Vienna Blood season 4 has now been released in full on BBC iPlayer.
At one point we feared the series might end and it would have been a crime to have ended the adventures of Max Liebermann, a young doctor of psychology, and world-weary cop, Oskar Rheinhardt. Thankfully a fourth season is here again starring Matthew Beard and Juergen Maurer.
Matthew says: "At the beginning of series four, Max returns from a successful lecture tour in New York where he has been spreading Freudianism very successfully. And he's got a promotion. He is the Director of the Neurology department. There's a lot going on in his life and I think he's enjoying all of that. But I also think he's particularly happy when Oskar shows up with a new case for him."
As for his favorite moment between Max and Oskar, he says: "I do have a favorite but it's a very, very small moment. It's where Max is leaving to go and do some detective work. Oskar's going to leave him on his own and says, 'Try not to get stabbed'. Max says, 'That's good advice, thank you' and he just carries on regardless! By that point in our relationship, we had reached a place where we could have this back and forth and very dry humor whilst keeping the stories moving forward. I really enjoyed that scene because it felt like we really found the show in that moment."
Rather than focusing on a different story in each episode, the new two-part series focuses on a single case. Meanwhile, there's hope a fifth series coming at some point...
Vienna Blood season 4 release date
The new two-part series was released on BBC iPlayer on Sunday, August 4 and is available to watch now. On TV, the first episode was shown on BBC Two on Sunday, August 4 at 9 pm, 2024, while the second episode aired the following Sunday at the same time.
It's heading to PBS in the US but we don't have an American release date as yet.
Vienna Blood season 4 plot
The BBC teases: "It’s Vienna, 1909 and the double murder of an arms dealer in police custody and a senior public official has shaken Vienna to its core. Doctor Max Liebermann has only just returned from a lecture tour when Inspector Rheinhardt asks for help in what could be the most dangerous case of their career.
"Oskar and Max discover a conspiracy that leads to the heart of government. Can the Freudian psychoanalyst and detective do enough to stop a seditious mole known as 'Mephisto' from bringing the Austro-Hungarian Empire to destruction? And will their lives ever be the same again?"
Vienna Blood season 4 cast
Matthew Beard and Juergen Maurer return as Max and Oskar. Luise von Finckh returns as Max's former fiancé Clara, who's now a journalist and almost part of the team. Amelia Bullmore and Conleth Hill are back as Max's parents, Rachel and Mendel Libermann. Charlene McKenna returns as Max’s sister, Leah Liebermann.
Vienna Blood season 4 interview
What To Watch caught up with Charlene McKenna and Conleth Hill while they were filming in Vienna...
Where do we find your characters at the beginning of this adventure?
Charlene: "We're still in 1909 and I'm still working with Papa, giving him orders, bossing him around and being very Leah like! And Max is super successful and we’re very excited to hear the tales from across the water. So you find us jubilant. What I would say, there’s certainly a big twist coming and it's not what you're going to think and I will leave it at that because I’m so scared of spoilers!"
Conleth: "Max has just returned from a fantastically successful lecture tour in America, the new world. So we're all excited about that and the presents he’s bringing us back. You find us happy, a family reunited. I think that they’re the best scripts yet."
Do you have a favourite set from all the locations where you've filmed?
Conleth: "I like our house because that was our family house until last season when we filmed in Budapest. So obviously, selfishly, they didn't bring it with them. But we got back and thought the house was being sold and would be knocked down and redeveloped, so it was a lovely surprise when we went back this year to find we were back in the old house."
Charlene: "I honestly was going to say our house! Back in the same dining room… There have been some fantastically glamorous period locations, and they're wonderful, but there is something about being back at the house."
Do the costumes help you get into character?
Charlene: "The costume designer's attention to detail and his entire staff are all so good at their job. All the layers that are never seen, that you could cheat, they’re all there. And yes, you can’t help but, you walk different, you stand different, you hold yourself different and then that twinned with the fact that we get to shoot in Vienna and in these properly, timely mansions. It does a lot of the work for you because you're sold on the look before we open our mouths and ruin it for everyone!"
We also caught up with screenwriter Steve Thompson to find out if there could be a fifth season on the cards...
Steve, when you think back to the first series, did you have a plan to take it all the way through all of the books?
Steve: "I was aware of the books obviously, Frank has written these seven novels, and they're all very chunky, they've got lots and lots of really lush material in them. One goes into it with high hopes, and because that first series went well, and it was successful, we were able to keep at it and to keep working on it and develop it. I'd say 'Never say never’ to more series. We've done four seasons and we'll see what happens."
Is there a trailer?
Sadly not. But if one is released we will add it to this guide.
Will there be a Vienna Blood season 5?
There's no official word yet on whether there will be a Vienna Blood season 5. Vienna Blood season 4 is based on Frank Tallis' seventh and final novel so there are concerns this is the end of the BBC Two drama. During a press junket, however, we spoke to Frank and he was keen for the series to continue.
"What impressed me about the creativity of Steve Thompson’s Mephisto Waltz script is the sheer dramatic intensity — it's grander than previous series, and Vienna Blood was quite a grand series before," smiles former clinical psychologist and author Frank, 65, who was working on his new book "Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna and the Discovery of the Modern Mind" when he spoke to us.
"Right from the beginning I made the decision I was going to take a backseat in the BBC's adaptation. For me, the test of whether an idea is good or not is if you can hand it over and other people can run with it, but the core remains the same. TV is a very different medium to a novel and a production like this is a group accomplishment. Having a novelist too heavily involved could constrain the talent and be an obstacle to the group's creativity.
"When you exhaust the books, if you've let the idea develop and gain its own momentum, in a way it doesn't need the novels or the author anymore… but doesn't in any way stop me from writing proposals or plot ideas!"
