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. Season 4 (10 one-hour episodes) is now available in France on DVD (All Zone) in the "Inspecteur Derrick - Intégrale saison 4" 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. Produced by Ringelmann's Neue Münchner Fernsehproduktion and set in Munich, Der Kommissar starred Erik Ode as Kommissar Herbert Keller (an investigator inspired by Maigret). It stayed in black & white until the end in 1976 and its 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 (1). The prolific Reinecker worked on the Edgar Wallace, Jerry Cotton and Winnetou film series. Interested by the psychological and social backgrounds of crime (2), he wrote each of the 281 episodes of Derrick. The main character, Oberinspektor Stephan Derrick of the Munich Mordkommission, made actor Horst Tappert recognizable all over the world.
Tappert's first notable role was the criminal mastermind in the miniseries The Great Train Robbery (Die Gentlemen bitten zur
Kasse, 1966). He played a villain in The Hound of Blackwood Castle (Der Hund von
Blackwood Castle, 1967), an Edgar Wallace movie, before switching sides as the detective in the next two: Gorilla Gang (Der Gorilla von Soho, 1968) and The Man with the glass eye (Der Mann mit dem Glasauge, 1969). 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 described the Oberinspektor as "devoured by the melancholy and cynicism of
Humphrey Bogart" (3). An element of Der Kommissar was kept when the Kriminalhauptmeister Harry Klein, one of 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 Mann mit dem Glasauge and got noticed in Cabaret (1972). He remained popular long after Derrick thanks to TV series like Zweï Brüder (1994-2000, with Elmar Wepper), Um Himmels Willen (2002-2021) and Mord in bester Geselshaft (2007-2017). The other regulars of Derrick were Willy Schäfer (Berger), Günther Stoll (Schröder) and Gerhard Bormann (Echterding). Helmut Ringelmann liked to work with a quasi-repertory company of guest actors. The filming of the famous series began in summer 1973 and ZDF presented it with 3 episodes aired during autumn and winter 1974. 12 episodes from the second season followed throughout the year 1975.
Originally, viewers knew the culprit from the start — like in Columbo — though this was dropped for whodunnits. Occasional action
sequences are another feature of these early seasons. The channel aired the first 29 episodes (Seasons 1 to 3) of Derrick out of their production order. Season 4 was shown on ZDF from January to October 1977. This fourth season is perfect in every department, from the plots to the very diverse locations.
- Yellow He. A young man is seduced by a young woman in a disco. Later, his uncle is shot dead. The brilliant 30th episode of Derrick was helmed by Zbyněk Brynych, a talented Czech director who frequently worked for Helmut Ringelmann's productions since Der Kommissar. With Martin Semmelrogge (Alfred "Ali" Rabes), Maria Schell (Erika Rabes), Susanne Beck (Annemarie "Yellow He" Gelberg), etc.
- Hals in der Schlinge. Heli and Ingo Giserke discover that their father hanged himself. The legendary Edgar Wallace director Alfred Vohrer and cinematographers Rolf Kästel & Michael Georg take us to the Alter Nordfriedhof and the Munich Olympic Stadium. Günter Strack (Ein Fall für zwei) plays Kless. With Helga Anders (Heli), Willy Kowalj (Ingo), Herbert Fleischmann (Ludemann), etc.
- Eine Nacht in Oktober. The young secretary of a lawyer is murdered. The guest cast is first-class: Swiss actor and director Bernhard Wicki (Dr. Lechner), Traugott Buhre (Steinbrink), Brigitte Horney (Mrs Lechner), Carl Lange (credited Karl Lange) as Dr. Meyers, etc. There's even Iris Berben, the future Rosa Roth (1994-2013) as the victim. Directed by Wolfgang Becker.
- Offene Rechnung. A group of pensioners leaves one of them, severely injured, in the park of their retirement home. A masterpiece helmed by Alfred Vohrer. Some scenes were filmed in the Munich U-Bahn and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater. With Rudolf Platte, Edith Heerdegen, Rudolf Fernau, Konrad Georg... Music by the illustrious German composer Peter Thomas.
- Tod des Wucherers. A classic directed by Zbyněk Brynych and served by the fabulous performances of Gerd Baltus (Erich Winterhammer), Agnes Dünneisen (Hilde Hensch), Peter Kuiper, etc. Music by Peter Thomas.
- Das Kuckucksei. Eberhard Horre takes a strange phone call from his wife. An episode helmed by Alfred Vohrer, with scenes filmed near Starnberg Lake. The Transrapid 04, an experimental highspeed monorail train from the Krauss Maffei company, is seen on its test track. With Ralf Schermuly (Eberhard Horre), Gerd Böckmann (Alfred Horre), etc. Last participation of Günther Stoll, who died in January 1977 only aged 52. Music by Rolf Kühn.
- Mord im TEE 91. A man is found dead in the Trans-Europ-Express in this espionage story directed by Zbyněk Brynych. With Alwy Becker (Andrea), Harry Meyen (Harris), Siegfried Rauch (Mohr), etc.
- Via Bangkok. A musician back from Thailand is beaten to death. With Thomas Holtzmann (Jakob Renz), Cornelia Froebess (Helga Renz), Christian Wolff... Directed by Theodor Grädler.
- Inkasso. A car washer discovers a dead body in this brilliant episode directed by Helmuth Ashley. Locations include the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich and the Olympia Schwimhalle. With Monika Gabriel, Karl Walter Diess, Dirk Galuba, Lisa Kreuzer, etc. Music by composer, singer and hit maker Frank Duval. Duval worked
regularly for both Derrick and Der Alte.
- Tote im Wald. An English exchange student girl is found murdered in the woods. With Martin Lüttge (Tatort) and Gaby Dohm (Black Forest Clinic).
The theme of Derrick was composed by English musician Les Humphries. Derrick arrived in France as Inspecteur Derrick in 1986 on Silvio Berlusconi's La Cinq. The 10 episodes of this fourth season from Derrick are in the DVD boxset from Elephant Films in French or German (without
subtitles). Bonus material is comprised of a photo gallery and the
trailers of some of the titles from Elephant, such as Les évasions célèbres (1972), Nana (1981), the gripping French period drama Le trompette de la Bérésina (1966), From Here to Eternity (the 1979 miniseries) or La chambre des dames (1984).
(1) Der Alte still exists today.
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