Tatort

"Ta-daaa... Ta-daaa.... Ta-daaa...!"

- Intro sequence (YouTube)

Tatort ("Crime Scene") is a German Police Procedural series, usually broadcasted at Sunday during Prime Time on Das Erste, the Austrian channel ORF 2, and SF1 in German-speaking Switzerland.

Especially noteworthy are the many different teams of police investigators, arranged by the regional stations of the public broadcasters ARD, ORF, and SF, who also define the settings all across Germany, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland. The series, having started in 1970, already consists of 800 episodes and regularly wins the battle for the Ratings.


 * Always Murder: Nearly every case involves a murder, often also more than one. Suicide is less common. Justified, because the cops are from the homicide division.
 * Badass: Schimi tries to be this, and is at least good enough for his episodes only being shown at late night.
 * Big Fancy House: The murders often take place in the milieu of the middle to upper class, resulting in the witnesses/culprits/victims inhabiting accordingly spacious places.
 * The Cameo: Numerous celebrities already have had small parts in Tatort.
 * Central Theme: Many episodes embed sociopolitical issues into the plot, e.g. the waste export to Africa or wage dumping at discount stores. The two investigators occasionally have oppositional opinions regarding said issue, and discuss them.
 * Clear My Name: The plot of some episodes.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Schimi's most frequently used word seems to be "shit". It is also the last word he says in a Tatort.
 * The Coroner: Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne (played by Jan-Josef Liefers) from Münster is one half of the investigator duo, even though Kommissar Thiel doesn't like this very much; Dr. Joseph Roth (played by Joe Bausch) can often be seen in the Cologne Tatort.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Professor Boerne of the Münster Tatort.
 * Grey and Grey Morality: The episode "Weil sie böse sind". ("Because They're Evil")
 * I Didn't Mean to Kill Him
 * The Infiltration: The mission of undercover investigator Cenk Batu from Hamburg.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: "Do you know who I am?" and "I regularly play golf with the Chief of Police" do crop up from time to time.
 * Spin-Off: Schimanski.
 * You Didn't Ask