Derrick (TV series) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Derrick is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

TV series produced by Telenova Film und Fernsehproduktion in association with ZDF

ZDF

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

, ORF

ORF (broadcaster)

Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF, is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media...

and SRG

SRG SSR idée suisse

SRG SSR is the Swiss public broadcasting organisation, founded in 1931 as SRG-SSR. Headquartered in Bern, SRG SSR is a non-profit organisation, funded mainly through radio and television licence fees and making the remaining income from advertising and sponsorship.Switzerland's system of direct...

between 1974 and 1998 about Detective Chief Inspector (Oberinspektor) Stephan Derrick (Horst Tappert

Horst Tappert

Horst Tappert was a German movie and television actor who played Inspector Stephan Derrick in the television drama Derrick.-Biography:...

) and his loyal assistant Inspector (Kriminalhauptmeister) Harry Klein (Fritz Wepper

Fritz Wepper

Fritz Wepper is a German television actor.- Life and work :He has been married to Angela Prinzessin von Hohenzollern since 1979, and they have one daughter, Sophie...

), who solve murder cases in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

and surroundings (with three unsolved cases in total).

History

All 281 60-minute episodes were written by veteran screenwriter Herbert Reinecker

Herbert Reinecker

Herbert Reinecker was a very prolific German novelist, dramatist and screenwriter.Born in Hagen, Westphalia, Reinecker began to write short stories already as a high school student. In 1936 he moved to Berlin, where he became editor-in-chief of a youth magazine, Jungvolk...

and produced by Helmut Ringelmann

Helmut Ringelmann

Helmut Ringelmann was a German film and television producer.Ringelmann was born in Munich, he produced a number of television series including the long running Der Kommissar from 1968 to 1974. He is best remembered as the Producer of the Derrick TV series.Ringelmann died in his house in Grünwald...

. As a rule, new Derrick episodes were broadcast on Friday night at 20:15. The series received enormous popularity and was aired in more than 100 countries worldwide. In fact, there have only been a few areas around the world where Derrick has not penetrated, and the two protagonists long ago established for themselves a place in television history.

The huge numbers of fans all round the world who pay homage to the Derrick phenomenon include both young and old. Even before its last episode was shown on 16 October 1998 it had acquired cult status.

The fact that the series was discontinued in October 1998 had nothing to do with waning audience ratings. Rather, Horst Tappert

Horst Tappert

Horst Tappert was a German movie and television actor who played Inspector Stephan Derrick in the television drama Derrick.-Biography:...

, who played the main role for almost 25 years, had reached the age limit he had set himself.

Thanks to Derrick, Horst Tappert

Horst Tappert

Horst Tappert was a German movie and television actor who played Inspector Stephan Derrick in the television drama Derrick.-Biography:...

is the only German actor who has ever had fan club

Fan club

A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well-known person, group, idea or sometimes even an inanimate object . Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person...

s abroad including the Netherlands and France. Derrick was even broadcast in South Africa — dubbed in Afrikaans — throughout the Apartheid era.

Still, even though no new episodes are being produced, several countries are still broadcasting re-runs. Horst Tappert untiringly continues to investigate criminal cases in France, where he is known as Inspecteur Derrick; in Italy, he is called L’ispettore Derrick while the Chinese know him as Dé li kè.

The series took a noticeable turn towards psychological drama as time progressed and Derrick approached retirement age. Acting on a hunch, Derrick would ignore a number of possible suspects right from the start and, instead of doing the legwork often shown in police movies, would follow the main suspect to his or her favourite haunts and involve them in lengthy conversations, claiming that he had to get to know them better. Towards the end of the show the murderer, now revolted by what they had done, would then be prepared to confess to his or her crime without Derrick having to produce any further piece of evidence. Generally, there is little violence

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

and bloodshed and no shoot-out at the end.

This philosophy also held true to the last episode, Das Abschiedsgeschenk ("The Farewell Gift"). Originally, Derrick was supposed to die by the hands of one of the criminals he had incarcerated just as he is about to take a new job as the chief of Europol

Europol

Europol is the European Union's criminal intelligence agency. It became fully operational on 1 July 1999....

. But the violent end was eventually scrapped; while there is a shoot-out, no one is killed, and Derrick goes on into the dark city and towards a new life.

With Derrick eliciting enthusiasm in some and sending shivers down the spine of others, there are very diverse explanations as to why people of such diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds love the Munich Chief Inspector. The series' producer, Helmut Ringelmann

Helmut Ringelmann

, believes that Derrick’s success is because it ‘appeals to the basic emotions that govern human relationships — love, hate, fear — across all borders'.

Derrick and Klein do not seem to have any private lives — at least they are not shown and they in no way interfere with their work, which they frequently pursue in the evening. In that respect and also in the way he goes about a case, Derrick resembles Lt. Columbo. However, as Eco

Umberto Eco

Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...

has pointed out, Columbo is the obedient, seemingly helpless servant of a community of rich and powerful Californians while Derrick, elegantly dressed and impeccably behaved, always appears in control and superior even to the wealthy people he is tracking down.

Just like an earlier television series, Der Kommissar (also written by Reinecker), Derrick has an impressive list of guest appearances by prominent German and Austrian actors and actresses playing either the culprit, the victim, or an innocent witness to the crime. Celebrities include Luitgard Im, Armin Mueller-Stahl

Armin Mueller-Stahl

Armin Mueller-Stahl is a German film actor, painter, writer and musician.-Early life:Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, East Prussia...

, Lilli Palmer

Lilli Palmer

Lilli Palmer , born Lilli Marie Peiser, was a German actress. She won the Volpi Cup, the Deutscher Filmpreis three times, and was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award.-Life and career:...

, Heinz Bennent

Heinz Bennent

Heinz Bennent was a German actor.Bennent was born in Stolberg, Rhineland, and served in the Luftwaffe during World War II. His career began after the end of World War II in Göttingen. He moved to Switzerland in the 1970s, where he lived until his death at age 90...

, Klaus Maria Brandauer

Klaus Maria Brandauer

Klaus Maria Brandauer is an Austrian actor, film director, and professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.-Personal life:...

, Horst Buchholz

Horst Buchholz

Horst Werner Buchholz was a German actor, remembered for his part in The Magnificent Seven and Nine Hours to Rama. He appeared in over sixty films during his acting career from 1952–2002.-Life and work:...

, Traugott Buhre

Traugott Buhre

Traugott Buhre was a German actor.Buhre was born at Insterburg, East Prussia, Germany the son of a Lutheran Pastor. His parents divorced in his childhood and after World War II he started his actor's education at the stage school of Hanover.Buhre appeared at the Frankonian Theater of Wetzhausen...

, Hans-Gert Pöttering

Hans-Gert Pöttering

Hans-Gert Pöttering is a German conservative politician , and was the President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009...

, Cornelia Froboess

Cornelia Froboess

Cornelia Froboess is a German actress and a teen idol of the 1950s and early 1960s. During that time, Froboess appeared in many musical films, especially after the rock and roll wave had hit Germany...

, Johanna von Koczian

Johanna von Koczian

Johanna von Koczian is a German actress. She grew up in Salzburg, Austria, where actor Gustaf Gründgens offered her a role at the Salzburg Festival. She later portrayed Anna Frank at the Schiller theater in Berlin, but her breakthrough in cinema was her role in the 1957 remake of Victor and Victoria...

, Uschi Glas

Uschi Glas

Uschi Glas is a German film and television actress.Born in Landau, Bavaria, Glas started appearing in films in 1965...

, Karlheinz Hackl

Karlheinz Hackl

Karlheinz Hackl is an Austrian actor whose varied career has included theater, television, film and cabaret performances as well as directing....

, Michael Heltau

Michael Heltau

Michael Heltau is an German television actor and singer, living in Austria.-Television appearances:*Mino *Maximilian von Mexiko - External links :* *...

, Harald Juhnke

Harald Juhnke

Harald Juhnke , actually Harry Heinz Herbert Juhnke, was a well-known German actor, comedian and entertainer.-Life:...

, Curd Jürgens

Curd Jürgens

Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...

, Martin Schulz

Martin Schulz

Martin Schulz is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic Party of Germany, since 2004 leader of the Socialists in the European Parliament .-Career:* 1975-1977: Apprentice...

, Gudrun Landgrebe

Gudrun Landgrebe

Gudrun Landgrebe is a German actress.Landgrebe was born in Göttingen, grew up in Bochum, and attended theatre school in Cologne from 1968 until 1971. In 1971 she made her debut at Stadttheater Bielefeld. She also appeared in Heimat as the character Klärchen Sisse...

, Inge Meysel

Inge Meysel

Inge Meysel was a German actress. From the early 1960s until her death, Meysel was one of Germany's most popular actresses...

and Gusti Wolf

Gusti Wolf

Gusti Wolf was an Austrian stage, film, and television actress.Born in Vienna, Wolf made her stage debut at the Burgtheater in 1934 and from there moved on to Ostrava, Munich, and Berlin...

.

The series was surprisingly popular in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Reportedly it was also actually used to teach police officers and inspectors in proper procedure of tracing and solving criminal cases.

The famous phrase "Harry, hol schon mal den Wagen" ("Harry, bring the car 'round"; implying "we're done here") was attributed to Derrick and became part of popular culture in at least two countries (Germany and China) and became catch phrases in at least those two countries' languages. Actually, this phrase was never spoken in any of the 281 episodes. It was used by Erik Ode

Erik Ode

Erik Ode was a German actor who was most famous for playing Kommissar Herbert Keller in the German television drama Der Kommissar . He married Hilde Volk in 1942.-External links:** * *...

in the earlier TV Series "Der Kommissar", where Fritz Wepper

Fritz Wepper

Fritz Wepper is a German television actor.- Life and work :He has been married to Angela Prinzessin von Hohenzollern since 1979, and they have one daughter, Sophie...

already played the character named Harry Klein, by then the assistant to a different police inspector (played by Ode). It is unknown how this phrase became attributed to Derrick, but one theory is that since "Der Kommissar" and "Derrick" were both created and written by screenwriter Herbert Reinecker

Herbert Reinecker

, a TV Critic attributed this phrase to the wrong one of Reinecker's series, after which it entered popular culture as a catch phrase for Derrick. The only occasion where Horst Tappert ever spoke this phrase in character as Stephan Derrick was as voice actor of his animated self in the 2004 animated feature film "Derrick — die Pflicht ruft" ("Derrick -- Duty calls"). (See "Beam me up, Scotty

Beam me up, Scotty

"Beam me up, Scotty" is a catchphrase that made its way into popular culture from the science fiction television series Star Trek. It comes from the command Captain Kirk gives his chief engineer, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, when he needs to be transported back to the Starship Enterprise.Though it...

" for a catch phrase with a similar background.) This animated film shed some satirical light on the ever-serious and sombre world of the original series, making fun of numerous cliché

Cliché

A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...

s attributed to the series, including Harry's rumoured envy for Derrick always standing in the spotlight, while he, assistant for 25 years always had to stand back behind his boss

It was briefly referenced in Marjane Satrapi's

Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...

Persepolis.

Books

Derrick was also used as the protagonist for a series of books published in Germany

Germany

and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

Das große Derrick Buch (ISBN 3-89487-239-X), Henschel Verlag
Das Derrick Buch (ISBN 3-89487-313-2), Henschel Verlag
Derrick «Harry, hol schon mal den Wagen» (ISBN 3-548-35830-6), Ullstein (for ZDF)
Die Derrick Story (ISBN 3-932234-63-4), BSV Burgschmiet Verlag
Grazie, Derrick (ISBN 88-452-3717-6), Bompiani
Derrick - L'ordre des choses (ISBN 2-940063-43-5), Les Editions de l'Hèbe
Derrick - Eine Erfolgsgeschichte des deutschen Fernsehens (ISBN 3-934305-29-6), Teiresias Verlag
Derrick oder Die Leidenschaft für das Mittelmaß (ISBN 3-423-12988-3), Dtv

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Books

See also

External links