ZDF Announces Expanded Slate Across Television and Streaming Platforms
The German public broadcaster is pairing holiday programming and philosophical debates with extensive science festival coverage.
German public broadcaster ZDF has unveiled a multifaceted lineup of special broadcasts and digital releases scheduled for late October and early November 2026. The programming package combines holiday television broadcasts and on-demand streaming premieres with extensive live panels, previews, and interactive science events held at the ninth SILBERSALZ Science and Media Festival in Halle.
For Reformation Day and All Saints' Day, the broadcaster is emphasizing themes of new beginnings, hope, and fundamental ethics. Viewers can access several of the holiday productions directly through ZDF's digital streaming portal beginning at 5:00 a.m. on their respective broadcast dates, preceding their scheduled television slots on national airwaves.
The holiday lineup begins on Saturday, October 31, 2026, with the broadcast of "Leben ist mehr!" at 12:00 p.m., made available earlier that morning on the streaming platform. The film visits a specialized care farm near Siegen founded by Josephin Kiefer. The facility offers seniors requiring assistance an environment where they can age with dignity while maintaining autonomy through daily tasks like gardening, cooking, and caring for farm animals.
On Sunday, November 1, 2026, the network will stream and broadcast an Evangelical church service titled "Barfuß im November" from the Evangelical-Methodist Hoffnungskirche in Stuttgart at 9:30 a.m. Led by Pastors Katharina Sautter and Markus Bauder, with organ accompaniment by Prof. Dr. Christof Voigt and choir direction by Ulrike Bauder-Reissing, the service explores coping with vulnerability through hope and faith.
At noon on All Saints' Day, ZDF will broadcast "Lesch sieht Schwartz," also streaming from 5:00 a.m. onward. The program brings together scientist Harald Lesch and theologian Thomas Schwartz in Weimar to examine the nature of evil. Filming in a city that contrasts classical humanism with the nearby site of the Buchenwald concentration camp, the hosts analyze how definitions of good and evil evolve through psychological, societal, scientific, and theological lenses.
Simultaneously, ZDF is participating heavily in the SILBERSALZ Science and Media Festival, held from October 28 to November 1 under the overarching theme of health, self-improvement, and modern medical ethics. The broadcaster's scheduled festival presence includes environmental panels on intensifying wildfires featuring meteorologist Özden Terli and producer Julia Kaulbars, as well as a wildlife conservation presentation by veterinarian Hannah Emde.
The festival agenda also features a news workshop conducted by anchor Christina von Ungern-Sternberg, alongside a medical discussion on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) involving Charité Berlin researcher Prof. Dr. Carmen Scheibenbogen, Prof. Dr. Norbert Suttorp, and affected families. Other events include discussions on Big Tech's democratic impact with media scholar Martin Andree, an examination of tattooing with Dr. Yael Adler and Dr. Mark Benecke, a youth vaping and cancer prevention panel hosted by Jasmina Neudecker, and interactive science stage shows led by Eric Mayer.