Til Schweiger as Nick Tschiller: "It's been a long time since we planned to continue."

Photo: Gordon Timpen/NDR

Anyone who asked the responsible NDR authorities what the future of Til Schweiger at Hamburg's "Tatort" was was always getting the same timid answer over the last four years: There was the option of two more episodes; When and whether this would even be considered remained an open question. That sounded surprisingly meek given the broad-mindedness with which Schweiger had been introduced as TV investigator Nick Tschiller.

At that time, NDR wanted to reinvent the “Tatort” as a popcorn cinema. The ARD's usual financing regulations were ignored, Schweiger was equipped with an XL budget and a bazooka and let him destroy the newly built Elbphilharmonie including HafenCity. He also had the freedom to choose from his family and friends during the casting.

So that the path was clear for Schweiger's Tschiller, the newly established TV investigator Thorsten Falke, played by Wotan Wilke Möhring, was also praised from Hamburg to join the federal police.

Schweiger's difficult rehabilitation

After a strong entry in 2013, further response to Schweiger's Inferno Investigators was largely low. After a "crime scene" designed for the cinema with a high vandalism factor, Tschiller was taken to the Elbe island of Neuwerk, part of Hamburg, for rehabilitation for a sixth episode. There he had to work as a supervisor in a youth project, talk a lot about his messed up emotional life and fight against a group of gangsters without a gun.

Apparently that wasn't enough of a confession of remorse for the NDR. Since then there has been silence on the part of the ARD broadcaster regarding the silent “crime scene”. The two parties seem like a married couple who have known for a long time that the relationship is over but are afraid to say so. Maybe also because people shy away from the costs of a divorce.

more on the subject

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  • Til Schweiger about the “crime scene”: “Three deaths in the first minutes, a revolution”

  • The story behind the story:The late insight of Til SchweigerBy Maike Backhaus and Alexandra Berlin

Schweiger is now apparently trying to bring movement to the deadlocked situation. The actor, director and entrepreneur, who recently came into public discussion because of drunkenness on the set of his film "Manta, Manta - Second Part", announced in the "Bild" newspaper that despite the option of two further "Tatort «-Episodes, no future collaboration is in sight. Schweiger: "It's been a long time since we planned to continue." The NDR, he is sure, is "no longer in the mood."

Both parties are having a hard time

Anyone who speaks to the ARD broadcaster to find out more about the relationship status of NDR and Schweiger has to read between the lines. Compared to SPIEGEL, the station celebrates their shared past - and leaves little hope for a shared future: "The NDR and Til Schweiger worked very well together on six 'crime scenes' and together brought a new color to the crime series. Til Schweiger describes it accurately that both sides are currently finding it difficult to restart." Then he adds: "But we will continue to talk to each other."

In December 2011, when it became known that Schweiger was taking over the “crime scene,” he sounded less hesitant. When SPIEGEL asked whether Schweiger's involvement wasn't very risky for the public broadcaster, the responsible editorial director, Christian Granderath, responded exuberantly that if he lived that long, they would be happy to remain loyal to the star until 2068.

Now the love apparently grew cold earlier, even if the NDR doesn't say so clearly. As with any celebrity divorce, the separation is probably about money. There are still ongoing contracts. The lawyers will probably have to sort out who pays how much and who gets how much.