{"id":37229,"date":"2023-09-25T16:52:59","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T14:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1889062"},"modified":"2023-09-25T18:56:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T16:56:31","slug":"is-dear-child-on-netflix-based-on-a-true-story","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/is-dear-child-on-netflix-based-on-a-true-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Dear Child on Netflix based on a true story?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The German thriller series has hooked Netflix viewers – but is its story based on real events? <\/p>

By James Hibbs\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 25 September 2023 at 14:52 PM<\/p>

\n\n

New Netflix German-language thriller series Dear Child tells a terrifying nightmare of a tale.<\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kim Riedle (Back for Good) leads the cast of Dear Child<\/a> as Lena, the woman at the centre of the hit-and-run, while Naila Schuberth (Bird Box: Barcelona<\/a>) and Haley Louise Jones (Einstein and Professor T) also star.<\/p>\n

But is Dear Child based on a true story? Read on for everything you need to know about the inspiration for Dear Child<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is Dear Child based on a true story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Close-up\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Naila Schuberth as Hannah in Dear Child.<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

No, Dear Child<\/a> is not based on a true story<\/strong>. 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)<\/a>, from German author Romy Hausmann.<\/p>\n

Speaking about why she wanted to adapt the novel, director and head writer Isabel Kleefeld told Netflix Tudum<\/a>: \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does Dear Child differ from the book by Romy Hausmann?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Aida\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Haley Louise Jones as Aida Kurt in Dear Child.<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

On her writing style, Hausmann said in an interview with BookWeb<\/a>: \u201cEven if no one believes me, I don\u2019t plot\u2026 I just set up the initial premise and try to create the characters as defined as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to how audiences respond to the adaptation of her work, Hausmann told Netflix Tudum: \u201cI 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.<\/p>

\u201cThere also is, for example, a new character (Aida Kurt), who really excited me because she lives the complete opposite of the perpetrator\u2019s imagination. It\u2019s subtle and incredibly well told. Why didn\u2019t I think of that?\u201d<\/p>