The BBC has announced a new David Bowie documentary set to premiere in 2026 under the working title Bowie In Berlin.
- READ MORE: “The perfect marriage”: why Iggy Pop and David Bowie’s Berlin year inspired the new breed of punks
The 90-minute documentary will air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer sometime in autumn 2026 – a firm release date has yet to be announced. The documentary film will explore the icon’s time in Berlin between 1976 and 1978.
Bowie had famously retreated from fame and moved to Berlin in 1976 to kick his cocaine addiction and reroute his career – the move would prove integral, as it sparked three legendary albums: ‘Low’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lodger’ – also known as the Berlin Trilogy.
Bowie In Berlin will feature archival footage of the legendary musician himself, as well as rare interviews with four women who played a large role in Bowie’s life during his Berlin stay – Clare Shenstone, Romy Haag, Sarah-Rena Hine and Sydne Rome. Bowie considered all four women his muses, with each of them providing the musician with a different approach to art and life.
“These women saw a Bowie that nobody else saw,” says the BBC in statement announcing the documentary. “(They) all gave him something different, helping his regeneration into an artist who no longer needed to hide behind characters, but was happy to perform as himself – David Robert Jones.”
The documentary is directed by Francis Whately, who has in the past also helmed other acclaimed Bowie docs, David Bowie: Finding Fame, David Bowie: Five Years and David Bowie: The Last Five Years.
It is executive produced by documentarian, host, author and broadcaster Louis Theroux. Theroux said in a statement: “This is a dream project. Francis’ three previous Bowie films are the gold standard for Bowie film-making and indeed for docs about music in general. To have his artistry focused on the Berlin years – using the lens of the women in Bowie’s life – is a perfect match of director and material. There’s a wonderful unity of time and place to Bowie’s period in Berlin. He hit bottom, but he also found himself making some of his most personal music, then relaunched himself for the first time without a mask, as himself. So, Berlin is the crucible for his incredible regeneration and everything that came afterwards.”
Besides the beloved Berlin Trilogy, Bowie’s time in Berlin also birthed Iggy Pop‘s seminal first two solo albums: ‘The Idiot’ and ‘Lust For Life’. Iggy – now seeking to launch a solo career post-Stooges – had moved to Berlin with Bowie, where they befriended Brian Eno, who collaborated on all three of Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy albums.
While Bowie had helped compose a lot of the material on Iggy Pop’s ‘The Idiot’ and ‘Lust For Life’, he’s credited behind the latter’s creation, sparked from beeps that emitted from their shared television set. Inspired by the morse code-like beeps, Bowie wrote up a chord progression on a ukelele and turned to Iggy, telling him: “Call it ‘Lust for Life’. Write something up.” The rest, is history.
Most recently, London’s V&A East Storehouse opened the doors to the new David Bowie Centre in September. It contains over 90,000 of the icon’s possessions to guide fans through his artistic life and impact on culture, alongside special curations from the likes of Nile Rodgers and The Last Dinner Party. Check out NME‘s walk-through video below, along with our interview with primary curator Dr Madeleine Haddon here.
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