WDR

Cologne – October 30, 2026 -- The new social reality series "Vibes – Find Your Fire" arrives in the ARD Mediathek on November 5, 2026, with ten episodes of 50 minutes each. TV star Motsi Mabuse accompanies nine women who spend twelve days together in a villa on Rhodes.

The participants do not know each other and are at very different points in their lives. What they share is a wish for change, sensuality, closeness to themselves and the courage to give their own needs more room.

Mabuse leads the group with two experts at her side

Mabuse acts as confidante and motivator. She listens, asks questions and pushes the women to look at uncomfortable topics. Clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Hedda Hess and sexological bodyworker Stella Sieger support her.

Cologne – October 29, 2026 -- The WDR Funkhausorchester will play around 50 concerts across the Lippe district from November 9 to 14, 2026, and the concerts at host venues are free. Under the banner "Deine Region – dein Orchester!", the orchestra brings seven formats to daycare centers, schools, senior facilities, companies and unconventional venues.

Hosts who applied turn community spaces into concert halls

The project began in spring with a call for applications. Host venues now include community centers and school auditoriums that are being cleared for the occasion, churches that become concert halls, and a municipal theater opening its doors. Daycare centers are teaming up so more children can attend. Regional orchestras are moving their rehearsal times to take part in masterclasses with members of the WDR Funkhausorchester. Companies are organizing after-work concerts, including for apprentices who rarely get to see an orchestra.

Cologne – September 11, 2026 -- German broadcaster WDR has produced a second batch of 1,000 free "Maus" school-start packages for first-grade classrooms in North Rhine-Westphalia after the initial run sold out within days.

The free kits, tied to the long-running children's show Die Sendung mit der Maus, are designed to ease the transition into elementary school and introduce young children to responsible media use.

Demand exhausted two full print runs in days

The first 1,000 packages were claimed by teachers almost immediately after launch. WDR responded by printing 1,000 more, but those were also fully requested by educators shortly after.

WDR Director General Dr. Katrin Vernau said the response shows strong demand for reliable, child-friendly educational materials, and that the broadcaster plans to expand the program further in 2027.

Munich – September 09, 2026 -- German public broadcaster ARD will air a new episode of the talk show "maischberger" on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at 10:50 p.m. on Das Erste.

Bavarian Premier Söder Sits Down to Discuss State Election Results

Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU) will appear in the studio to discuss the outcome of the Saxony-Anhalt state election and its potential impact on the federal government in Berlin.

Entrepreneur Maschmeyer Weighs In on the German Economy

Businessman Carsten Maschmeyer joins the program to address the state of the German economy and what reforms he believes are necessary.

Journalists and a Correspondent Round Out the Panel

Commentary will come from journalist and podcaster Robin Alexander, ARD Hauptstadtstudio correspondent Iris Sayram, and journalist Sergej Lochthofen.

Cologne – September 09, 2026 -- "Die große Maus-Show" celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special edition airing Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 8:15 p.m. on Das Erste.

Host Esther Sedlaczek leads the anniversary broadcast under the theme "Kids Ask, Adults Marvel," featuring a lineup of quiz questions, experiments, and celebrity guests. The show began two decades ago under the title "Frag doch mal die Maus" as a one-off special before becoming a fixture of Saturday night programming on Das Erste.

Six celebrities join the jubilee lineup

Guests for the anniversary episode include Annette Frier, Wincent Weiss, Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, Axel Prahl, Beatrice Egli, and Till Reiners.

Munich -- German broadcaster ARD is marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks with three new productions: a primetime documentary, a special broadcast, and an investigative podcast series.

A 90-minute documentary revisits New York's last carefree summer before the attacks

"SEPTEMBER," directed by Johan von Mirbach and produced by WDR, contrasts the everyday lives of New Yorkers during the summer of 2001 -- shaped by Fashion Week and the US Open -- with the parallel preparations of the 19 hijackers. The film combines personal testimonies with previously unpublished archive footage and interviews with voices from politics, media, and security agencies. It is streaming now on ARD Mediathek and airs on Das Erste on September 11 at 8:15 p.m.

Cologne – September 7, 2026 -- Roughly 170,000 children in North Rhine-Westphalia are starting school this year, and German broadcaster WDR is rolling out a package of free educational content through its long-running children's brand "Die Maus" to help them adjust.

The Maus website offers school-starter materials in six languages

Parents and teachers can access craft activities, puzzles, coloring pages, and ABC letter-learning films on the Maus website in German, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, Arabic, and Russian. A feature called "Maus-Schul-Weltreise" shows how children attend school in other countries, while a series of factual segments answers everyday questions about school life.

Erfurt, Germany -- September 01, 2026 -- Families looking for new children's programming this fall can find a fresh batch of shows from Germany's public children's channel KiKA, starting with a 50th-anniversary re-release of "Die Biene Maja" now streaming on kika.de. The lineup for September 2026 also includes the new preschool series "Karlchen" launching September 2, the desert adventure film "Prinzen der Wüste" arriving September 6, a live AI-education event called "Check die KI" on September 15, and new episodes of "Rabbit Academy - Die Häschenschule" from September 16. All titles are available on kika.de, the KiKA app, and the Kikaninchen app.