Vienna Blood season 4 is, for our money, the most accomplished outing of the elegant BBC period series to date — and, let's be honest, it wasn’t too shabby to begin with easily making our best BBC dramas guide. However, given that the two-parter Mephisto Waltz is based on Frank Tallis' seventh and final novel there are concerns this could spell the end of the BBC Two drama.
No spoilers, but as Mephisto Waltz, Part 2 draws to a close, the thrilling finale leaves us wanting more; war is clearly on the horizon and gruffly dogged inspector Oskar Rheinhardt (played by Juergen Maurer) and polished psychologist Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard) have never been so compromised.
During a press junket for Vienna Blood season 4, we spoke to author Frank Tallis about his thoughts on the adaptation of Mephisto Waltz and why his characters could continue on TV…
"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!"
Our verdict: Although Vienna Blood season 5 hasn’t in any way been confirmed, we remain hopeful the series will continue.
If, like us, you have a hankering to rewatch the entire series of Vienna Blood with fresh eyes after the Mephisto Waltz finale, all episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.
