Ein starkes Team
| Ein starkes Team | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime |
| Written by |
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| Starring |
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| Country of origin | Germany |
| Original language(s) | German |
| No. of episodes | 65 (March 12, 2016) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Berlin |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | ZDF |
| Original release | March 28, 1994 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Ein starkes Team (German for: "a strong team") is a German crime television series developed by the German television channel ZDF since March 1994. Up to four new 90-minute episodes are broadcast annually, resulting in a current total of 64 episodes. Each episode usually revolves around an intricate murder case, regularly coinciding with events in the private lives of the main characters.
The Team
The series originally starred detective chief superintendents Verena Berthold (played by Maja Maranow) and Otto Garber (Florian Martens) as the main characters. They became a team following the German reunification, which caused the East-German Volkspolizei, where Otto was working, to be incorporated in the (West-German) Kriminalpolizei. They became partners in a special unit of the Kriminalpolizei of Berlin, led by commissioner Lothar Reddemann (Arnfried Lerche), and also including the detective chief superintendents Yüksel Yüsgüler (Tayfun Bademsoy; until episode 43 in 2009) and Georg Scholz (Leonard Lansink; until episode 29 in 2005). After Georg's departure, detective Ben Kolberg (Kai Lentrodt; since episode 30 in 2005) joined the team, who was later promoted to chief superintendent.
In August 2015, Maja Maranow announced to be leaving the series to focus on other movies,[1] but she died of breast cancer on 4 January 2016 at age 54,[2] five days before the last episode in which she starred aired. In the following episode, Verena (her character in the series) was said to have emigrated to Australia, and was replaced by detective Linett Wachow (Stefanie Stappenbeck; as of episode 65 in 2016). The character Verena had already been absent once in episode 56 (2013) for following advanced training, while in reality Maranow was undergoing chemotherapy and could not attend the shooting of this episode. In that episode, the female lead was overtaken by Ulrike Krumbiegel, who played the role of a former colleague and friend of Otto named Katharina Dammers
A running gag in the series is Otto's former colleague from the Volkspolizei, Sputnik (Jaecki Schwarz). He changes jobs between each episode, and provides schnapps, ironic remarks, advice, and practical support to the "strong" team. His many activities include running a Currywurst-stand, owning a sushi bar, exploiting the police cafeteria, organizing pub crawls for tourists, owning a corner pub in Ostalgie style, cooking at a French cuisine temple, starting a miniature golf course, being a credit counsellor, serving as matchmaker, operator of a go-kart racing track, acting as eulogist, etc.
DVD Releases
- 2010: Ein starkes Team, Volume 1 (containing episodes 10, 12, 16, and 17)
- 2011: Ein starkes Team, Volume 2 (containing episodes 18, 20, 22, and 24)
- 2011: Ein starkes Team, Volume 3 (containing episodes 25, 27, 28, and 29)
See also
References
- ↑ t-online.de (24 August 2015): Nach über 20 Jahren: Maja Maranow verlässt „Ein starkes Team“ (After more than 20 years: Maja Maranow leaves "Ein Starkes Team". (German)
- ↑ Sylvia Margret Steinitz (9 January 2016). Maja Maranow: Niemand sollte von ihrer Krankheit erfahren (Maja Maranow: No one was to find out about her illness). Stern. (German)
External links
- Ein starkes Team at the Internet Movie Database
- Official website (German)