Der Alte

The Old Fox (original German title "Der Alte", lit. "The Old Man") is a German crime drama created by Helmut Ringelmann. It premiered on April 11, 1977 on ZDF. Since 1978 the series is part of the legendary Friday Crime Night of the network.

It depicts the crime solving activities of four police detectives, Chief Inspector Erwin Köster, played by Siegfried Lowitz until 1985, from 1986 to 2007 Chief Inspector Leo Kress, played by Rolf Schimpf, from 2008 to 2012 Chief Inspector Rolf Herzog, played by Walter Kreye and from 2012 Chief Inspector Richard Voss, played by Jan-Gregor Kremp.

Humble and unassuming in appearance, chief detective Köster is the "Old Fox". By understanding the psychological make-up of his suspect, the "Old Fox" craftily leads the criminal into his own trap, to the great surprise of his often perplexed staff. The "Old Fox" has his own way of working. Wearied by the negative elements he has witnessed so often in society, the "Old Fox" provides a unique insight into human nature.

Armed with the wisdom of age and experience, the "Old Fox" hunts down criminals in Munich, assisted by his colleagues Werner Riedmann, played by Markus Böttcher, Gerd Heymann, played by Michael Ande, and Axel Richter, played by Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss.

What a pleasant surprise to find the show may perhaps still be airing new episodes!

I used to watch The Old Fox (I think) 20 years back - a foreign series shown in India. Given the other options, we used to watch The Old Fox avidly...

I thought Der Alte was good - if I get the chance, I'll pick up the DVDs and re-acquaint myself with Gerd Heymann!

FWIW - in response to a previous reviewer, I thought Buffy was a decent series, as was the original Star Trek. Don't care much for CSI, though...

"Der Alte" has been on for more than 30 years now. The concept is always a murder, often in the so called "upper middle class". Compared to other detective stories, it might be slow. In fact, there is usually only one salvo of shots being fired in each episode: the actual murder (mostly only after an introduction of the subsequent subjects). The rest of the story is virtually non-violent, but you see more police action than in "Derrick", the most popular competitor to "Der Alte".

The appeal of "Der Alte" is the rather realistic plot and the possibility to solve the crime before the detectives do. However, you need to be a buff and pick up all the clues really quickly. In realtime, I merely manage that in one out of three episodes, and I am really an addict to "Der Alte". The murderer is always among the introduced characters and his/her motive largely traceable throughout the episode. This is a contrast to other series where murderers are conjured up just in the end or divulged to the audience from the start.

On average, I would say that "Der Alte" is the best detective series on German TV. Though, a few episodes of "Tatort" clearly outclass this average.

I saw this show dubbed into english many years ago and really liked the show. The main detective was physically slow but mentally really sharp and you could see that he could out-think his younger juniors.

If you catch it on TV, you must see it. It is an interesting departure from other detective shows.

During 1991 to 1995, I used to watch the English (dubbed) version in our national channel (doordarshan) along with other German series such as Derrick, The Investigator (Der Fahnder). God How I loved them all, even if these were dubbed. I am still a great fan of Klaus Wennemann for his unique portrayal of The Investigator (Der Fahnder).

About Old Fox: I remember it was really like a real life police investigation, because clues to the murders were obtained real slow. most of these were got when the senior officer (Old Fox) cross-questioned the people involved and found some glitches in their story. Like I said, very much real life, so some people found it dull and boring, but for those who followed the dialogues, it was brilliant.

I wish I could time travel to the 1990's.....