The Nightmare Years

The Nightmare Years is a book by William L. Shirer, recounting his pre-WW2 years as a journalist in Nazi Germany.

It is also a 1989 American television miniseries directed by Anthony Page. It stars Sam Waterston as Shirer, the American reporter stationed in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The supporting cast comprises Marthe Keller, Kurtwood Smith, Ronald Pickup, Peter Jeffrey, Walter Gotell and Garrick Hagon.

The miniseries premiered on Turner Network Television on September 17, 1989 as a four-part miniseries and was later released on VHS. As of 2014, there are limited versions of the series on DVD.

Cast

 * Sam Waterston as William L. Shirer
 * Marthe Keller as Tess Shirer
 * Kurtwood Smith as Joseph Goebbels
 * Ronald Pickup as Ernst Hanfstaengl
 * Peter Jeffrey as Norman Ebbutt
 * Frederick Jaeger as Wilfred Bade
 * Walter Gotell as Werner von Fritsch
 * Garrick Hagon as Edward R. Murrow
 * Michael Wolf as Hermann Göring
 * Frances Barber as Helga Bauer

Production
Principal photography took place in Budapest, Hungary. The production budget of the miniseries cost $12 million, of which TNT bought the television rights for $3 million.