Is Dear Child on Netflix based on a true story?
The German thriller series has hooked Netflix viewers - but is its story based on real events?
New Netflix German-language thriller series Dear Child tells a terrifying nightmare of a tale.
When an injured woman and a young girl are discovered in a German forest following a hit-and-run, investigators unravel a mystery that had remained unsolved for over 13 years.
Kim Riedle (Back for Good) leads the cast of Dear Child as Lena, the woman at the centre of the hit-and-run, while Naila Schuberth (Bird Box: Barcelona) and Haley Louise Jones (Einstein and Professor T) also star.
But is Dear Child based on a true story? Read on for everything you need to know about the inspiration for Dear Child.
Is Dear Child based on a true story?
No, Dear Child is not based on a true story. The shocking tale told in the series is entirely fictional, and instead, it is based entirely on a novel, Liebes Kind (Dear Child in English), from German author Romy Hausmann.
Speaking about why she wanted to adapt the novel, director and head writer Isabel Kleefeld told Netflix Tudum: "I read the book in one night and saw the whole story very vividly in my mind. The material fascinated me immediately. Dear Child is told from the point of view of each of the participants, and the perspective changes again and again.
"The result is an exciting game with reality, a puzzle that the audience can always add to and reassemble. It is the story of a crime that has many victims, directly or indirectly."
How does Dear Child differ from the book by Romy Hausmann?
As with most adaptations, the series does not stick completely to the original source material, and instead makes some changes to the narrative and characters.
On her writing style, Hausmann said in an interview with BookWeb: "Even if no one believes me, I don’t plot... I just set up the initial premise and try to create the characters as defined as possible.
"Then I start to write, asking myself again and again how this character should behave next, what is realistic, and above all: How would I behave in this situation?"
When it comes to how audiences respond to the adaptation of her work, Hausmann told Netflix Tudum: "I hope my readers feel like I did: There will be many things that are familiar from the book, and at the same time it will feel totally new.
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"There also is, for example, a new character (Aida Kurt), who really excited me because she lives the complete opposite of the perpetrator’s imagination. It’s subtle and incredibly well told. Why didn’t I think of that?"
Dear Child is available to stream now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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Like this? You might want to try Outlander. Available now on Lionsgate+.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
