Beautiful, decadent, damaged: a walk back in time through roaring 20s Berlin

With the fourth series of Babylon Berlin starting on Friday, this atmospheric stroll peels back the history of a city that rarely stopped dancing – even during its darkest days

A cold mist lingers on the River Spree as autumn tightens its grip around Berlin, beams of neon lights refracted in the thick air, the art deco logo of KaDeWe department store reflected on the damp ground. This city, with its loaded, complex history, provides the ideal backdrop for drama.

A drama such as Babylon Berlin, the detective noir television series set in the chaotic world of jazz-age Berlin. With season four starting on Friday on Sky Atlantic, I’d come to explore what echoes of the last era of the Weimar Republic linger in the city. The new series brings us to 1931, where sinister forces are not so much lurking in the shadows as thrusting themselves front and centre – a place where the people went on dancing as the world began to fall apart.