendes (spy drama): Based on real accounts by former spies, the show centers on the daily lives and missions of agents within the Directorate-General for External Security, specifically on the department responsible for training and handling deep-cover agents.
Les 7 vies de Léa (supernatural drama): In 2021, Léa stumbles upon skeletal remains at an outdoor party by a river. The next day, she wakes up, thirty years in the past, inside the body of a young man named Ismaël. The following day, she wakes up back in her own body and realizes that it was Ismaël's body she found by the river.
Lupin (crime drama, thriller): The story follows Assane Diop, a professional thief and the only son of a Senegalese immigrant who came to France seeking a better life. Assane's father is framed for stealing an expensive diamond necklace by his employer, the wealthy and powerful Hubert Pellegrini, and takes his own life in his prison cell. Twenty-five years later, inspired by a book about the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin that his father had given him, Assane sets out to clear his father's name and get revenge.
No Man's Land (+ Arabic, English, Kurdish, and Persian) (drama, war): Anna Habert, a French archaeologist, is declared dead following a terrorist attack in 2012. However, her brother Antoine believes that he recognizes her in a 2014 television report fighting alongside Kurdish female fighters from the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) against ISIS. Convinced that it is his sister, he sets out to find her in the region along the border between Turkey and Syria.
Parlement (+ English and German) (comedy): Samy Kantor, a young French parliamentary assistant, arrives in Brussels on his first day, just after the Brexit referendum. Completely inexperienced, he somehow finds himself responsible for getting an amendment on shark finning passed by the European Parliament. His task is not helped by the fact that his boss, the MEP Michel Specklin, is both incompetent and indifferent.
Skam France (teen drama): It follows the daily lives of high school students in Paris and the problems that they face. Each season’s plot focuses on a different central character and particular themes.
German
Dark (mystery, science fiction): Children begin to disappear from the German town of Winden. This brings to light the fractured relationships, double lives, and dark pasts of four families living there and unfolds a mystery spanning four generations.
Deutschland (spy drama): Jonas Nay, a 24-year-old native of East Germany, is sent to West Germany in 1983 as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi.
Die Wahrheit über Franco: Spaniens vergessene Diktatur (documentary, historical drama): For nearly four decades, Francisco Franco ruled Spain under a dictatorial regime. More than forty years after the end of the dictatorship, there are still many secrets surrounding the Generalissimo. The documentary describes how Franco came to power following a bloody civil war and examines how he presided over the darkest chapter in recent Spanish history with an iron fist.
Dream Routes (travel): The show presents travel routes through six Central and South Asian countries. The journeys take you through adventurous routes of diverse and remote landscapes and culturally diverse people rich in religious traditions.
Druck (teen drama): It follows a group of friends in Berlin during their teenage years and deals with everyday events, such as friendship, love, and the search for their own identity. Each season focuses on a different character.
Krimi.de (crime drama): Criminal cases involving children are solved by the child protagonists working with the police.
Liebes Kind (crime drama): The show follows a woman imprisoned with her two children for a long period of time. After she manages to escape, the police begin investigating a disappearance case from 13 years ago.
Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood (historical drama): Set in 1900 Munich, power lies with the breweries and the Oktoberfest vendors in their good graces who hold the liquor licenses for the festival. Curt Prank, a major brewer from Franconia, wants to expand his business at the Oktoberfest. However, as an outsider, he is denied a liquor license and permission to serve his beer.
Türkisch für Anfänger (dramedy): Sixteen-year-old Lena’s life seemed perfect: She lived together with her little brother Nils and her mother Doris, a psychotherapist. Unfortunately for Lena, her mother falls in love with Metin, a police officer of Turkish descent, and they move in with him and his pious Muslim daughter Yağmur and his stereotypical macho son Cem. Now, Lena must deal with her new stepfamily.
Unorthodox (+ English, Yiddish) (drama): Esty Shapiro is a 19-year-old Jewish woman living in an unhappy arranged marriage in the ultra-Orthodox community of Williamsburg, New York City. She runs away to Berlin, where her estranged mother lives, and tries to navigate a secular life. There, she discovers life outside her community and rejects all of the beliefs she grew up with.
You Are Wanted (drama): Hotel manager Lukas Franke is the victim of a cyberattack. His online data is altered to implicate him as a member of a terrorist-activist group. Searching for the people responsible to prove his innocence, he finds that his friends, family, and colleagues begin to doubt him. He finds another hacking victim, Lena Arandt, and tries to work with her to find the truth.
Hebrew
Fauda (+ Arabic) (action, thriller): Doron is a former special forces soldier who was trained to operate undercover as an Arab. He learns that Taufiq Hammed (“Abu Ahmad”), a former Hamas terrorist whom Doron and his unit were credited with killing, is still alive and plotting a terrorist attack. He reunites with his former unit to hunt down and eliminate Hammed.
Italian
Skam Italia (teen drama): The show follows the daily lives of high school students in Rome as they deal with typical adolescent issues, such as relationship insecurities, slut-shaming, coming out, mental illness, toxic masculinity, and eating disorders.
Mandarin
变成你的那一天 (Biàn chéng nǐ dì nà yītiān) (fantasy, romance): A popular boy band leader and an entertainment journalist who share the same birthday accidentally switch bodies.
三体 (Sāntǐ) (drama, science fiction): Wang Miao, a leading nanomaterials expert, is enlisted by a detective named Shi Qiang who specializes in counterterrorism to investigate strange apparent suicides in the scientific community. During their investigation, they encounter a mysterious organization called “The Frontiers of Science” and discover the connection between an extraterrestrial world depicted in a popular video game and the fate of humanity on Earth.
我的阿勒泰 (Wǒ de ālēitài) (family, romance): Li Wenxiu is a Han Chinese girl who grew up in Xinjiang. At the age of 19, she moved to Ürümqi to work. Originally determined to pursue her literary dreams in the big city, she repeatedly encounters setbacks and must return to her hometown, where she relies on her mother, Zhang Fengxia, who runs a small shop.
隐秘的角落 (Yǐnmì de jiǎoluò) (crime drama, thriller): The story follows the web of consequences that forms among different families after three children accidentally film a murder.
中国奇谭 (Zhōngguó qí tán) (animation, fantasy): The show features various creatures from Chinese mythology and explores themes such as nostalgia for rural life, science fiction, reflections on life, and explorations of human nature by blending myths with science fiction elements.
Norwegian
Julestorm (drama): On Christmas Eve, a snowstorm causes all flights to be canceled and leaves airport employees and travelers stranded at Oslo Airport. The building becomes the setting for a series of chance encounters, reunions with relatives, new friendships, and romantic relationships.
Skam (teen drama): The show focuses on the daily lives of high school teenagers. Each season follows a different character and explores topics such as relationship difficulties, identity, eating disorders, sexual assault, homosexuality, mental health issues, religion, and forbidden love.
Portuguese
3% (science fiction, thriller): In an unspecified future, 20-year-olds from the impoverished “Inland” have one opportunity to complete “The Process” and join the affluent of the distant “Offshore” society. Most unsuccessful candidates are eliminated, while others fail to survive, resulting in only 3% of the candidates succeeding.
Russian
Алиса не может ждать (Alisa ne mozhet zhdat) (drama): Fifteen-year-old Alisa discovers that her mother has been hiding the truth from her for many years: she will go blind in a couple of years. Deciding not to waste time, she drops out of school and, in search of easy money, sells her virginity and plans to use the earnings to move to a big city.
Барышня-крестьянка (Baryshnya-krestyanka) (reality show): Two girls: a spoiled young lady and a hardworking peasant woman. They have different lifestyles, but the same desire for change. To experience a new lifestyle, they switch places for three days.
Бригада (Brigada) (crime drama): Sergeant Alexander (Sasha) Belov, has finished his national service in the Soviet Border Troops and returns home to Moscow. He is greeted by his three childhood friends, Kosmos Kholmogorov, Viktor Pchyolkin (Pchyola), and Valery Filatov (Fil). However, perestroika has deeply transformed Soviet life, and both Kosmos and Pchyola have turned to criminal rackets.
Грозный (Groznyy) (historical drama): The show follows Ivan the Terrible, the first Russian tsar. The opening scenes are set in 1571. The Crimean Tatars have just burned Moscow to the ground. On the eve of a decisive battle, the tsar reflects on his life, beginning in 1547. His first marriage to Anastasia Romanovna, as well as boyar intrigues and conspiracies, play a significant role.
Зулейха открывает глаза (Zuleikha otkrivaet glaza) (drama): The story follows Zuleikha, a peasant woman from a small Tatar village. In 1930, the Soviet government begins a campaign of political repression against the kulaks. Zuleikha’s husband resists dekulakization and is killed by communists. Zuleikha is exiled to Siberia and abandoned in a remote location with few resources. She must overcome the harsh conditions, build relationships with other exiles, and forge a new identity and purpose.
Как я стал русским (Kak ya stal russkim) (sitcom): After writing a provocative article about an American congressman, Alex Wilson, a journalist for the American Post, was forced to leave the country for a while. He is sent on a long-term assignment to Russia, but he views the country with prejudice and suspicion. Upon arriving in Moscow, Alex starts a personal blog to explore Russian reality and comprehend the mysterious Russian soul.
Конец света (Konets sveta) (comedy, fantasy): The Prince of Darkness suddenly appears in Chertanovo. He attempts to recruit his son, a 20-year-old supermarket cashier, to help carry out his grand plans.
Лучше, чем люди (Luchshe, chem lyudi) (science fiction): In 2029, androids serve humans in various roles, even replacing them in many menial jobs. An advanced robot named Arisa accidentally kills a man who tries to use her as a sex robot, after which she flees.
Метод (Metod) (crime drama, thriller): Rodion Meglin is a police investigator and sanctioned vigilante who hunts down the criminally insane slipping through the cracks of an ill-suited justice system. He’s used to working alone, but a young law school graduate named Esenia Steklova becomes his trainee.
Орёл и решка (Oryol i reshka) (travel): In each episode, the show visits a different location around the world for a weekend. Hosted by two co-hosts, one of them (determined by a coin toss) receives a credit card with unlimited funds, while the other has to spend the weekend with $100 for all expenses.
Слово пацана. Кровь на асфальте (Slovo patsana. Krov na asfalte) (crime drama): Fourteen-year-old Andrey, a music school student who lives with his mother and younger sister, struggles with frequent harassment from local street gangs. Seeking protection, he befriends his former bully, Marat, who is a member of the Universam gang. In exchange for teaching Marat English and helping him win over violinist Aigul, Andrey learns boxing and petty theft.
Слуга народу (Sluha narodu) (comedy, political satire): Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko is a high school history teacher in his thirties who is unexpectedly elected president of Ukraine after finding instant fame when a student recorded a video of him delivering a profane rant against government corruption and uploaded it to the internet.
София (Sofiya) (historical drama): Set in the second half of the 15th century, the story follows Ivan III, the head of the Duchy of Moscow, who accepts an offer from Roman ambassadors to marry Princess Zoe, a member of the ancient Byzantine Palaiologos family. He sends people to Rome to bring Zoe to Moscow, where she is rebaptized and takes a new name, Sophia.
Спарта (Sparta) (cyberpunk, psychological drama): In a Saint Petersburg school, a teacher jumps out of a window right in front of the students. Captain Igor Kryukov is tasked with investigating the reasons behind this act. To do so, he meets with the class leader, who explains the rules of a game called “Sparta” to the captain.
Шерлок в России (Sherlok v Rossii) (crime drama): Jack the Ripper escapes from London to Saint Petersburg. Sherlock Holmes leaves the badly injured Dr. Watson behind and goes after him. In Russia, he meets Dr. Kartsev, from whom he rents a room. Kartsev helps Holmes solve strange, confusing, and complicated crimes. Once again, Holmes must convince law enforcement authorities of the validity of his deductive investigative methods.
Эпидемия (Epidemiya) (post-apocalyptic thriller): In Moscow, residents are infected with an unknown deadly virus. The main symptoms are coughing and discoloration of the eyes; after three to four days, death occurs. Sergey flees the epidemic with his second wife, her autistic son, his son, his ex-wife, his father, and a neighboring family.
Spanish
800 metros (+ Arabic and Catalan) (crime, documentary): On August 17, 2017, Spain suffered two terrorist attacks carried out by young people who were supposedly integrated into Spanish society. How could something like this happen?
Celeste (comedy, thriller): Sara Santano, a legendary tax inspector about to retire, is assigned one last case: investigating a suspected case of tax evasion involving Latin music star Celeste. Santano must prove that Celeste spent more than 184 days in Spain in the last year, which would make Spain her tax residence.
El caso Asunta (crime drama, thriller): The plot follows the investigation into the disappearance of Asunta Basterra, whose parents, Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra, reported her missing on September 21, 2013. Her body was later found on a road near Santiago de Compostela.
El cuerpo en llamas (crime drama): Set in 2017, the plot is a fictionalization of a real case. When the burned body of Pedro, a cop, is found in the Foix Reservoir near Barcelona, the plot delves into the web of toxic relationships, infidelity, violence, and sex scandals involving Pedro and two fellow agents.
El don de Alba (supernatural drama): After the death of her grandmother, Alba Rivas is tasked with helping the dead to cross to “the other side.” After arriving in the village of Bellavista, she enlists the help of Gabriel Vega, a municipal archivist with a keen interest in the supernatural.
Élite (teen drama, thriller): Three working-class teenagers attend one of Spain’s most exclusive schools on scholarships. Their clash with the children of the elite ends in an unexpected tragedy.
La casa de papel (crime drama, thriller): Set in Madrid, a mysterious man known as the "Professor" recruits a group of eight people, who choose city names as their aliases for anonymity, to carry out an ambitious plan that involves entering the Royal Mint of Spain and escaping with €984 million. After taking 67 people hostage inside the mint, the team plans to stay for 11 days to print the money while dealing with elite police forces.
La Mesías (+ Catalan) (drama, thriller): Enric is a camera assistant working on a documentary about La Moreneta. He stays in a hotel next to the Montserrat Mountain with UFO fanatics. Traumatized by a childhood under the grip of a religiously bigoted and overcontrolling mother, he is shocked by a viral music video featuring Stella Maris, a Christian pop act formed by his sisters.
La unidad (crime drama, thriller): The show follows a special police unit dedicated to fighting terrorism, which is investigating a jihadist cell seeking to carry out a terrorist attack in Spain.
Las abogadas (historical drama): Recently graduated from law school, Lola meets Cristina, Manuela, and Paca. After her boyfriend Enrique is detained by the Francoist secret police and dies by defenestration in unclear circumstances in 1969, Lola becomes relentless in her efforts to uncover the truth.
Las chicas del cable (historical drama, romance): In 1928, a modern telecommunications company begins operating in Madrid. The show tells the story of how the lives of four young women change after they start working for the company, which offers them decent pay and some independence. Each woman has a different reason for joining the company.
Nada (dramedy): Manuel is a food critic who has depended on his housekeeper his entire life. When she passes away, he finds himself adrift because he has no idea how to manage his daily life on his own. As a result, he hires a new housekeeper to help him through this new phase of his life.
Nadie nos va a extrañar (dramedy): Set in the 1990s, the story follows five high school students who run an illegal business selling homework and assignments to their classmates. Their business brings them money and popularity, but raging hormones threaten to ruin everything.
Nos vemos en otra vida (crime drama, thriller): The show tells the story of Gabriel Montoya Vidal, who, at age 16, was the first person convicted in connection with the March 11, 2004, bombings.
Paquita Salas (comedy, mockumentary): Paquita Salas was the top talent agent of the 1990s. While everything has changed since then, she hasn’t. When her most famous actress, Macarena García, unexpectedly leaves her, Paquita’s world is turned upside down. Together with Magüi, her inseparable assistant, Paquita desperately sets out to discover new talent.
Querer (drama): After 30 years of marriage and two children together, Miren leaves the family home and accuses her husband of repeatedly raping her. This serious accusation forces their children to choose between believing their mother and supporting a father who maintains his innocence.
Skam España (teen drama): The show follows a group of high school students in Madrid as they navigate issues such as shame, loneliness, self-acceptance, bullying, bisexuality, feminism, empowerment, sisterhood, and toxic relationships.
Su majestad (comedy): After a scandal involving Alfonso XVI damages the monarchy’s reputation, the king steps aside temporarily, and his daughter and heir apparent to the Spanish throne, the irresponsible Princess Pilar, takes over the monarchy to prove her readiness.
Swedish
Kalifat (drama, thriller): Pervin is a young Muslim woman from Sweden who lives in Raqqa, the capital of ISIS-controlled Syria, with her husband Husam, a member of the Islamic State, and their newborn daughter Latifa. Disillusioned with life in Syria, Pervin decides to return to Sweden. After acquiring a cell phone from her neighbor and friend Tine, she contacts Dolores, an anti-radicalization activist in Sweden.
