Vienna Blood: (Vienna Blood 2)

Product Information

My on-screen family consists of Conleth Hill, who plays my papa; Amelia Bullmore plays mamma and Matthew Beard plays the ‘one and only’ Max Liebermann. In the long term Clara is actually looking for love and somebody that takes her seriously as a human being. Meanwhile, Max and Clara shared a moment in the final scenes of the previous series so it will be interesting to see if that goes anywhere. I suppose to some extent, my own personal experience of coming from essentially an immigrant family seeped into the writing, although that’s something I only realised on reflection. It wasn't something I was necessarily conscious of at the time of writing. My real name is Francesco de Nato Napolitano which doesn't really fit on the side of a book, so I changed it and anglicised it. I don't have an English drop of blood in my body. I’m 100% Southern Italian. I would say Clara has quite a long development across the two seasons. From this young girl who is looking for something that makes her happy and she is not so sure what it is she needs - is it marriage? Is it Max? Either way, she becomes a woman in the first season - she becomes more grown up. I think what really makes her character in the show is the woman who tries to be somebody and is not so sure who she is.

Vienna was a remarkable city. Every now and then through history, you find a city that excels. So you could look at, say, Florence in the Renaissance, or perhaps you could even say swinging London in the 1960s. But Vienna was one of those extraordinary examples where a city just illuminates the world with ideas and creativity. Oskar Rheinhardt (40s) is a half-Slovak Police Inspector with something to prove to his superiors. Oskar is more a doer than a thinker and has a strong physical presence. Despite being occasionally irritated by Max’s discursive approach to crime solving, Oskar is savvy enough to know that Max’s intuitions will help his career prospects.

Lucy Griffiths (Amelia Lydgate) 

We have similar situations today and the famous ‘Swiss boat is full’ is repeating itself. ‘Europe is full’ we say but we could easily absorb a few hundred thousand people with no sweat, and yet we are behaving like people did about 70 years ago. We have not become more noble human beings and that’s very disturbing and I would like to sound the alarm bells. Between 1890 and 1914, Vienna was the world's preeminent creative powerhouse. It was the world's leading city in terms of invention and creativity. I mean it was quite extraordinary. In every area of human endeavour the Viennese were producing revolutionary, cutting edge ideas. We see revolutions in thinking, in art, in music, in science and of course in the psychology and neurology with Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. As we leave Max and Oskar in the first season Max asks what the next case will be - so Max is hoping that he’ll still be able to be involved in criminal investigations. He then goes off to form his own private practice and starts seeing patients. But I think is quite relieved when Oskar appears and asks for some help because he secretly misses the thrill of the crime scenes. For me, I’m working predominantly with Austrian actors and that’s been an incredible experience. I’ve been so astounded by their abilities in a second language. I usually have a week where I film all the family stuff together, and the English and Irish actors fly over and it feels almost like a separate show when you’re making it. It’s such a lovely experience hanging out with them as well and seeing Vienna through their eyes.

So an essential difference between the books and the TV version is you get to see how they meet. And it’s quite an explosive relationship to begin with. They are not immediately friends - they are not immediately drawn to one another. There is a certain amount of animosity and friction and that can provide some really good drama for us, so I think that was an essential difference. We have a certain kind of chemistry and it’s really great. Everything we do in dialogue together is brilliant. As we proceed with our relationship as actors it gets more and more detailed, and with the routine comes lots of fun also. The Max and Oskar scenes are my favourites! At the same time Oskar’s world has changed. He has a new boss, one of his colleagues (Von Bulow) who doesn’t like him at all, they have a huge animosity between them. At the end of the first series Von Bulow is actually promoted and becomes Oskar’s boss, so that at the beginning of the second series, Oskar’s work life is very difficult and very tense and there’s this very abrasive relationship at the centre of it. Both of their worlds have changed. During the shoot my composer works parallel to me. He gets the dailies, I talk to him and he delivers, rough thematic pieces and we cut to his music often to his surprise, because my editor, Klaus Hundsbichler is also a composer and a musician himself. So, we're in good hands in that department. I always need music before I start shooting. It is absolutely essential for me. We whistle along as we cut and play. Rodrigo Herrera Ibarguengoytia, Senior Acquisitions & Co-Productions Manager at Red Arrow Studios International, adds: “We are delighted that Vienna Blood is returning to the BBC. The series has been licensed across every continent and we are thrilled with how it has captivated audiences around the world. Endor Productions, MR Film and the entire creative team have delivered an exceptional second season and we are excited to be bringing these gripping new stories to our broadcast clients and the show’s growing fan base.”Vienna Blood is as rich and textured as the finest apple strudel – review". Independent.co.uk. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Season Three is the first time Oscar has a crisis in his personal life and consults Max. And what we realise is that he totally values Max’s skill both as a therapist and also as a friend. We've never really been there before. We've never seen that connection between them.

Oskar is a street cop, but we know he's also a man with a big heart. He has this very sad past with his family. His daughter has died, his wife has left him. So, it's great to see him for the first time in this series open his heart and begin a new relationship with a new woman. That was great fun. Juergen had a great time acting it. And I had a great time writing it. Fiery and defensive, Leah is particularly protective of her close friend Clara. Leah has a tendency to deliver criticisms of Max’s behaviour with lashings of sarcasm. Rachel Liebermann, Max’s mother - Amelia Bullmore Amelia held ‘her own’ in season one and I think that’s a good way to play this character. So I could just take Jess’ lead and keep on with a similar vibe.

Luise Von Finckh (Clara Weiss)

Largely because the Viennese loved socialising. The coffee houses and salons were places where people from all walks of life (with different interests) gathered to talk and exchange ideas. This proved to be very fruitful. Gustav Klimt, for example, was invited to an autopsy by the professor of anatomy at the medical school. Klimt attended the autopsy so that he could better understand the ‘truths’ behind the superficial appearances of the human form. I guess for anyone who has any profession, there are moments when you can't help but bring your professional life into your personal life. And there is a moment in the series where Max offers advice to Oskar in a way that might be a bit more than friendship, that is sort of based in a psychological understanding. But I think Max is quite good at reigning it in. He knows Oskar doesn't want that. And I think it would be incredibly annoying for a friend to psychoanalyse you all the time! I read a great deal of the literature associated with Freud's Vienna when I was writing the books, and I suppose he reflects a particular type that you find in the literature. There were many intense young men with romantic entanglements spending a lot of time in Vienna's famous coffeehouses, talking about philosophy, life, t Talking cures and hysterics - exploring the darkness of men’s souls. Are you really sure what you’re getting into, Max? Is it really the career for a gentleman?”

Max Liebermann is the star of this series, which is from the crime, history, and psychology genres of fiction. Frank Tallis, who writes the series, is a clinical psychologist, uses his expertise in the psychology field to write the books. He is a psychoanalytic detective in Vienna, Austria, at the turn of the twentieth century.It’s very dark. That said, there’s a levity to the show which I don’t think necessarily matches the subject matter all the time, which means it’s just enjoyable to watch because it’s not constant murder! Production Interviews Robert Dornhelm, Director Oliver Auspitz and Andreas Kamm, co-managing directors of MR Film, say: “The thrilling journey of Max Liebermann and Oscar Reinhardt is ready to continue. In three fantastic new episodes we will watch Max getting more and more involved in his love life alongside his strong friendship with Oscar, who is finally ready to be confronted with his past." Max’s crime solving technique draws on his psychoanalytic skills. Is there a similarity between the skills involved in detection and psychoanalysis? If you enjoy the show it might also be worth reading the books. There are seven in total, opening with Mortal Mischief[called A Death in Vienna in the US. Is there a trailer? I don't think Rachel is preoccupied with feminism at all. She's a woman of her time. I think her ambition would have been to make a good marriage and have healthy, successful, prosperous children. And she's got those things and for her I think that's fine. As for the next generation of women, I think she's probably happy for them to work. But I don't think she craves more than she has. If she does, it's never mentioned.