At 8.15 p.m. on Sunday evening, it’s time for the start of one of the most popular series on German television. Millions of viewers switch on their TVs to the First Programme for the crime series “Tatort” (known in English as “Crime Scene”), and stay glued to the screen in the next gripping hunt for criminals. The series is a classic and has been running on the ARD channel for 40 years. The evidence speaks for itself: “Tatort” is not only the oldest, but also the most frequently viewed crime series on German TV; the 781st episode ran on its 40th anniversary at the end of November 2010, and on average more than 8.34 million viewers watched a virgin broadcast in 2010. Over the many years, the series with its almost unchanged introduction, the crosshair gun sight and the striking music, has become a German brand name with many fans abroad as well. “Tatort” can be seen on TV in more than 50 countries ranging from France to distant New Zealand. The cases investigated by the Munich detectives Ivo Batic (Miroslav Nemec) and Franz Leitmayr (Udo Wachtveitl) sell to Eastern Europe and Latin America under English titles such as “Tainted Blood” and “Lofty Dreams”.
So far 102 detectives, both male and female, have been hot on the heels of criminals in the history of the “Tatort” series. At the moment there are investigators operating in 16 cities (see map). The regional diversity, complete with dialects and landscapes, is part of the cult series’ success recipe. Apart from this, the “Tatort” episodes characteristically vary in style and content, and can include anything from criminal personality profiles to thrillers with wild chases or hostages. The cases often pick up on contemporary, sometimes explosive themes: graffiti sprayers, the homeless, former terrorists, lethal energy drinks or murder.
At the moment the highest viewing figures are being notched up by the team from Münster in Westphalia, with Chief Inspector Thiel (Axel Prahl) and forensic expert Professor Boerne (Jan Josef Liefers) enhancing the format with a good dose of humour. In Hamburg the first “Tatort” investigator with Turkish roots, Mehmet Kurtulus alias Cenk Batu, has been active in the series since 2008. Ulrich Tukur, one of the best German character actors who gained international fame in the Oscar-winning film “The Lives of Others”, has recently joined the ranks of the Crime Scene investigators. And 2011 will mark the advent of a new Swiss location with a “Tatort” investigator based in Luzern.////
