From a casting experiment to a pop phenomenon, from a meteoric ascent to personal setbacks and fresh starts: the three-part ARD documentary No Angels — This Is Us, premiering Wednesday, October 14, 2026 in the ARD Mediathek, follows Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, and Jessica Wahls on the road to their 25th band anniversary. “It will bring us close to four women who found each other, lost each other, and found each other again — who celebrated shared successes, endured crises and almost lost themselves in the process,” ARD said.
The band sprang from a TV experiment in 2000: the five women of the girl group were turned into idols by the casting show Popstars. Millions of records sold, number-one hits, sold-out concerts — the rise was overwhelming — and it came at a price. The documentary explores how the young singers experienced sudden fame, which decisions they would make differently today, and which experiences and wounds still resonate to this day.
Between rehearsals, memories and deeply personal conversations, the current members of the band look back on 25 eventful years and their special friendship in No Angels — This Is Us — on shared highs and lows, how they handled pressure, mental health crises, and their quest for self-determination.
Archive footage, private impressions, and reminiscences from peers such as Simone Angel (former Popstars juror), Detlef D! Soost (former Popstars juror and choreographer), and Alex Gernandt (former Bravo editor-in-chief) round out the four band members’ personal perspectives and sketch a multifaceted portrait of their shared history.
The first episode is titled “How It All Began” and centers on the band’s rise. The second episode (“The Fallen Angels”) focuses on the split in 2003 and the reunion in 2007 (without the fifth member Vanessa Petruo). In the third installment (“Still Daylight”) it covers, among other things, the Eurovision fiasco in 2008, the highly criticized suspended sentence against Nadja Benaissa for her HIV infection, the renewed split, and the subsequent reunion.
Three days after its release in the ARD Mediathek, the first part of the documentary will also be shown on television, albeit at a late time slot: the program airs on Saturday, October 17 starting at 11:55 p.m. (pm)
