Derrick

I grew up with this series too. I probably started watching this when I was 4 or 5 years old, and watched it up until recently. I normally never watch German series, but this one was something special. Todays kids may find it antiquated and corny, but I like it.

A true classic and without doubt one of the best known German 'Krimis'. I like the episodes from the 70's and early 80's best. Not only because of the sometimes hilarious nostalgia, but the episodes were - in relation to to the later episodes, that is! - fast-paced, and much less boring.

In the 90's, almost every episode concluded in philosophical chatter and most killers were obsessed with "the beauty of death". The series moved away from the whodunnit genre, simply because viewers could no longer guess who was the killer. Even the least obvious characters turned out to have a dark side. The nicest, least suspicious people suddenly turned out to be killing lunatics with no motive but some philosophical crap, and Derrick seemed more of a shrink than an "Oberinspektor". Also, the series moved from the people-next-door environment, mostly in the 70's, to the rich people exclusively in the 90's, which made it sometimes repetitive.

Nevertheless, if you like detective series, whodunnits, and last but not least the German "Krimis", I can recommend this, along with "Tatort" and the "Der Alte" series as a close second. These three were the most popular German cop shows in the 80's and early 90's.

Two years ago I discovered this German TV series and I enjoy to see every day a new episode. Derrick is first this chief inspector of Munich , Stephan Derrick,who with his colleague Harry Klein solves crimes using their hability to observe, talking with the people,looking for the motive of a crime, investigating the past, the friendships of a suspect or of a victim.Rarely they have to use their weapons for arresting a suspect. Derrick is also Munich, this town with nices neighbourhoods , great monuments, the English Garden, the banks of the Isar River,but also dangerous neighbourhoods and also the nice surroundings (lakes, countryside,etc). Derrick is a very consistent TV series, a pleasant size (57-59 minutes), Derrick and Klein have to act quickly (there is not time for their personal problems). The same writer for all the episodes, Herbert Reinecker !! The episodes have the touch of Herbert Reinecker, a man who has some favorite themes: through his episodes Herbert Reinecker shows his indignation, his anger or his aversion when people are forcing women to prostitution (white slavery), when men are abusing and raping women, when rackets are destroying honest businesses. Also the description of the bourgeoise and high society with their problems of inheritance, fight for power o infidelity may be quite acid. As I mention the private life of Stephan Derrick and Harry Klein doesn't have a great importance in these episodes.

Coming from neighboring Poland, I had two German episodes in my life, both spanning a couple of years. The first one was in the 80s. I remember "Derrick" from that period, watching it regularly together with "One Case for Two" and "Tatort" productions. It was a good entertainment and helped me to learn German. Additional attraction of "Derrick" at that time was the fact that I remembered Fritz Wepper (playing Harry Klein) from famous "Cabaret" and very exciting WW-2 drama "The River Line". After leaving Germany, I always tried to remember that period of my life by regularly reading German books and watching some German productions in the original language. That way I came across the episodes from "Derrick" from the 70s, which simply captivated me. I started to understand why this series became popular in several countries. It offered a new approach by showing who has done it (like "Columbo"), but the most original for me was a combination of the crime genre with that of social drama. Some of the episodes could have been made by famous directors of the Italian, French, or Czech schools, but "Derrick" never got over-sentimental or boring. Those early episodes have almost the power of watching documentaries about the 70s. So I put "Derrick" alongside my other favorite crime TV series like "Columbo", "Taggart" or "Wallander"..

My wife and I watched this show in Melbourne, Australia. We were absolutely hooked by not only the believable plots but by the excellent acting by Derrick and his offsider. We found it an interesting window into Germany, its culture and over time became quite familiar with Munich and its surrounds.

The show was shown in Australia by the quite excellent SBS and was shown without ads. The fact that it was sub-titled didn't matter at all... it was compulsive viewing over many series.

If I was to rate this series, it would have to be 9 out of 10.