Berlin
Good times, Bad times - a German soap
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 For many, the divisions between East and West Germany remain real enough, for many, years after the Berlin Wall came down and the country was officially reunified.
But in one area at least the divisions no longer seem to matter. "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten", "Good Times, Bad Times", is Germany's biggest teenage soap opera. It's filmed at Babelsberg studios just outside Potsdam, south of Berlin, a location that is full of resonance in the history of German cinema. It was here that the director Fritz Lang made his famous "Metropolis". Here, too, Marlene Dietrich worked, before the Nazis rose to power.
 Rhea Harder, one of the stars of "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten", was born and grew up in East Germany. Today, though, she is simply "German". Labels of "East" and "West" are irrelevant, in this context. Rhea is as well-known to German teenagers as Marlene Dietrich was in her day. The soap opera is broadcast five times a week, so an entire episode has to be produced every working day. There is no time for anything to go wrong.
Rhea swears she doesn't identify with Flo, the character she plays: "Absolutely not!" Flo and thus, Rhea, is a role model for girls all over Germany. At peak times, the soap reaches almost half of Germany's teenage audience, which means huge sackfuls of fanmail for Rhea herself. She insists on answering all the letters herself, which she does in the breaks between rehearsals.
She remains impressively detached from her fame. On one occasion, when she noticed a crowd staring, she asked her friend what they were all looking at. The friend replied: "You, of course!" She had forgotten that she was so famous.
Her own poster hangs on bedroom walls across Germany. But she, herself, is not immune. Her own dressing-room wall is covered with pictures of Robbie Williams. Stars can also be starstruck.
Babelsberg film studios takes visitors behind the scenes of "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" and around other sets.
Address:
Filmpark Babelsberg
Großbeerenstraße
14482 Potsdam
Tel: 0049 0331 721 27 55
Opening hours: 16 March - 03 November daily 10am-6pm
Links
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
Official website of German cult teenage soap "Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten" - "Good Times, Bad Times". In German.
Rhea Harder fanpage
Images and biography. In German.
Film studio Babelsberg
A tour of the film studio Babelsberg takes the visitor behind the sets of many internationally-known movies, such as Fritz Lang's "Metropolis". In German, some parts are in English.
These links do not constitute
an endorsement by the BBC of the companies, their services or
products. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external
sites.
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