Tatort

Tatort
Format	Crime
Starring	Miroslav Nemec Klaus J. Behrendt Andrea Sawatzki Harald Krasnitzer Jan Josef Liefers and others
Theme music composer	Klaus Doldinger
Country of origin	Germany Austria Switzerland
No. of episodes	805 (Jun. 16, 2011) (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	90 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ARD
Picture format	576i (ARD regional channels, ORF2, SF1); 720p (DasErste HD, ORF2 HD); (DasErste HD prepares to broadcast in 1080i)
Original run	November 29, 1970 – present
External links
Website

Tatort (English title: Crime Scene) is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss (ARD (since 1970), ORF (since 1972) and SF (1990–2001, again since 2011)), crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD (DasErste, (reruns on regional ARD stations)) in Germany, ORF 2 in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland. The first episode was broadcast on November 29, 1970. The opening sequence for the series has remained the same throughout the decades, which remains highly unusual for any such long-running TV series up to date.

Each of the regional TV channels which together form ARD, plus ORF and SF, produces its own episodes, starring its own police inspector (or team of inspectors), some of which, like the discontinued Schimanski (played by Götz George), have become cultural icons.

The show appears on DasErste (ARD) and ORF 2 on Sundays at 8:15 p.m. (SF1 starts 10 minutes earlier) and currently about 30 episodes are made per year. As of May 2011, 800 episodes in total have been produced.

Tatort is currently (as of 2009) being broadcast in the United States on the MHz Worldview channel under the name Scene of the Crime.

List of Tatort investigators (Kommissare)

Year	Broadcast Station	Investigators	Actors	City	Number of Episodes
1970–1982	NDR	Paul Trimmel	Walter Richter	Hamburg	11
1970–1973	SR	Liersdahl	Dieter Eppler	Saarbrücken	2
1971–1973	WDR	Kressin	Sieghardt Rupp	Cologne	7
1971–1986	SDR	Eugen Lutz	Werner Schumacher	8 different towns in Baden-Württemberg	16
1971–1979	HR	Konrad	Klaus Höhne	Frankfurt am Main	8
1971–1978	NDR	Finke	Klaus Schwarzkopf	Kiel and other places in Schleswig-Holstein	7
1971–1987	ORF	Viktor Marek	Fritz Eckhardt	Vienna	14
1971–1972	SFB	Erwin Kasulke	Paul Esser	Berlin	2
1972–1981	BR	Melchior Veigl	Gustl Bayrhammer	Munich	15
1972	SWF	Horst Pflüger	Ernst Jacobi	Baden-Baden	1
1973	RB	Walter Böck	Hans Häckermann	Bremen	1
1973–1977	SWF	Franz Gerber	Heinz Schimmelpfennig	Baden-Baden	5
1974–1980	WDR	Heinz Haferkamp	Hansjörg Felmy	Essen	20
1974–1977	NDR	Heinz Brammer	Knut Hinz	Hanover	4
1975–1977	SFB	Martin Schmidt	Martin Hirthe	Berlin	3
1977–1984	SR	Schäfermann	Manfred Heidmann	Saarbrücken	4
1978–1980	SWF	Marianne Buchmüller	Nicole Heesters	Mainz	3
1978–1983	HR	Bergmann	Heinz Treuke	Frankfurt am Main	3
1978–1979	SFB	Matthias Behnke	Hans-Peter Korff	Berlin	2
1979	NDR	Nagel	Diether Krebs	Braunschweig	1
1979–1985	NDR	Delius	Horst Bollmann	Hamburg	3
1980	HR	Sander	Volkert Kraeft	Frankfurt am Main	1
1980	WDR	Paul Enders	Jörg Hube	Essen, Frankfurt am Main	1
1980–1982	NDR	Jochen Piper	Bernd Seebacher	Bremen	2
1980	WDR	Willy Kreutzer	Willy Semmelrogge	Essen	1
1981	HR	Bergmann	Lutz Moik	Frankfurt am Main	3
1981–1985	SFB	Friedrich Walther	Volker Brandt	Berlin	6
1981–1988	SWF	Hanne Wiegand	Karin Anselm	Baden-Baden, Karlsruhe, Mainz	8
1981	NDR	Greve	Erik Schumann	small town in Schleswig-Holstein	1
1981	NDR	Beck	Hans Häckermann	Lübeck	1
1981–1991	WDR	Horst Schimanski and Christian Thanner	Götz George and Eberhard Feik	Duisburg	29
1981–1987	BR	Ludwig Lenz	Helmut Fischer	Munich	7
1982	HR	Werner Rolfs	Klaus Löwitsch	Frankfurt am Main	1
1982	NDR	Nikolaus Schnoor	Uwe Dallmeier	Bremerhaven	1
1983	NDR	Ronke	Ulrich von Bock	Hamburg	1
1984	HR	Rullmann	Hans-Werner Bussinger	small towns in Hesse	1
1984–2001	NDR	Paul Stoever and Peter Brockmöller	Manfred Krug and Charles Brauer	Hamburg and Neuwerk	41, Brockmöller: 37
1984–1986	ORF	Hirth	Kurt Jaggberg	Vienna	3 (+ 7 only ORF)
1985	HR	Reinhold Dietze	Klaus Löwitsch	Frankfurt am Main	1
1985–2001	HR	Edgar Brinkmann	Karl-Heinz von Hassel	Frankfurt am Main	28
1985–1989	SFB	Hans Georg Bülow	Heinz Drache	Berlin	6
1986	BR	Siggi Riedmüller	Günther Maria Halmer	Munich	1
1987–1988	SDR	Georg Thomas Schreitle	Horst Michael Neutze	Stuttgart, Führstadt	3
1987	BR	Karl Scherrer	Hans Brenner	Munich	1
1987	ORF	Passini	Christoph Waltz	Vienna	1
1988	ORF	Pfeifer	Bruno Dallansky	Vienna	1 (+4 only ORF)
1988–2005	SR	Max Palu	Jochen Senf	Saarbrücken and other places in Saarland	17
1988–1989	BR	Otto Brandenburg	Horst Bollmann	Munich	2
1989–1996	ORF	Michael Fichtl	Michael Janisch	Vienna	8 (+1 only ORF)
since 1989	SWF, SWR	Lena Odenthal and Mario Kopper	Ulrike Folkerts and Andreas Hoppe	Ludwigshafen	47, Kopper: 38
1990	DRS	Walter Howald	Mathias Gnädinger	Bern	1
since 1991	BR	Ivo Batic, Franz Leitmayr (and Detective Sergeant Carlo Menzinger until 2007)	Miroslav Nemec, Udo Wachtveitl and Michael Fitz	Munich	52, Menzinger: 37
1991–1992	DRS	Reto Carlucci	Andrea Zogg	Bern	2
1991–1995	SFB	Franz Markowitz	Günter Lamprecht	Berlin	8
1992–2007	MDR	Bruno Ehrlicher and Kain	Peter Sodann and Bernd Michael Lade	first Dresden, later Leipzig, one episode in Cologne as well	45, (two of them together with Ballauf and Schenk)
1992–1997	WDR	Bernd Flemming, Detective Constable Max Ballauf and Detective Constable Miriam Koch	Martin Lüttge, Klaus J. Behrendt and Roswitha Schreiner	Düsseldorf	15, Ballauf: 9
1992–2007	SDR, SWR	Ernst Bienzle and Detective Sergeant Günter Gächter	Dietz Werner Steck and Rüdiger Wandel	Stuttgart	25
1993–2002	DRS	Philipp von Burg and Markus Gertsch	L.I. Kisch and E.C. Sigrist	Bern	9
1995	HR	Leo Felber	Heinz Schubert	Frankfurt am Main	1
1996–1998	SFB	Ernst Roiter and Detective Constable Michael Zorrowski	Winfried Glatzeder and Robinson Reichel	Berlin	12
1996	ORF	Max Becker	Klaus Wildbolz	Vienna	1
1997	ORF	Paul Kant and Jakob Varanasi	Wolfgang Hübsch and Johannes Nikolussi	Vienna	2
1997	NDR	Lea Sommer	Hannelore Elsner	Hamburg	2
since 1997	WDR	Max Ballauf and Freddy Schenk	Klaus J. Behrendt and Dietmar Bär	Cologne, one Episode in Leipzig as well	49, (two of them together with Ehrlicher and Kain)
1997—1998	RB	Inga Lürsen and Stefan Stoll	Sabine Postel and Rufus Beck	Bremen, Bremerhaven	2
1998	RB	Inga Lürsen and Henning Kraus	Sabine Postel and Heikko Deutschmann	Bremen, Bremerhaven	1
1999—2001	RB	Inga Lürsen and Tobias von Sachsen	Sabine Postel and Heinrich Schmieder	Bremen, Bremerhaven	2
since 2001	RB	Inga Lürsen and Detective Constable Nils Stedefreund	Sabine Postel and Oliver Mommsen	Bremen, Bremerhaven	18
since 1999	SFB, RBB	Till Ritter and Robert Hellmann, later Felix Stark	Dominic Raacke and Stefan Jürgens, later Boris Aljinovic	Berlin	29, (with Hellmann: 6, with Stark: 23)
since 1999	ORF	Moritz Eisner	Harald Krassnitzer	Vienna and other places in Austria	23
2001–2007	NDR	Jan Casstorff and Detective Sergeant Eduard Holicek	Robert Atzorn, Tilo Prückner	Hamburg	15
2002–2010	HR	Detective Sergeant Charlotte Sänger and Fritz Dellwo	Andrea Sawatzki and Jörg Schüttauf	Frankfurt am Main	18
since 2002	NDR	Charlotte Lindholm	Maria Furtwängler	Hanover and small towns in Lower Saxony	17
2002–2003	SWR	Klara Blum	Eva Mattes	Konstanz and other places at the Lake Constance	4
since 2004	SWR	Klara Blum and Kai Perlmann	Eva Mattes and Sebastian Bezzel	Konstanz and other places at the Lake Constance	19
since 2002	WDR	Frank Thiel and Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne	Axel Prahl and Jan Josef Liefers	Münster (Westfalia) and around	19
2003–2010	NDR	Klaus Borowski and Frieda Jung	Axel Milberg and Maren Eggert	Kiel	14
since 2006	SR	Franz Kappl and Stephan Deininger	Maximilian Brückner and Gregor Weber	Saarbrücken	6
since 2008	SWR	Sebastian Bootz and Thorsten Lannert	Felix Klare and Richy Müller	Stuttgart	7
since 2008	MDR	Eva Saalfeld and Andreas Keppler	Simone Thomalla and Martin Wuttke	Leipzig	10
since 2008	NDR	Cenk Batu	Mehmet Kurtulus	Hamburg	4
since 2010	NDR	Klaus Borowski	Axel Milberg	Kiel	2
since 2010	HR	Felix Murot	Ulrich Tukur	Wiesbaden	2
since 2011	HR	Conny Mey and Frank Steier	Nina Kunzendorf und Joachim Król	Frankfurt	1
since 2011	SF	Reto Flückiger	Stefan Gubser	Luzern	1
since 2011	NDR	Klaus Borowski and Sarah Brandt	Axel Milberg and Sibel Kekilli	Kiel	1

Standing: Mid of October 2011

The GDR equivalent of Tatort is Polizeiruf 110, which today shares a time slot with Tatort.

Soundtracks (Selection)

Some Tatort episodes from the 1980s and 1990s included songs that subsequently became quite well known. Two of these songs reached the top of the charts. "Faust auf Faust (Schimanski)" by Klaus Lage from the Tatort movie Zahn um Zahn just like "Midnight Lady" by Chris Norman, written by Dieter Bohlen, appears on the episode Der Tausch. Some random selected soundtracks:

Artist	Title song	Episode	Year	TV station
Can	"Vitamin C"	Tote Taube in der Beethovenstraße	1973	WDR
Tangerine Dream	"Das Mädchen auf der Treppe"	Das Mädchen auf der Treppe	1981	WDR
Warning	"Why Can The Bodies Fly"	Peggy hat Angst	1982	SWF
Jil Anderson	"Without You (Baby, Baby)"	Haie vor Helgoland	1984	NDR
Mark Spiro	"Winds Of Change"	Das Haus im Wald	1985	WDR
Patricia Simpson	"Dreams In The City"	Nachtstreife	1985	ORF
Die Toten Hosen	"Verschwende deine Zeit"	Voll auf Haß	1986	NDR
Sandra	"Stop For A Minute"	Salü Palu	1987	SR
Roger Chapman	"Slap Bang In The Middle"	Einzelhaft	1988	WDR
Bonnie Tyler	"Against The Wind"	Der Fall Schimanski	1991	WDR
Wolf Maahn	"Cool"	Der Mörder und der Prinz	1992	WDR
Markus Küpper	"Sie hat Schluß gemacht"	Ein ehrenwertes Haus	1994	MDR
Ben Becker	"Alter Mann"	Falsches Alibi	1995	MDR

References

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

Further reading

• Himmelman, Michael (August 26, 2009), "German Viewers Love Their Detectives on ‘Tatort’", New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/arts/television/27abroad.html .

External links

• Tatort-Spoiler
• Tatort at the Internet Movie Database