The lavishly staged eco-thriller "The Swarm" also got off to a good start on linear television. An average of 6.82 million viewers watched the first block of the eight-part series on Monday evening. That corresponded to a market share of a very good 24.4 percent from 8:15 p.m.

Further double episodes (each twice 45 minutes) are programmed for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The industry service DWDL wrote on Tuesday: “After “Charité”, “Babylon Berlin” and the sequel to “Mord mit Aussicht” “Der Schwarm” was the most successful series restart in recent years.”

However, the bestselling author Frank Schätzing is not quite as enthusiastic about the film adaptation of his story: In the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" he drew a comparison to the melodramas of "Rosamunde Pilcher": "It pilfers more than it raves."

The series about nature's revenge was created under the leadership of ZDF as an international co-production together with France Télévisions, Rai, ORF, SRF, the Viaplay Group and Hulu Japan. The series also got off to a good start in the media library, where parts have been online since February 22nd.