Ballauf and Schenk have been investigating in and around Cologne for a quarter of a century. After initial difficulties, the two commissioners got together - and are as popular with the public as ever.
An average German marriage lasts 14.8 years. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether this is rather short or long. What is certain, however, is that Dietmar Bär and Klaus J. Behrendt have been linked to each other for much longer: Since October 5, 1997, the two actors have been investigating as Freddy Schenk and Max Ballauf in and around Cologne. And "in the first few years (...) we spent more time together than with our partners," says Bär in retrospect. With "Trail of Blood" the two commissioners are now celebrating their silver investigator wedding.
A lot has happened on the outside over the past quarter century: Schenk has swapped his former trademark, the cowboy boots, for a suit and long coat. And Ballauf took off the old leather jacket and now pays tribute to the ravages of time with glasses. But it's not just the inspectors themselves who have changed: "A lot has been demolished and rebuilt since we started here, for example at Rheinauhafen. That's how our films have become a kind of living photo album over the past 25 years," says Behrendt. That is to be taken quite literally: A scene in the episode "Cold Heart" was filmed in the historical city archive of Cologne. A few days later, on March 3, 2009, the entire building collapsed.
Fortunately, things weren't always that dramatic behind the scenes, and the investigators like to think back to most of the anecdotes: "I overslept on my first day of shooting," Bär remembers. "By that point, Klaus had already completed two days of shooting. The morning I was supposed to start, he had to knock on my door in the hotel to wake me up. I think I shaved faster than I ever did in my Life. There's a famous photo from that first day of shooting where we're peeking around the corner of a boxcar."
The commissioners have solved a total of 85 cases since that first day. Although together was still the wrong word at the beginning: In the debut "Welcome to Cologne", family man Schenk and the loner Ballauf, who was hardened in the USA, got along rather badly than well. It was only over time that the two investigators got used to each other and over the years became an inveterate team that celebrated solved cases with a currywurst and a Kölsch beer on the banks of the Rhine.
The closeness of the commissioners is probably one of the recipes for the ongoing success of the Cologne team. And the actors themselves also appreciate it: "The large number of our viewers always leaves me speechless," says Behrendt. "Here in Cologne, the stadium has 50,000 seats. And our films sometimes watch as many people as would fit in 20 of these stadiums." That, however, is even grossly understated: Even after 25 years, the Cologne investigators still reach an average of more than nine million viewers per episode.
Whether it will be another quarter of a century is rather questionable, but an early end to their joint career is still far from in sight. Dietmar Bär: "I wish that both of us, Klaus and I, stay fit. And that people remain loyal to us or that we still have a regular audience who like that we have a new one three times a year story emerge."
