Vienna Blood is back, with the gritty crime drama captivating fans for a fourth season. With new episodes available on BBC iPlayer, viewers are keen to know more about the show, from whether it’s really filmed in Vienna to the year it’s set.
Vienna Blood is one of the best crime dramas available to stream right now and it’s back for a fourth season. The taut turn-of-the-century drama centres around the bustling city of Vienna and aspiring psychologist Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard).
Despite being a protégé of Sigmund Freud, a chance encounter with Detective Oskar Rheinhardt (Juergen Maurer) sets the young medical student on a new, unexpected career path.
As the pair uncover a string of disturbing murders in the city, they must use their unique insight to capture the killer – even as the threat of war looms over Europe.
With crime drama lovers already gripped by the new episodes, they’ve also been wondering more about where Vienna Blood is filmed, asking whether it was really shot in Vienna, and the year in which it’s set.
(Image credit: Endor Productions/ORF/ZDF)
Where is Vienna Blood filmed?
Vienna Blood is filmed in Vienna, with many of the city’s historic buildings and tourist attractions appearing in the detective drama.
As its winding streets featured so heavily in the series, many fans have flocked to Vienna to explore the incredible filming locations that were used. Amazingly, many of these are just a stone’s throw away from the city centre.
This includes the police station where Rheinhardt works, with a former library of Vienna University doubling as the inspector’s headquarters. While its stone exterior was an iconic part of the first series, another building was used for the police station’s interior.
During Vienna Blood’s second season, a building in Vienna’s 9th district, known as the Billrothhaus, was used instead. Part of the College of Physicians, its historic archive and 1890s interior made the perfect workplace for the often-grumpy detective.
(Image credit: Endor Productions/ORF/ZDF)
Meanwhile, the Liebermann’s home had a far less grand setting. Rather than one of Vienna’s many luxurious and historic homes, film crews used the dilapidated 1902 villa as the exterior of Max’s home. While you can see the home from street level, the Mautner-Jaeger villa is reportedly undergoing a major restoration and is not open to the public.
However, there are plenty of filming locations that fans can visit including the city’s Volkstheater, Naturhistorisches Museum and Zentralfriedhof Cemetery – all of which have been heavily featured in the series. The latter is also the final resting place of some of the world’s greatest composers, including Strauss, Beethoven and Schubert.
If you are looking for a little more lively location though, you can also dine at the Café Sperl which was used for the billiards scenes between Max and Oskar in Vienna Blood. A staple of the city since 1880, the café is open to the public and continues to be used for filming.
What year is Vienna Blood set in?
Vienna Blood is set in 1909, with the latest season taking place just a year after the third season’s climatic ending.
As so much time has passed, it seems that Liebermann and Rheinhardt’s lives have gone in very different directions.
Speaking about how the characters’ storylines have progressed with the passing of time in the fourth season, Vienna Blood showrunner Steve Thompson told The Express, “Oskar’s career has not gone quite as well as he’d hoped. He’s made a terrible mistake at work…. [and falling behind]
“Max’s career, by contrast, is on the ascent…He’s suddenly the name on everybody’s lips and become a famous name in his field.”
The writer and executive producer continued, “When they meet again, they’re very, very different people. They’re not the buddies they were before. There’s a little bit of distance between them because they’re in incredibly different places.”
Vienna Blood is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.