[Favourite of the Month] Derrick, the German crime drama starring Horst Tappert and Fritz Wepper, ran for 281 episodes from 1974 to 1998 on ZDF and aired in over 100 countries. The seasons 1 & 2 (15 one-hour episodes) will be available in France on DVD (1) tomorrow in the "Inspecteur Derrick - Intégrales saisons 1 & 2" boxset released by Elephant Films.
Derrick was devised by producer Helmut Ringelmann and scriptwriter Herbert Reinecker as an alternative to Der Kommissar, their crime drama launched in 1969 on ZDF. Set in Munich, Der Kommissar starred Erik Ode as Kommissar Herbert Keller (an investigator inspired by Maigret). Ode previously guest starred as three different detectives in the ZDF anthology Das Kriminalmuseum, produced by Ringelmann between 1963 and 1970. Der Kommissar remained in black & white until the end in 1976 and the 97 one-hour episodes were all penned by Reinecker. In April 1977, Der Alte, Helmut Ringelmann's successor to Der Kommissar, premiered on the channel (2). The prolific Reinecker worked on the Edgar Wallace, Jerry Cotton and Winnetou film series. Interested by the psychological and social backgrounds of crime (3), he wrote each of the 281 episodes of Derrick. The main character, Oberinspektor Stephan Derrick of the Mordkommission, made actor Horst Tappert recognizable all over the world.
Horst Tappert's first notable role was the criminal mastermind of the miniseries The Great Train Robbery (Die Gentlemen bitten zur Kasse, 1966). The same year he appeared in Tip not included (Die Rechnung - eiskalt serviert), a Jerry Cotton. Tappert played a bad guy named Douglas Fairbanks in the Edgar Wallace movie The Hound of Blackwood Castle (Der Hund von Blackwood Castle, 1967) before switching sides as Inspector Perkins in Gorilla Gang (Der Gorilla von Soho, 1968) and The Man with the glass eye (Der Mann mit dem Glasauge, 1969), the next two. In 1972 he reprised his role from Die Gentlemen bitten zur Kasse in Hoopers letzte Jagd. Helmut Ringelmann offered him the title role in Derrick, a production of his new company Telenova (for ZDF, ORF and SRG) filmed in colour. Horst Tappert initially described the Oberinspektor as "devoured by the melancholy and cynicism of
Humphrey Bogart" (4). An element of Der Kommissar was kept when the Kriminalhauptmeister Harry Klein, one of Herbert Keller's men, left his boss to become Inspektor and work for Derrick.
Munich-born actor Fritz Wepper bid farewell to Der Kommissar in an episode where Harry introduced his replacement... his brother Erwin Klein (Fritz Wepper's brother Elmar Wepper). Before Derrick, Wepper shared scenes with Tappert in Der Man mit dem Glassauge and got noticed in Cabaret (1972). He stayed popular long after Derrick, with TV series like Zweï Brüder (1994-2000, with Elmar Wepper), Um Himmels Willen (2002-2021) and Mord in bester Geselshaft (2007-2017). Imbued with Herbert Reinecker's vision of life and his experiences, the majority of the episodes of Derrick are built on a simple pattern. A sordid crime is committed amongst the small bourgeoisie or high society of
Munich (or nearby) and Derrick investigates with Klein. Stephan Derrick acts in most episodes as a sort of misanthropic
observer, uncompromising but with a solid sense of justice. In seasons 1 and 2, viewers immediately knew the culprit, like in Columbo,
though this was dropped in favour of whodunnits. Occasional action sequences are another distinctive feature of these early episodes.
The filming of Derrick began in summer 1973 and ZDF presented the series with 3 episodes aired during autumn and winter 1974. The channel continued with 12 more in 1975. Mittenachtbus, the very first episode, was shown in fourth position and Waldweg, the actual fourth, as the series premiere. None of the 15 episodes were broadcast in their production order. The first couple of seasons of Derrick are in the DVD boxset from Elephant Films in French or German (without subtitles). Season 1 starts with the aforementioned Waldweg, one of the best episodes, directed by Dietrich Haugk. A female student from a hotel school is found murdered in the woods. The killing scene isn't graphic but it's quite impressive. The guest cast of Waldweg includes Wolfgang Kieling, Herbert Böttticher, Walter Sedlmayr — who later starred in Ringelmann's Polizeiinspektion 1 (1977-1988) — and Friedrich Georg Beckhaus (Raumpatrouille Orion). In Johanna, a man murders his wife to live with his young mistress. Derrick and Klein meet the woman's twin sister. The great Lilli Palmer is amazing in a double role, alongside the excellent Helmut Lohner (Babeck).
Stiftungsfest guest stars Siegfried Lowitz, a familiar face from the Edgar Wallace movies and the future Kriminalhauptkommissar Erwin Köster in Der Alte (from 1977 to 1986). Season 2 opens with the brilliant Mittenachtbus, directed by Theodor Grädler. A young man kills his pregnant girlfriend and his father diverts suspicion on the disabled son of an alcoholic. Werner Kreindl (Oskar) is best known for Soko 5113, in which he starred from 1978 to 1992. Also with Hartmut Becker, Lambert Hamel, etc. Peter Kuiper is incredible as Hugo Hase in Tod am Bahngleis. Greiser is played by Günter Strack, Dr. Renz in Ein Fall für zwei from 1981 to 1988. First episode with Günther Stoll as Kriminalbeamter Schröder. The plan of an arrogant student (Thomas Fritsch) to get easy money has dramatic consequences in Nur aufregugen für Rohm. The fans of Der Alte will recognize Michael Ande as his friend. Madeira is a classic, thanks to the legendary Curt Jurgens as a "ladykiller" and La mer by Charles Trénet. Susanne Uhlen plays his niece.
In Zeichen der Gewalt, the late Raimund Harmstorf (Der Seewolf, Michel Strogoff) is
a runaway killer chased by Derrick. Erotic icon Sybil Danning plays his wife. With Gaby Dohm (Black Forest Clinic/Die Schwarzwaldklinik) and Jan Hendriks (5). This episode has the flavour of a U.S. thriller or a French polar of the era. First appearance of Willy Schäfer as Kriminalbeamter Berger. Paddenberg is a man (Peter Pasetti) who faces his victim's wife (Anaid Iplicjan). Klaus Löwitsch (Welt am Draht, Peter Strohm) is Hoffmann in Hoffmanns Höllenfahrt. Because of the ZDF broadcast order, Willy Schäfer appears as a witness. In Pfandhaus, the third episode filmed, a pawnshop owner wants to kill the lover (Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer) of his young employee and shoots the wrong man. Ein Koffer aus Salzburg looks like an episode of Tatort, the ARD crime drama collection launched in 1970 and still on the air. In fact, Bezirksinspector Wirz (Kurt Jaggberg) from Tatort appears in this story. With Ralph Schermuly and Jacques Breuer. First episode with Gerhard Borman as Kriminalbeamter Echterding.
Edgar Wallace director Alfred Vohrer helmed Kamillas junger Freund, guest starring Siegfried Wischnewski and Hans-Georg Panczak. Gaby is played by Ilse Pagé, Miss Finley in the Wallace movies. Season 2 concludes with Der Tag nach dem Mord and Alarm auf Revier 12. In the latter, Gerd Haucke plays a sinister burglar. Walter Sedlmayr returns in a different role. The song heard in this episode is Theo, wir fahr'n nach Lodz, performed by Vicky Leandros. Derrick's girlfriend
psychologist Renate Konrad (Johanna von Koczian) and his boss, Kriminalrat Harder (Hermann Lenschau) can be seen in this second season. The other directors of seasons 1 & 2 are Leopold Lindberg, Helmut Kaütner, Alfred Weidenmann, Wolfgang Becker, Franz Peter Wirth, Helmuth Ashley and Zbyněk Brynych. The theme of Derrick was composed by English musician Les Humphries, who did the music for the first episode produced. The illustrious Peter Thomas composed the music of Waldweg. Martin Böttcher (Winnetou) scored Ein Koffer aus Salzburg. Hans-Martin Majewski composed 4 of the 15 episodes.
Derrick arrived in France as Inspecteur Derrick in 1986 on Silvio Berlusconi's La Cinq and suffered the comparison to a raft of American imports. Since there's a gaullic die-hard cliché about the so-called "slowness" of the series. By its nature Derrick explores wide narrative areas from stories in the line of Der Kommissar to "chabrolian" portraits of the bourgeoisie, with detours to Dostoevski, Nietszche or Kafka. This psychological (and often philosophical) study in 281 chapters about the weakness of
the human soul lasted 25 seasons. Herbert Reinecker and Helmut Ringelmann maintained the
series' quality all these years, helped by Horst Tappert and Fritz
Wepper, a quasi-repertory company of guest actors and a group of
competent directors. Horst Tappert made his exit from Derrick with class in Das Abschiedsgeschenk, the 1998 finale. His last scene, on the superb song Hey, Mr Gentleman by Helen Schneider, is a moving moment of television (6). Siska, the successor of Derrick conceived by the same writer and producer, lasted 10 years from 1998 to 2008.
Bonus material of the Derrick DVD boxset is comprised of a photo gallery and the trailers of some of the titles from Elephant Films, such as Mike Hammer, Matt Helm (with Tony Franciosa) or The Law and Harry McGraw. Elephant will release a DVD boxset of the first season of Ein Fall für zwei at the end of the month and a boxset of the 10th season from Der Alte in July.
(1) All Zone.
(2) Der Alte still exists today.
(5) Jan Hendriks played the Kriminalkommissar Martin Brenner in Der Alte from 1977 to 1986.
(6) The actors of Der Alte and Helmut Ringelmann himself had cameos in this episode.
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