Tatort Explained

Starring:Boris Aljinovic
Dietmar Bär
Meret Becker
Elisabeth Brück
Hansjörg Felmy
Ulrike Folkerts
Maria Furtwängler
Götz George
Stefan Gubser
Jörg Hartmann
Andreas Hoppe
Klaus J. Behrendt
Harald Krassnitzer
Manfred Krug
Jan Josef Liefers
Eva Mattes
Oliver Mommsen
Richy Müller
Axel Prahl
Dominic Raacke
Sieghardt Rupp
Anna Schudt
Devid Striesow
Simone Thomalla
Ulrich Tukur
Mark Waschke
Martin Wuttke
Wotan Wilke Möhring
and others
Theme Music Composer:Klaus Doldinger
Country:West Germany (1970–1990)
Germany (1990–present)
Austria
Switzerland
Language:German
Num Seasons:50
Num Episodes:1,252[1]
Runtime:90 minutes
Network:Das Erste
Last Aired:present

("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-service broadcasting organization ARD for their channel Das Erste, it is unique in its approach in that it is jointly produced by all of the organization's regional members as well as its partnering Austrian and Swiss national public-service broadcasters, whereby every regional station contributes several episodes to a common pool.

As a result of this, Tatort is a collection of different police stories where different police teams solve crimes in their own cities, with uniqueness in architecture, customs, and dialects of the cities being a distinctive part of the series. Often, the city, not the police force, is the real main character of an episode. The fact that local stations each produce a small number of episodes per year has enabled longer episodes (approximately 90 minutes), which in turn allows each episode to exhibit greater characterisation than other weekly TV dramas.

The first episode was broadcast on 29 November 1970. Episodes are broadcast on ARD's main channel Das Erste, on Sunday evenings at the prime viewing time of 8:15 pm (just after the 8 pm Tagesschau news) around three times a month. Reruns are often shown by various regional ARD stations and on foreign broadcasters. Alongside the member stations of the ARD, the national Austrian broadcasting corporation Österreichischer Rundfunk joined the production pool in 1971 and aired the program on its ORF 2 channel. Switzerland's Schweizer Fernsehen joined the collection from 1990 to 2001 and again in 2011. It distributes its episodes through its channel SRF 1 and Play SRF streaming app.

The series Polizeiruf 110, which was produced by East Germany's state TV broadcaster as a counterpart to the West German and has a similar regional production approach, is still produced by ARD's regional broadcasters Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). Polizeiruf 110 shares the Sunday night prime time slot on Das Erste with .

Concept

The main feature of is that all participating regional TV stations jointly produce it. Each of the eleven companies involved (the nine German regional TV channels or Landesrundfunkanstalten that together form ARD, plus ORF in Austria and SRF in Switzerland) produces its episodes. Each station usually features more than one team of inspectors in different cities in its region, depending on the size of the producing broadcaster. Each of the roughly 20 active teams appears one to three times each year. Nearly every Sunday, a new episode from a different city premieres on Das Erste; old episodes are often shown through all participating stations as part of their standard programming. The series shares this concept with its former East German counterpart Polizeiruf 110, which is produced as four additional investigator teams aired under a different series name and opening credits by some regional broadcasters, primarily those that evolved from East German state television.

Every episode features a different team of inspectors in another city. Combined with the fact that the episodes are 90 minutes long, almost movie-length, and rarely more than 30 episodes in one year, this makes for a cultural phenomenon closer to a string of made-for-TV movies than a typical police series.

This pooling concept was mainly due to the nature of the public broadcast television channel ARD, which is jointly operated by all of Germany's regional public Landesrundfunkanstalten. The 9 regional public broadcasters collect broadcasting fees in their region of Germany (each region comprising one or more federal states), each with multiple radio stations and a regional TV station. Das Erste is produced as a joint national channel with standard national programming. Each regional broadcaster is responsible for parts of the programming, unlike in the US with its network affiliate system. Usually, one to three broadcasters produce one TV programme in cooperation. When was developed as a series of weekly feature film-long local crime stories, the stated concept was used to distribute financial and organizational efforts.

Apart from the unique joint-pooling system, the series is also characterized by the episode length of around 90 minutes, which allows for more in-depth and psychological fleshing out of the characters. Although almost all episodes feature the investigation of a homicide, it is never just a simple case of whodunit. Often the episode length allows for the crime to be shown in all its aspects, with equal attention focused on the perpetrators and the victims as on the inspectors. On several occasions, the actual police work is just a side note in the story, as the main plot might focus on how one of the persons involved deals with the crime and its aftermath. Episodes also deal with social and political issues.

With the national broadcasting corporations of Austria and Switzerland participating, the episodes of are currently set in various cities of Germany, Vienna, and Zürich. Initially, each of the participating member stations limited their episodes to one team of investigators in one city: for ease of production, this was mostly the city the broadcast station was in, but over the years, some stations broadcasting over a large regional area have s playing in several cities. Notably, the WDR (based in Cologne) has three teams of investigators each playing in Cologne, Münster, and Dortmund. Episodes are either produced by the station's production facilities or filmed and often written by outside production houses on behalf of the station. This sometimes leads to situations where, for instance, a set in Thuringia is produced in Bavaria, with only a handful of scenes shot 'on location' in the town in which the story is supposed to be set in. Consequently, minor roles are sometimes played by actors or extras that do not have a matching regional accent.

A similar concept of independently filming and then pooling episodes was used from 1988 to 1992 in the series Eurocops, jointly produced by several national European TV stations.

has not found wide distribution in non-German speaking countries, but some episodes were distributed as stand-alone mini-series. Notable examples were the Horst Schimanski episodes which were shown in Finland in the late-1980s and on TV4 in Sweden in 1992, and the 2013 series starring Til Schweiger and Fahri Yardım in Hamburg was shown on the British Channel 4 under the title Nick's Law.

However, inspired many other TV broadcasters to develop similar city-specific spin-offs for their shows, such as CSI or NCIS.

History

Gunther Witte, dramatist and TV head at WDR (West German Broadcasting Cologne) developed the series against initial resistance.[2] Witte and his successors have ensured that one or two detectives are at the center of every story, and the cases are shown from their perspective; they are usually members of a team, and their lives are also included.[2]

In January 2008, a similarly produced series of radio dramas called ARD Radio Tatort was introduced; new episodes are aired monthly by regional radio stations, but not simultaneously.

In 2012, more than 100,000 people participated in the first and only online game linked to the SWR production, "Der Wald steht schwarz und schweiget."[3]

In January 2014, received the 50th Grimme Award.[4] [5]

Features

The show is still aired on Sundays at 8:15 p.m. in Germany and Austria and 8:05 p.m. in Switzerland. About 30 episodes are made each year. By May 2018, 1055 episodes had been produced, plus 13 made in Austria and shown only there. Episode nr. 1000 was broadcast on Sunday, 13 November 2016.

The episodes of some series of, such as the discontinued series about Schimanski, played by Götz George, have become cultural icons.

The opening sequence of each episode has essentially remained the same throughout the decades except for slight changes. Klaus Doldinger composed the title music with Udo Lindenberg on drums.[6]

In East Germany

At the same time the ARD was starting its format, the DDR had its own police procedural/crime show called Polizeiruf 110 ("Police dial 1-1-0"). The series premiered in 1971, less than a year after the first . It, too, was a police procedural with various teams of investigators in different cities of the DDR. Still, in contrast to the West, only a tiny part of their cases involved actual homicides. The psychology of the perpetrators and the victims was also more prevalent. The series continued through the 1970s and 80s and even survived the Wende, continuing until 1991.

In 1990, Polizeiruf practiced its brand of German unification with episode 142, ("Amongst Brothers"), a crossover with the investigators Schimanski and Thanner (this was co-produced with ARD and a medley of the two series themes were used in the opening intro). Until 1991, the series continued more or less independently for 11 more episodes until episode 153 (22 December 1991), again a crossover, in which Kommissar Thanner becomes the team's superior. Also in 1991, as part of the unification, the DDR's television company DFF was split into the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB), while the television stations in the new state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern would be operated as part of the NDR.

As MDR, ORB, and NDR were all partners in the ARD, they were expected to start producing episodes as well. However, seeing the popularity of Polizeiruf 110, it was decided that the stations would contribute to the pool but that its episodes would keep the name of Polizeiruf 110 and their own title music and intro. Still, they would be broadcast over all ARD stations on Sunday evening just like (or instead of) the 'western' .

Reorganising took one and a half years, but on 13 June 1993, the now MDR restarted the series in format. This first episode was set in Leipzig, just as in 1991. However, today's episodes produced by the MDR are specified in Magdeburg, while those produced by NDR are set in Rostock. The ORB (and later ORB's successor, RBB) has its episodes headed by the same team of investigators but take place in various cities in Brandenburg. In addition, Bavarian Broadcasting BR produces both Polizeiruf and episodes, both set in Munich. Like the original, the Bavarian Polizeiruf episodes focus more on the psychology of the crimes and more on crimes other than homicides. Over the years, several other 'western' local broadcasters tried to produce Polizeiruf episodes as a sort of 'alternative Tatort' alongside the regular ones. However, all of them stopped after a few episodes.

On 15 May 2015, RBB aired the 350th episode of Polizeiruf 110, the 197th episode of the new format.

In 2013, seeing that Thuringia was so far the only federal state in Germany that had neither a nor a Polizeiruf set in one of its cities, the MDR ordered two new series, set in Erfurt and Weimar, respectively. Bavarian companies produce both for the MDR.

As 1-1-0 is the speed dial code for police/emergency dispatch in Germany, but not in Austria, Polizeiruf 110 is broadcast in Austria as Polizeiruf 133.

Table of broadcasters

There have been over 1100 episodes of Tatort, from November 1970 up to the beginning of January 2020[7] these have been the product of a dozen broadcasters, based around various lead investigators. While some (about 30) have been featured only once or twice, several investigators have featured in multiple episodes. There are 22 current investigative strands,[8] and three have been the subject of over 70 episodes.

YearBroadcast StationLead InvestigatorActorsCityNumber of Episodes
1970–1982NDRPaul TrimmelWalter RichterHamburg11
1970–1973SRLiersdahl and SchäfermannDieter EpplerSaarbrücken2
1971–1973WDRKressinSieghardt RuppCologne7
1971–1986SDREugen LutzWerner Schumacher8 different towns in Baden-Württemberg16
1971–1979HRKonradKlaus HöhneFrankfurt8
1971–1978NDRFinkeKlaus SchwarzkopfKiel and other places in Schleswig-Holstein7
1971–1983ORFViktor MarekFritz EckhardtVienna13
1971–1972SFBErwin KasulkePaul EsserWest Berlin2
1972–1981BRMelchior VeiglGustl BayrhammerMunich15
1972SWFHorst PflügerErnst JacobiBaden-Baden1
1973RBWalter BöckHans HäckermannBremen1
1973–1977SWFFranz GerberHeinz SchimmelpfennigBaden-Baden5
1974–1980WDRHeinz Haferkamp -->Hansjörg FelmyEssen20
1974–1977NDRHeinz BrammerKnut HinzHanover4
1975–1977SFBMartin SchmidtMartin HirtheWest Berlin3
1977–1984SRSchäfermannManfred HeidmannSaarbrücken4
1978–1980SWFMarianne BuchmüllerNicole HeestersMainz3
1978–1983HRBergmannHeinz Treuke (1978), Lutz Moik (1981-1983)Frankfurt3
1978–1979SFBMatthias BehnkeHans-Peter KorffWest Berlin2
1979NDRNagelDiether Krebs1
1979–1985NDRDeliusHorst Bollmann3
1980HRSanderVolkert KraeftFrankfurt1
1980WDRPaul EndersJörg HubeEssen, Frankfurt1
1980–1982NDRJochen PiperBernd SeebacherBremen2
1980WDRWilly KreutzerWilly SemmelroggeEssen1
1981–1985SFBFriedrich WaltherVolker BrandtWest Berlin6
1981–1988SWFHanne WiegandKarin AnselmBaden-Baden, Karlsruhe, Mainz8
1981NDRGreveErik Schumannsmall town in Schleswig-Holstein1
1981NDRBeckHans HäckermannLübeck1
1981–1991WDRHorst Schimanski and Christian Thanner Duisburg29
1981–1987BRLudwig LenzHelmut FischerMunich7
1982HRWerner RolfsKlaus LöwitschFrankfurt1
1982NDRNikolaus SchnoorUwe DallmeierBremerhaven1
1983NDRRonkeUlrich von BockHamburg1
1984HRRullmannHans-Werner Bussingersmall towns in Hesse1
1984–2001NDRPaul Stoever and Peter BrockmöllerManfred Krug and Charles BrauerHamburg and Neuwerk41 (with Brockmöller: 38)
1984–1986ORFHirthKurt JaggbergVienna3 (+ 6 only ORF)
1985HRReinhold DietzeKlaus LöwitschFrankfurt1
1985–2001HREdgar BrinkmannKarl-Heinz von HasselFrankfurt28
1985–1989SFBHans Georg BülowHeinz DracheBerlin6
1986BRSiggi RiedmüllerMunich1
1986ORFLutinskyMiguel Herz-KestranekVienna1 (only ORF)
1986-1988ORFPfeiferBruno DallanskyVienna3 (+5 only ORF)
1987–1988SDRGeorg Thomas SchreitleHorst Michael NeutzeStuttgart, Führstadt3
1987BRKarl ScherrerHans BrennerMunich1
1988–2005SRMax PaluJochen SenfSaarbrücken and other places in Saarland17
1988–1989BROtto BrandenburgHorst BollmannMunich2
1989–1996ORFMichael FichtlMichael JanischVienna8 (+1 only ORF)
since 1989Lena Odenthal, Mario Kopper, and Johanna SternUlrike Folkerts, Andreas Hoppe, and Lisa BitterLudwigshafen75 (with Kopper: 57, with Stern: 16)
1990DRSWalter HowaldMathias GnädingerBern1
1991-2017BR, MHz as "Tatort: Munich" (USA)Ivo Batic, Franz Leitmayr (and Detective Sergeant Carlo Menzinger until 2007)Miroslav Nemec, Udo Wachtveitl and Michael FitzMunich90 (with Menzinger: 45, two of them together with Faber)
1991–1992DRSReto CarlucciAndrea ZoggBern2
1991–1995SFBFranz MarkowitzGünter LamprechtBerlin8
1992–2007MDRBruno Ehrlicher and KainPeter Sodann and Bernd Michael Ladefirst Dresden, later Leipzig, one episode in Cologne as well45 (two of them together with Ballauf and Schenk)
1992–1997WDRBernd Flemming, Detective Constable Max Ballauf and Detective Constable Miriam KochMartin Lüttge, Klaus J. Behrendt and Roswitha SchreinerDüsseldorf15 (with Ballauf: 9)
1992–2007SDR, SWRErnst Bienzle and Detective Sergeant Günter GächterDietz Werner Steck and Rüdiger WandelStuttgart25
1993–2002DRSPhilipp von Burg and Markus GertschL.I. Kisch and E.C. SigristBern9
1995HRLeo FelberHeinz SchubertFrankfurt1
1996–1998SFBErnst Roiter and Detective Constable Michael ZorrowskiWinfried Glatzeder and Robinson ReichelBerlin12
1996ORFMax BeckerKlaus WildbolzVienna1
1997ORFPaul Kant and Jakob VaranasiWolfgang Hübsch and Johannes NikolussiVienna2
1997NDRLea SommerHannelore ElsnerHamburg2
1997 - 2006WDR, MHz as "Tatort: Cologne" (USA)Max Ballauf and Freddy SchenkKlaus J. Behrendt and Dietmar BärCologne, two episodes in Leipzig as well84, (respectively two of them together with Ehrlicher/Kain and Saalfeld/Keppler)
1997–2019RBInga Lürsen and Detective Constable Nils StedefreundSabine Postel and Oliver MommsenBremen, Bremerhaven39 (with Stedefreund: 34)
1999–2014SFB, rbbTill Ritter and Robert Hellmann, later Felix StarkDominic Raacke and Stefan Jürgens, later Boris AljinovicBerlin37, (with Hellmann: 6, with Stark: 31, the last episode only with Stark)
since 1999ORF, Tubi as "Murders in Vienna" (USA)Moritz Eisner and Bibi Fellner Harald Krassnitzer and Adele NeuhauserVienna and other places in Austria52 (with Fellner: 28)
2001–2008NDRJan Casstorff and Eduard HolicekRobert Atzorn, Tilo PrücknerHamburg15
2002–2010HRFritz Dellwo and Charlotte SängerJörg Schüttauf and Andrea SawatzkiFrankfurt18
since 2002NDR, MHz as "Tatort: Lindholm" (USA)Charlotte Lindholm and Anaïs Schmitz (since 2019)Maria Furtwängler and Florence Kasumbafirst Hanover, later Göttingen and small towns in Lower Saxony29 (with Schmitz: 3)
2002-2016SWRKlara Blum and Kai PerlmannEva Mattes and Sebastian BezzelKonstanz and other places around Lake Constance31 (with Perlmann: 27)
since 2002WDRFrank Thiel and forensic doctor Prof. Karl-Friedrich BoerneAxel Prahl and Jan Josef LiefersMünster41
since 2003NDR, MHz as "Tatort: Borowski" (USA)Klaus Borowski, Sarah Brandt (2010-2017), Mila Sahin (since 2017)Axel Milberg, Maren Eggert (2003-2010), Sibel Kekilli (2010-2017), Almila Bagriacik (since 2017)Kiel38 (with Brandt: 13, with Sahin: 7)
2006-2012SRFranz Kappl and Stephan DeiningerMaximilian Brückner and Gregor WeberSaarbrücken7
since 2008SWRSebastian Bootz and Thorsten LannertFelix Klare and Richy MüllerStuttgart28
2008-2015MDREva Saalfeld and Andreas KepplerSimone Thomalla and Martin WuttkeLeipzig21 (two of them together with Ballauf and Schenk)
2008-2012NDRCenk BatuMehmet KurtuluşHamburg6
since 2010HRFelix MurotUlrich TukurWiesbaden and other places in Hesse10
2011–2015HRFrank Steier and Conny MeyJoachim Król and Nina KunzendorfFrankfurt7 (with Mey: 5)
2011–2019SRFReto Flückiger and Liz RitschardStefan Gubser and Delia MayerLucerne17 (with Ritschard: 16)
since 2012WDRPeter Faber, Martina Bönisch, Nora Dalay (until 2020), Daniel Kossik (until 2017), Jan Pawlak (since 2018) and Rosa Herzog (since 2021), Anna Schudt, Aylin Tezel, Stefan Konarske, Rick Okon and Stefanie ReinspergerDortmund22 (with Dalay: 17, with Kossik: 10, with Pawlak: 11, with Herzog: 4, two of them together with Batic and Leitmayr)
2013–2019SRJens StellbrinkDevid Striesow and Elisabeth BrückSaarbrücken8
since 2013NDRNick Tschiller and Yalcin GümerTil Schweiger and Fahri Ogün YardımHamburg6
since 2013NDR, Walter Presents as "Inspector Falke" (USA 2017-2021)Thorsten Falke and Katharina Lorenz (2013-2015), Julia Grosz (since 2016)Wotan Wilke Möhring and Petra Schmidt-Schaller, Franziska WeiszHamburg and other places in Northern Germany17 (with Lorenz: 6, with Grosz: 11)
2013–2014MDRHenry Funck, Maik Schaffert and Johanna Grewel[9] Friedrich Mücke, Benjamin Kramme and Alina LevshinErfurt2
2013–2021MDR, MHz as "Tatort: Weimar" (USA)Lessing and Kira DornChristian Ulmen and Nora TschirnerWeimar11
since 2015rbb, MHZ as "Tatort: Streets of Berlin" (USA)Nina Rubin and Robert KarowMeret Becker, Mark WaschkeBerlin15
since 2015BRPaula Ringelhahn and Felix VossDagmar Manzel, Fabian HinrichsNuremberg and other places in Franconia8
since 2015HRAnna Janneke and Paul BrixMargarita Broich, Wolfram KochFrankfurt15
since 2016MDR, Walter Presents as: "Dresden Detectives" (USA)Karin Gorniak, Henni Sieland (until 2019), Leonie Winkler (since 2019) and Peter Michael SchnabelKarin Hanczewski, Alwara Höfels, Cornelia Gröschel and Martin BrambachDresden13 (with Sieland: 6, with Winkler: 7)
since 2016SWREllen Berlinger and Martin Rascher (since 2018)Heike Makatsch and Sebastian BlombergFreiburg, then Mainz4 (with Rascher: 3)
since 2017SWRFranziska Tobler and Friedmann BergEva Löbau, Hans-Jochen WagnerFreiburg and other places in Black Forest8
since 2020SRAdam Schürk and Leo HölzerDaniel Sträßer and Vladimir BurlakovSaarbrücken4
since 2020SRFIsabelle Grandjean and Tessa OttAnna Pieri Zuercher and Carol SchulerZürich3
since 2021RBLiv Moormann, Mads Andersen and Linda SelbJasna Fritzi Bauer, Dar Salim and Luise WolframBremen3

Last update: 22 Jul 2023

Soundtracks (selection)

Some episodes from the 1980s and 1990s included songs that subsequently became quite well known, and two of them reached the top of the charts:"Faust auf Faust (Schimanski)" by Klaus Lage from the movie , and "Midnight Lady" by Chris Norman, written by Dieter Bohlen, which appears on the episode .Some random selected soundtracks:

ArtistTitle songEpisodeYearTV station
Can"Vitamin C""Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street"1973WDR
Tangerine Dream"Das Mädchen auf der Treppe"1982WDR
Tangerine Dream"Daydream/Moorland"1983WDR
Warning"Why Can The Bodies Fly""Peggy hat Angst"1983SWF
Jil Anderson"Without You (Baby, Baby)""Haie vor Helgoland"1984NDR
Mark Spiro"Winds Of Change"1985WDR
Patricia Simpson"Dreams In The City""Nachtstreife"1985ORF
Die Toten Hosen"Verschwende deine Zeit""Voll auf Haß"1987NDR
Sandra"Stop For A Minute""Salü Palu"1988SR
Roger Chapman"Slap Bang in the Middle"1988WDR
Klaatu"Woman"1988SDR
Bonnie Tyler"Against The Wind"1991WDR
Wolf Maahn"Cool""Der Mörder und der Prinz"1992WDR
Markus Küpper"Sie hat Schluß gemacht""Ein ehrenwertes Haus"1994MDR
Ben Becker"Alter Mann""Falsches Alibi"1995MDR
RammsteinAsche zu Asche"Die Geschichte vom bösen Friedrich"2016HR

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tatort - Der Reiz des Bösen.
  2. Web site: "Ehrenpreis der Jury": Gunther Witte. MDR.de. Das Erste. 8 November 2014. 13 November 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20141108093528/http://www.mdr.de/bambi/bambi-gunther-witte100.html. 8 November 2014.
  3. Web site: Schade, Tatort+ ist zu Ende!. Das Erste. 8 November 2014. n.d.. de.
  4. Web site: Besondere Ehrung für das Format "Tatort". Grimme Institut. 8 November 2014. de. n.d.. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150115062332/http://www.grimme-institut.de/html/index.php?id=1692. 15 January 2015.
  5. News: Barbara Möller. "Tatort" erhält Besondere Ehrung beim Grimme-Preis. 8 November 2014. Die Welt. Axel Springer. 29 January 2014. de.
  6. Web site: Tatort. fernsehlexikon. 8 November 2014. n.d..
  7. https://episodecalendar.com/en/show/tatort/season/2020 2020
  8. https://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/krimi/tatort/kommissare/tatort-filter-aktuelle-kommissare-100.html Current investigators
  9. Web site: Team Erfurt - Tatort - ARD Das Erste . 2022-07-01 . www.daserste.de . de.