TV tip for the weekend: A summer on the Côte d'Azur

On Sunday, 17.11. at 8.15 pm on ZDF

Kristin (Karoline Eichhorn) comes to the Côte d'Azur to take a deep breath. With the breakdown of her marriage, she has also lost her job. She used to do the bookkeeping for Justus' company. The invitation from her former au pair Sophie (Maxine Kazis) therefore comes at just the right time. Sophie is heavily pregnant and secretly hopes that Kristin will help her look after her baby. Although Sophie and Julien (Max Befort) want to bring up the child together, they have no intention of starting a traditional family. They are not in love with each other. Kristin, however, has her own plans. She wants to support her friend Susanne (Katrin Lux) in her textile market stall. And she has already registered on a dating app to meet a new partner. However, the app remains stubbornly silent. It is only when Sophie Kristin's age is corrected downwards that she can't save herself from matches.

Her first date is Michel (Matthias Matschke), a well-off soap manufacturer, who is visibly disappointed when he sees Kristin. However, his polite aloofness suddenly turns to keen interest when he hears that Kristin is an accountant by profession. He spontaneously offers her a job. His previous "strength" was his own wife, who has left him. Irony of fate? Kristin coolly declines, after all, she has Susanne's job.

But when water damage renders her goods unusable, Kristin turns around and takes a job with Michel after all. Julien and Sophie don't think much of it. Julien especially because Michel is none other than his father, with whom he has fallen out. The two have fundamentally different views on the business of soap production: Julien wants to work sustainably with regional products and environmentally friendly production. His father, on the other hand, pursues a classic business model. Ecology is okay, but only if it pays off. Of course, Michel promotes the region with his business and only employs suppliers from the area. However, he has never checked this. Kristin is now doing that. And in doing so, she uncovers a real scam. In order to receive subsidies, Michel should have kept track of supply chains, which he didn't do. And now he has to take responsibility for it. Faced with the threat of horrendous penalties, Michel is on the verge of bankruptcy. He is more than desperate. Thanks to Kristin, he was on the road to purification and wanted to vouch for Julien's start-up.

Kristin finds a way out of the misery, albeit a painful one, and Michel is overwhelmed. What a woman! The longer he works with her, the more he falls in love with her. But Julien also has serious feelings for Kristin. Kristin doesn't know what to do. But one thing is certain: she won't be returning to Germany ...

TV tip for the weekend: Marie Brand and the long nose

New in the ZDF media library

Museum director Markus Krull (Torsten Knippertz) is found dead in the museum's depot. The murder can be seen on the surveillance camera footage. Who is the masked person on the video? The investigation leads Marie Brand (Mariele Millowitsch) and Jürgen Simmel (Hinnerk Schönemann) to Daniel Sachs (Martin Bruchmann) from New York. He is currently in Cologne and is looking for a lost Giacometti statue that belonged to his Jewish grandfather.

Now the statue is said to have reappeared, allegedly in the museum of the dead director Krull. But the Giacometti is nowhere to be found. The trail leads the detectives to the rich art collector Dieter Rosskopf (Andreas Schröders), who had a close business relationship with the dead museum director. Is there a connection to the murder? And what role is played by his cousin, the well-known gallery owner Emilia Rosskopf-Röhler (Catrin Striebeck), with whom he had been competing fiercely for expensive exhibits for decades. The detectives find evidence that Dieter Rosskopf owned a Giacometti and gave it to the museum on loan. But then it turns out that Rosskopf's sculpture is a fake. The ingenious work of a forger. But if the Rosskopf family fought internally over a forgery, where is the real statue? In the hands of the murderer?

Solo for Weiss - Deadly choice

New in the ZDF media library

When a security guard is shot dead during a robbery of an armored car, Nora Weiss (Anna Maria Mühe) is personally drawn into the case - she knows the dead guard's colleague from before. And she is now a fugitive. Nora attended police school together with Judith (Alice Dwyer), the security guard who went into hiding. The two were friends - but have taken different paths in life. While Nora made a career at the LKA as a target investigator, Judith decided to work as a bodyguard before taking the job at the security company years ago to drive money transports.
Is Judith the perpetrator? Hard to imagine for Nora. Or what is behind the supposed escape with the money? Nora's colleague Ben Salawi (Camill Jammal) from the Lübeck CID helps her solve the case.

The Hirschhausen Show - What can humans do?

On Saturday, 26.10. at 8.15 p.m. on Ersten

In his show, presenter Eckart von Hirschhausen demonstrates the spectacular feats we are capable of, the miracle that lies within each and every one of us and explains why this is so. Billiard pro Ralph Eckert proves that he really can sink any billiard ball. The Dolphins cheerleaders from Krefeld attempt to break a world record and throw a cheerleader to unprecedented heights in a basket toss. And memory artist Alisa Kellner impresses with her incredible spatial imagination and recognizes origami figures using only their folding patterns. Doctor and presenter Eckart von Hirschhausen: "What I love so much about this show is that there are always new and exciting answers to the one question "What can humans do?"!" During the 180 minutes on Saturday evening, two celebrity teams will battle it out for victory. The celebrities also have to shine with their own skills in challenges and games to secure victory in the round. Whoever wins will be rewarded - because 20,000 euros are at stake for a good cause!

My child

New in the ZDF media library

Judith (Lisa Maria Potthoff) and Niclas (Maximilian Brückner) fulfill their wish to have a child via a surrogate mother in the Ukraine. The shock is great when war breaks out there. The fear for Oksana (Alina Danko) and the baby grows.
The couple offer the surrogate mother the chance to flee to them in Munich. A few days later, the pregnant Oksana and her nine-year-old daughter arrive on their doorstep. But the safety in Germany does not last long.
The agency insists on compliance with the contracts and threatens legal problems. Surrogacy is illegal in Germany. The child must be born in Kiev. Oksana returns to her home country, and Judith and Niclas set off on a dangerous journey to the war to pick up their child ...

With the beginning of the war in Ukraine, pictures of the numerous babies in the surrogacy agencies' shelters in Kiev that could not be picked up by their foreign intended parents went around the world. It was only then that a new business model of modern reproductive medicine and the dimensions it had already assumed by then came to public attention. In Germany, surrogacy is prohibited by law due to ethical concerns. In Germany, the legal mother is always the woman who gave birth to the child. German, unintentionally childless couples are also fulfilling the primal human desire for a baby of their own via the Ukraine.

A room for dad

New in the ARD media library

Frankfurt sales professional Jonas (David Rott) finds the best professional solution to every problem. In his private life, however, there is something that can still be optimized: being a father! When his daughter Laila (Indira Corrales Ehlers), who is growing up with her mother Shari (Sabrina Amali) in Hamburg, demands more time and closeness from him, he has to readjust his life, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Kim (Adina Vetter).

Jonas discovers an unusual adult shared flat as a permanent place to go in Hamburg: "Ein Bett für Papa e. V." offers separated parents a family-like place of well-being so that commuters can also bring their children to them. Jonas learns a lot about himself and his failings by meeting the owner Elke (Petra Kleinert) and the other fathers.

While Laila defends her dad even after he makes mistakes, Shari finds it difficult to trust her one-night stand, who has been paying but has had little presence. In order to make a real fresh start, the adults also have to face up to important issues that they have been suppressing for a long time.

Me too! - Season 3

New in the ZDF media library

Caro (Meriel Hinsching) and Yannik (Rojan Juan Barani) have been a couple for two years now and both are still as in love as they were on the first day - if not more so. However, new questions appear on the horizon, somewhere behind the pink clouds: "Is my life going the way I always wanted it to?" or "Isn't there more out there?".

Svenja (Leonie Wesselow) and Sven (Sven Daniel Bühler) have apparently already answered these questions for themselves and are getting married. The romantic rest of their lives can finally begin - if it weren't for Sven's kiss with his gym buddy Dave. Was it really just a kiss between drunken buddies, as Sven claims, or was it more than that?

Jackie (Nagmeh Alaei) and Tüffi (Daniel Zillmann) are finally a couple - it's taken long enough. But the single mother and the eternal bachelor have a completely different set of problems to deal with than Caro and Yannik: it's been a while since they last had sex, the wounds of past relationships are still present and Jackie's son Nikolai also has something to say.

In eight new episodes, Caro and Yannik face their biggest challenges yet. Has it always been the others who have disturbed their carefree togetherness, or is it suddenly themselves?

In the web of greed

New in the ARD media library

Prudent office manager Anna Grawe (Tanja Wedhorn) enjoys working for member of parliament Bea Kober (Rosa Enskat). Part of her job profile is not to question everything. Even when the MP asks her to hide an envelope from the public prosecutor, Anna puts her loyalty first. Secretly, however, she knows that there may be something to the corruption allegations against Bea. However, Anna has no idea how dangerous the connection to the Kazakh oligarch Parygin (Eugen Knecht), who wants to build a marina in Bea's structurally weak constituency, is.

Nor does the single mother know that her daughter Larissa (Paula Hartmann), who is studying in London, had an affair with the married businessman and is now blackmailing him with an intimate video. When Anna takes Larissa to visit her mother Magda (Jutta Wachowiak) in her home town, more than just the corruption scandal catches up with her. It's not just senior public prosecutor Limmer (Clelia Sarto) who follows them to the Baltic coast. Parygin has also sent someone ...

Laim and the dead without pants

New in the ZDF media library

The body of Munich publisher Jan Weigel (Pascal Breuer) is found naked from the waist down in a gondola of a Ferris wheel. A necktie is tied tightly around his neck, indicating death by asphyxiation. Investigators Laim (Max Simonischek) and Simhandl (Gerhard Wittmann) discover that the last incoming call on Jan's cell phone came from his ex-partner Nina Schott (Ursina Lardi). Nina is a feminist media journalist who denounces sexism in her weekly SchottBlog and is a frequent guest on talk shows. As she mercilessly attacks Jan Weigel in one of her latest blog entries, she is one of the first suspects.

Nina explains that although Jan was a nasty macho man, he was also a father figure to her daughter. She firmly denies having murdered him and provides the investigators with a new clue: a user called Pandora has sent her an email in which she describes Nina as a "good team". The email says: "You take their pants off and I'll hang them by their dicks!" Nina had received the email a few days ago but had not responded to it or informed the authorities as she regularly receives threats and nasty messages.
While Simhandl investigates radical feminists, Laim visits the publisher's headquarters. There he meets the chief editor Sue Gossler (Katja Bürkle), who is shocked by Jan's violent death but has no time for mourning as she has to take care of the future of the publishing house. Shortly afterwards, another body is discovered: Rolf Ganzinger (Sebastian Feicht), a television producer who was murdered in the same way as Jan. The investigators now wonder whether they are dealing with a psychopathic feminist serial killer ...

Allmen and the mystery of the koi

Saturday, 24.8. at 20.15 on the first channel

Johann Friedrich von Allmen (Heino Ferch) wants to take a carefree break in Tenerife - with his indispensable butler Carlos (Samuel Finzi), of course. What do empty bank accounts and horrendous tax demands matter when his solvent girlfriend Jojo Hirt (Andrea Osvárt) invites the idler? Unfortunately, an old friend puts him in the awkward position of not being able to turn down a job. The music producer Freddie (Falilou Seck) has paid off gambling debts to the film mogul Steve Garrett (Uwe Kockisch) with promissory bills from Allmen.

The witty detective is now tasked with recovering a stolen treasure for his new creditor: A Japanese koi that has disappeared from Garrett's garden aquarium. Not only is Allmen's notorious client attached to the ornamental fish, which is revered in Japan as a symbol of love and loyalty, but also his fascinating and mysterious girlfriend Dr. Akina de la Vega (Edita Malovčić). When a murder occurs, Allmen finds himself in the middle of a game of intrigue that becomes dangerous for him and his companions.

Toni, male, midwife: Baby in a basket

New in the ARD media library

Maybe the right moment will come after all? Obstetrician Toni Hasler (Leo Reisinger) is waiting for his chance with Luise (Wolke Hegenbarth). The fact that her relationship with Sami (Marcel Mohab) is in crisis raises Toni's hopes. A baby of all things, which the gynecologist discovers on her doorstep and discreetly takes in, throws everything out of kilter for him. Toni is astonished to see Luise and Sami reunite as foster parents. Not only his dwindling prospects, but also his convictions make Toni search for the mother - before the police and youth welfare office find out about the foundling! When Toni tracks down the student Charly (Michelle Barthel), he discovers the clinical picture that makes the young mother shy away from responsibility. While Luise now relies on the authorities for this very reason, Toni wants to find a way for the mother and her child. However, Toni first has to gain Charly's trust so that she can be helped.

A "baby in a basket" upsets the practical and emotional lives of Wolke Hegenbarth and Leo Reisinger in the ninth film of "Toni, male, midwife". While his colleague is too much of a baby-faced foster mother for Toni's taste, the unyielding title character wants to reunite the newborn with his mother. Grimme Award winner Michelle Barthel, who won numerous awards as a teenager in the social drama "Keine Angst", now embodies a young woman whose desperate act is a cry for help. The screenplay by Sibylle Tafel and Sebastian Stojetz sensitively explores taboo subjects whose individual cases are often portrayed in a truncated manner.

Limbo - Yesterday we were still friends

New in the ARD media library

After a night-time car accident involving their teenage sons, the long-standing friendship between three women threatens to break apart. The Swedish drama series meticulously unfolds a multi-layered web of relationships that are thrown into limbo by this traumatizing stroke of fate. Director Sofia Jupither approaches the characters in a sensitive and touching way. Lead actress Rakel Wärmländer, whose intense performance is at the center of the captivating story, wrote the screenplays for the six episodes together with Emma Broström. Although the plot is completely fictional, the accident is based on a real event.

This is what happens in episode 1:

Ebba (Rakel Wärmländer) invites her best friends My (Sofia Helin) and Gloria (Louise Peterhoff) over for an evening of wine and tacos. The trio's teenage sons are also friends. Lukas (Linton Calmroth), Sebbe (Odin Romanus) and Jakob (Anton Forsdik) set off together. Their mothers' phones ring in the middle of the night: the boys have been in a car accident. Without knowing what has happened, the women drive to the clinic ...

All six parts are available in the ARD media library.

Kleo - Season 2

New on Netflix

The hunt for the red suitcase remains exciting: former GDR spy Kleo (Jella Haase) is determined to get the red suitcase back in her possession and destroy it once and for all. Sven (Dimitrij Schaad) also does everything he can to make up for his mistake with Kleo and work with her again, because she brings the necessary adrenaline into his life as a policeman.

The contents of the red suitcase have a major impact on the reorganization of Germany and Europe after the Cold War, which is why both the KGB and the CIA are after it. Kleo inevitably falls into the clutches of both secret services. But that's not all: while Kleo holds the fate of Europe in her hands, she is drawn deeper into her own past than she would like ...

The Father

From July 19, 10.20 pm in the ARD media library

80-year-old Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) firmly believes he is still getting along just fine. Anthony doesn't want to leave the upper-class London apartment where he feels at home. If the former engineer upsets something, he tries to cover it up. However, his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) knows how inexorably his dementia is progressing. He scares away the caregivers she carefully chooses for her father with malice. When Anne informs him that she has met a man in Paris and wants to move in with him, things become even more confused for Anthony. He forgets even relatives and mistakes Anne's ex-husband Paul (Rufus Sewell) for a stranger (Mark Gatiss). When Anne introduces him to a new caregiver, her father initially surprises him with a winning manner: Laura (Imogen Poots) reminds him of his younger daughter. But even with the understanding caregiver, Anthony shows his difficult side. Despite the strain, Anne holds on to being there for her father as long and as well as possible ...

"The Father" is one of the outstanding films of the 2021 cinema year and won two Oscars. French writer and director Florian Zeller received the coveted award for the adaptation of his stage play of the same name, which uses a dementia patient's fragile perception of the world as a cinematic stylistic device and thus creates a narrative immediacy. Almost 30 years after "The Silence of the Lambs", Sir Anthony Hopkins received his highly deserved second Academy Award for his touching portrayal of the demented title character, whose reality sinks into a confusing fog of memory and deception. The Oscar- and Emmy-winning Olivia Colman is also magnificent in the role of the caring daughter.

Death comes to Venice

Saturday, 13.7. at 20.15, Das Erste

Under mysterious circumstances, restorer Lukas Albrecht (Roman Binder) drowns in the Canale dei Marani in Venice. While the easy-going Commissario Santo (Rudy Ruggiero) sees no evidence of a crime, the victim's widow is puzzled by the details. Anna (Alwara Höfels), who is traveling from Vienna with her eleven-year-old son, does not believe it was an accident: her husband had no alcohol in his blood, knew the lagoon very well and could swim!

When Anna is approached by Lukas' client, the elegant director of an art museum, about a missing Botticelli painting of which her husband has made a copy, her doubts grow. She thinks she knows one thing for sure: Lukas wouldn't get involved with art thieves for any money in the world! To find out what happened that night at the Canale, Anna starts her own investigation with the help of the deceased's best friend. The gallery owner Rafael (Christopher Schärf) wants to help her find the Botticelli. Because this painting seems to interest the police more than the truth about Lukas' death.

Faster than fear

In the ARD media library, 6-part series

Aspiring target investigator Sunny Becker (Friederike Becht) returns to duty after several weeks' sick leave. The reason for her absence is unknown in the family environment of her LKA team. Only her colleague and secret partner Alex Reuter (Golo Euler) knows the real reason: Sunny suffers from panic attacks. However, she is reluctant to confide in anyone, be it her superior and mentor Ralf (Thomas Loibl) or the psychologist Belling (Sarah Bauerett). Instead, she decides to return to her job full-time without a transition period.

Meanwhile, the Magdeburg LKA takes over the manhunt for a dangerous prison escapee. Sunny sees this as an opportunity to free herself from her omnipresent trauma: she wants to hunt down the rapist and murderer Haffner (Felix Klare). While the large-scale operation led by her colleague Markus (Christoph Letkowski) leads her on the wrong track, Sunny manages to get closer to the fugitive ...

The Rookie - Season 5

New in the ZDF media library

"The Rookie" is an American crime series developed by Alexi Hawley and first aired on ABC in October 2018. The series tells the story of John Nolan, a man in his forties who, after a life-changing experience, decides to fulfill his long-held dream of becoming a police officer. Nolan, played by Nathan Fillion, is the oldest recruit in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

Season 5 gets off to an exciting start: Officer John Nolan is once again confronted by serial killer Rosalind Dyer (Annie Wersching). Before the trial begins, she manages to escape and has to be caught again.

Meanwhile, officers Bradford (Eric Winter) and Chen (Melissa O'Neil) work undercover with Detective Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) and the Las Vegas Police Department to arrest the leaders of a major criminal enterprise.

The Tourist - Irish Blood (Season 2)

New in the ZDF media library

14 months, three days and seven hours have passed since Elliot (Jamie Dornan) was stopped from committing suicide by Helen (Danielle Macdonald) with a simple burrito emoji at the last second. They are now a couple and enjoy their love to the full - more precisely: on a train in Thailand. Helen sees the right moment to tell Elliot about a message from Ireland that someone has sent him: He should come to his homeland to get information about himself.

The two decide to fly to the Emerald Isle and go to the meeting point specified in the message. But the much-praised Irish hospitality unfortunately turns out to be a trap in this case: Elliot is kidnapped by masked men; Helen is left behind in despair.
Detective Ruairi Slater (Conor MacNeill), who is called to the scene of the crime, turns out to be an extremely likeable Garda who is immediately attracted to Helen. Unfortunately, he is a little slow in his investigative efforts, so Helen has to take the lead.

Back home in Australia, Helen's ex-fiancé Ethan (Greg Larsen) decides not to leave the love of his life for a runaway Irishman and decides to travel after her to win back his beloved "butter cookie".

Meanwhile, Helen meets a certain Niamh (Olwen Fouéré) at the police station, who turns out to be Elliot's mother. However, Helen had imagined her first meeting with her future mother-in-law to be somewhat different.

At the same time, the kidnappers come out to Elliot: they are Donal (Diarmaid Murtagh), Fergal (Mark McKenna) and Orla McDonnell (Nessa Matthews), who can't understand why Elliot doesn't recognize them. Nevertheless, he is to be punished for his previous deeds. The kidnappers get to grips with Elliot, but because of his accident in Australia he has no memories - and therefore no answers to their questions.

Donal McDonnell therefore sees no reason to bother with the kidnapped man and decides to shoot Elliot on the spot.

Season 1 is also available in the ZDF media library.

Home advantage - with Tommi Schmitt

From Saturday, 1.6. in the ZDF media library

Since September 2023, Tommi Schmitt (right) has been accompanying national team players Marc-André ter Stegen, Robin Gosens and Niclas Füllkrug (left) in the crucial preparation phase before the European Football Championship.

He talks to them about the German team's chances at the tournament in their home country, their personal prospects and their hopes for a place in the team.

Can the Germans expect another summer fairytale like 2006 at the European Football Championships in their own country, or are they once again threatened with an early exit from the tournament, as they were at the World Cup in Qatar? Will the players be able to regain confidence after less successful tournaments and spark a European Championship euphoria in front of a home crowd?

Podcaster, presenter and soccer romantic Tommi Schmitt meets Marc-André ter Stegen, Robin Gosens and Niclas Füllkrug in training, in the stadium and at their homes for this long-term documentary. He also talks to other players in the team and national coach Julian Nagelsmann.

Does it still mean something to the players to wear the eagle on their chest? Do they have the unconditional will to win? How can the German national soccer team inspire the fans again? And will the country be gripped by European Championship fever? As a passionate soccer fan, Tommi Schmitt explores these questions.

The Quartet - The Silence

Saturday, 25.5. at 20.15 on ZDF

Julia (Emma Floßmann), a completely distraught young woman, is found in a suburban train station in Leipzig. In her arms: her dead twin sister Anna.

The murder of Anna Kuschke presents "The Quartet" with a special challenge. Her sister Julia could provide the crucial clue - but she is traumatized and remains silent.

While Linus (Anton Spieker) tries to gain the trust of the main witness, "The Quartet" discovers that the sisters belonged to a sect-like community centered around the menacing guru Raphael Wegner (Torben Liebrecht). But here Maike (Anja Kling) only comes up against walls of fear and mistrust.

The community, which lives in isolation far from society in the outskirts of Leipzig, consists mainly of women. In order to solve the case, Maike Riem and her team - Pia Walther (Annika Blendl), Christoph Hofherr (Shenja Lacher) and Linus Roth - have to examine their own beliefs and enter the lion's den themselves. They meet a leader who exudes a charismatic and manipulative attraction. And it's not just Julia's life that is suddenly in danger.

The Hirschhausen Show - What can humans do?

Saturday, May 18, 8.15 p.m., Das Erste

"Die Hirschhausen-Show - Was kann der Mensch?" is the Saturday evening show on Das Erste that duly celebrates us humans and our abilities. Presenter Eckart von Hirschhausen (photo, l.) shows what spectacular feats we are capable of, what wonders lie within each and every one of us and he explains why this is so.

Extreme sportswoman Stefanie Millinger performs an incredible handstand challenge on the roof of a cable car, the dancers of the Flying Steps compete in the ultimate dance duel "ballerina versus breakdancer" and mentalist Timon Krause (photo, right) explains how he can read people's most secret thoughts.

Doctor and presenter Eckart von Hirschhausen: "I'm particularly looking forward to our interactive audience game this time. With the help of Timon Krause, everyone can test and improve their knowledge of human nature!" During the 180 minutes on Saturday evening, two celebrity teams will battle it out for victory. The celebrities also have to shine with their own skills in challenges and games to secure victory in the round. Whoever wins will be rewarded - because 20,000 euros are at stake for a good cause!

Police call 110: Immortal

Sunday, May 12 at 8.15 p.m. on Ersten

She had one and a half million followers on social media. Now Aalisha Mansour's (Hannah Gharib) death is causing quite a stir. She fell from the roof of a shopping center. Was it suicide? The career of the influencer with the brightly colored hair had recently come to a standstill. She was subjected to a veritable shitstorm when she advertised the wrong product. Did the online hate drive Aalisha to her death?

Detective Chief Inspector Doreen Brasch (Claudia Michelsen) has a different suspicion: the brother, Mahdi Mansour (Mo Issa), felt that his sister's outspoken behavior on social media was a disgrace and expressed his displeasure publicly. Is that why Aalisha had to die? Suddenly, however, the case takes a new and unexpected turn.

Innocent - The case of Julia B.

Saturday, May 4, 8.15 p.m., Das Erste

Free at last! Julia (Emily Cox) had to live with an unbearable injustice for five years: The teacher was convicted of the murder of her 16-year-old pupil Felix (Eloi Christ), which she supposedly did not commit. But then real proof of her innocence emerges. A shock for Felix's parents, who are convinced of Julia's guilt. Her ex-husband Jan (Jan Krauter) also reacts cautiously: He has built a new life for himself and wants to get married soon. Only her friend Meike (Bettina Burchard), who fought tirelessly for Julia's acquittal, is on her side. Although Julia is bullied by the residents of her home town, she wants to fight for her reputation and her old job as a teacher.

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Kauth (Thomas Loibl) reopens the case. Unlike his predecessors, he concentrates on the victim and her surroundings. He soon comes across inconsistencies: false witness statements in a web of lies, conflicts and secrets. Julia doesn't make it easy for Kauth either: she stubbornly remains silent about what happened between her and Felix.

New Wind in the Old Country - Stranded

Sunday, April 28 at 8.15 pm on ZDF

Beke (Felicitas Woll) has to report on the new radio system on a freighter - a favorite topic of her boss. There, however, she meets Mia (Valerie Sophie Körfer), a young woman who has lost her memory. She has been hiding on the freighter as a stowaway. The captain dutifully hands her over to the police, who have her admitted to a clinic in view of her fragile mental state. Beke can't get the woman out of her mind. She wants to know what is behind it all.

When Mia runs away from the clinic, Beke picks her up and takes her back to her home village of Jork. Police officer Kalle (Roland Wolf) senses nothing good. Mia is missing and Beke has to hand her back to the police immediately. Actually. Beke skillfully conceals from everyone who she has in tow and feverishly tries to find out Mia's true story. Mia reacts to music. She knows from her nightmares that she has smashed something. But what? What guilt might still be weighing on Mia's shoulders?

This research, which Beke is not actually allowed to do, is overshadowed by her usual everyday burden: she has to cover for her parents in the farm store because they are going to an agricultural fair. She also has numerous assignments to write for the "Altländer Zeitung" newspaper, for example on the subject of vandalism. Someone torpedoes the town clerk's reading and tears up all the posters. Much to the annoyance of Beke's sister Heide (Anne Roemeth), who, as mayor, makes every effort to offer the community a little something special.

In addition, Beke's daughter Camilla (Pauline Pollmann) suddenly appears on the doorstep, only gradually revealing that she is afraid she is pregnant. And then there's Paul (Steve Windolf), Beke's former love, whose charm she can't resist ...

Charité - Season 4

New in the ARD media library

Top researcher Maral Safadi (Sesede Terziyan) returns from Boston to her old place of work with her wife, gynecologist Julia Kowalczyk (Angelina Häntsch): From now on, she heads the Institute of Microbiology at the Charité in Berlin.

The very first case of an unknown bacterium will challenge her research. In 2049, the Charité's "mercy" is threatened by a new healthcare reform. Health insurance companies create a score for each person and use it to collect data on health and life expectancy, which becomes the basis for treatment. Society is divided and there are also supporters and opponents of the reform at Charité.

Maral Safadi's mother Seda (Adriana Altaras), a surgeon at the hospital, wants to fight against the injustice of the new healthcare reform and secretly founds a "shadow clinic" where patients with poor scores can also be treated. Gradually, she gains more allies among the staff, such as head nurse Marlene Hirt (Gina Haller) and her assistant Lou Melnik (Joshua Seelenbinder).

While Maral works towards another breakthrough in her microbiome research, the fight for justice is going on underground. The reform also becomes a personal ordeal between mother and daughter. Until a hacker attack paralyzes the Charité and reminds everyone what they live and work for: the well-being of all patients.

Two heirs are one too many

New in the ARD media library

For ex-con Konrad Kühn (Peter Heinrich Brix), his plan to make a lot of money quickly seems to be working. He pretends to be the sole heir to an old house and Mayor Flasskamp (Tom Beck) immediately intervenes. He wants to notarize the sale in a few days, as he already owns the neighbouring property. He can finally realize his plans for a large hotel. But they have made their plan without Clara Mensen (Katrin Röver). The young woman lives in the old house and, together with her friend Valeska (Marion Kracht), wants to prevent the sale at all costs. She finds out Kühn's true identity and gives him a choice: call off the sale or blow the whistle.

As Kühn is about to leave, old Wilhelm (Peter Franke) tells him that Clara Mensen is sitting on a pile of money. The deceased owner of the house and she were running an illegal online casino. The money is in a Bitcoin account, but the second code to access the money is missing. A mystery that Kühn can only solve together with Clara Mensen. The two rivals must now work together to save their own skins. Obstacles big and small stand in their way.

The comedy is set in the coastal landscape between Geltinger Bucht and Schlei in Schleswig-Holstein.

Your perfect year

Sunday, March 24 at 8.15 pm on ZDF

Fun-loving Hannah (Anneke Kim Sarnau) wants to save her long-term relationship with her boyfriend Simon (Thomas Niehaus). She creates a calendar with activities for the coming year in order to get closer again.

However, she accidentally leaves the calendar on a park bench. There, the reclusive publisher Jonathan (Stefan Jürgens) discovers it and decides without further ado to track down the author. He is touched by the loving design of the calendar.

Jonathan struggles to run his father's publishing house after he falls ill with dementia. He is unable to build on the great successes of the past and the tasks pile up on his desk.

In his search for the owner of the calendar, Jonathan makes use of the dates he has entered. He soon finds himself at quirky concerts, choir lessons and in strange restaurants and notices how the zest for life he thought he had lost is slowly being reawakened.

From then on, Hannah and Jonathan's paths miraculously cross. At first they know nothing of the connection through the calendar. Slowly, the two find each other and things start to sizzle between them. Until Hannah realizes that Jonathan knew much more than he had let on.

When Simon, who has been carrying around a secret of his own, disappears, Hannah is deeply confronted with the question of what true love really means. She has to make a decision.

The Signal

New on Netflix

Paula (Peri Baumeister) is back on Earth. After months in orbit, she is back on Earth. Now a short flight across the pond and she's back with her family. But Paula never arrives home. Sven (Florian David Fitz) and his daughter Charlie (Yuna Bennett) wait in vain at the gate. The plane has disappeared from the face of the earth.

While Sven tries to protect his daughter from the terrible realization, he grasps at every straw he can find. And suddenly, it seems, he finds what he is looking for: Paula has left him a riddle, a red thread that Sven is now following. But the more he pulls on it, the more his life falls apart, the greater the mystery and the threat to him and Charlie, and ultimately to the whole world. Because Paula was on the International Space Station. And there, in the darkness of space, she has made an incredible discovery ...

Netflix about the new series: "We tell the drama of our hero Sven and his 9-year-old daughter Carlotta on a small scale, emotionally and breathtakingly. And at the same time, this mini-series also succeeds in telling a modern story about the state of our world on a meta-level - with an exciting mystery and visual highlights that we have rarely seen from Germany."

Big city forester - Berlin special features

New in the ARD media library since 01.03.

Young forester Jana Doussière (Stefanie Reinsperger) takes up a position at the Grunewald forestry office at short notice. Coming from a wild forest in the Vosges, the solitude-loving Jana, who tends to struggle with people, encounters the big city forest and its "Berlin peculiarities". In addition to naked men, demonstrating wild boar fans and committed conservationists, the new forest warden is also confronted with sofas in trees, a mysterious city hunter (Alexander Khuon) and forester Robin (Eugen Knecht), who hasn't exactly been waiting for her. And even her best friend Aylin (Aybi Era), who brought her here, doesn't seem to have told her everything about the new job ...

Target Investigator - Polar Hunt

Saturday, 24.02. at 20.15 on Ersten

The gruesome death of a young woman presents target investigators Hanna Landauer (Ulrike C. Tscharre) and Lars Röwer (Hanno Koffler) with an extraordinary challenge: they know both the perpetrator Robert Lessing (Mike Hoffmann) and his next, actual victim: Anne Herbst (Lisa Wagner), the dead woman's older sister. Anne lives under a false identity in a therapeutic residential community in northern Sweden. She has retreated here, near the Arctic Circle, to hide from her ex-boyfriend Robert, who stalked and almost murdered her after their relationship ended. Her sister was Anne's only link to her old life. It is obvious to the experienced investigators that Robert now knows where Anne is hiding. They travel to Sweden to bring Anne to safety and catch Robert. But Anne refuses to flee again. And so Landauer and Röwer are left with only one option: they must set a trap for Robert in the snowy, dark expanses of Sweden and involve the deeply traumatized Anne in the plan. Because no one knows Robert better than she does.

"Zielfahnder" are patient hunters who pursue criminals in hiding to the remotest corners of the world. In the third film in the series, the highly specialized investigator duo Ulrike C. Tscharre and Hanno Koffler take on unusual roles. While Landauer puts herself in danger as a decoy, her colleague faces a seemingly impossible task as a bodyguard. Based on the screenplay by Dagmar Gabler, director Sebastian Ko has staged a dramatic game of cat and mouse in wintry northern Sweden. Lisa Wagner impresses as a victim of violence who decides to stand up to her psychopathic tormentor.

Ostfriesenschwur

Saturday, February 17 at 8.15 pm on ZDF

Ubbo Heide (Kai Maertens), the retired ex-chief of the Aurich CID, receives a package. Inside is the severed head of a former prime suspect who was never convicted.

On closer inspection, Ubbo recognizes Bernhard Heymann (Klaas Schramm), who was the main suspect in the murder of his own daughter, six-year-old Steffi, a few years earlier. Rupert (Barnaby Metschurat) finds out that the parcel was posted by a woman in her mid-30s.

The sender's name and address turn out to be fictitious. Ann Kathrin Klaasen (Picco von Groote) and Frank Weller (Christian Erdmann) go to Ubbo to examine the severed head.

The images from the surveillance camera at the post office show a petite woman looking around anxiously in the queue at the counter. Rupert doubts that the woman is the wanted perpetrator, otherwise she would hardly have shown herself so openly at the post office. Marion Wolters (Marie Schöneburg) finds out that the woman is Svenja Moers (Anja Knauer) and was suspected of poisoning her husband five years earlier. She was released for lack of evidence. She hasn't been seen for days now, and Ann Kathrin puts out a manhunt for her. It seems she has been kidnapped. Who is behind her abduction?

Spring - The missing parents

Sunday, February 11, at 8.15 p.m. on ZDF

A couple has disappeared - never to return from a romantic getaway. Katja (Simone Thomalla) has to look after the children while the police search for the parents.

The evening before, the couple had planned to celebrate their wedding anniversary with a picnic by the lake. The car, an empty champagne bottle and the couple's clothes are found there, but there is no trace of either of them. Everything points to a tragic swimming accident.

Before Katja is called to the family, she has her own worries: her engagement ring disappears down the drain, and when she tries to fish it out again, the birthday cake for Lilly (Julia Willecke) burns in the oven.

But Katja immediately rushes off to help the children, Paul (Maximilian Kaiser) and Hailey Lechner (Hanna Heckt), who are worried about their parents. The grandparents, Elise (Ute Bronder) and Franz Lechner (Hannes Hellmann), also arrive. Katja becomes suspicious when she overhears a strange conversation at night. Do the grandparents know what has happened here?

Theresa Wolff - Dirt

Saturday, February 3, at 8.15 pm on ZDF

Theresa Wolff (Nina Gummich) has to dissect a horribly mangled corpse. The man was apparently first beaten and then buried alive. A horrible death.

Inspector Lewandowski (Aurel Manthei) quickly finds out with Theresa Wolff's help that it was the pimp Ulrich Rochow, known as "Alpha", who had made his women compliant with promises of love and then sold them to solvent customers.

His brutal death leads Lewandowski and Theresa into the Jena red light scene. Has the Eastern European competition surrounding the new brothel operator Boriana Maydell (Natalia Rudziewicz) put "Alpha" out of business?

The police investigation into "Alpha's" escort business leads the investigators on the trail of a deceased girl. Carmen had been brought to the forensic department a few weeks earlier and examined by Theresa's colleague Zeidler (Peter Schneider), who confirmed a car accident as the cause of death. Now, after the exhumation ordered by Theresa, it turns out that the car accident was staged as a cover-up for a homicide. Zeidler reproaches himself for his misdiagnosis.

Carmen's mother Heidi Müller (Susanna Simon) is shocked. She had no idea that her daughter was working as a prostitute. All the clues leading to the Jena pimp scene or the clientele of "Alpha" turn out to be false leads. Apparently there is a much more personal motive behind the pimp's death ...

Käthe and me - summer love

Since 26.01. in the ARD media library

Idealistic psychologist Paul Winter (Christoph Schechinger) finds it difficult to turn down a request for his professional help. However, when his childhood sweetheart Hanna (Christina Athenstädt) visits him, the experienced therapist has no doubt that he is too biased. However, Paul does not want to follow his mother Helga's (Hildegard Schroedter) advice not to let Hanna get close to him. As a friend, he agrees to get to the bottom of the causes of Hanna's burnout.

In the process, he discovers more than just the toxic relationship between the formerly self-confident architect and her manipulative husband. Now he discovers the real reasons for the failure of their dreamy but brief togetherness a long time ago.

The more Paul gets involved, the deeper he himself falls into a crisis. He knows from his work with therapy dog Käthe that trauma can only be overcome through reconciliation. Only when he allows himself to grieve for his lost perspective on life with Hanna does his emotional bias begin to unravel ...

A summer in the Black Forest

Since January 21 in the ZDF media library

Wellness in the Black Forest - that's Fiona's (Wanda Perdelwitz) plan as she drives along the country road in a good mood. However, a minor accident leads her to the mountain farm of Marlies (Aglaia Szyszkowitz) and Joseph (Martin Lindow). City dweller Fiona would never have thought it possible that she would stay there for more than one night. But a message from her partner Marc (Richard Ulfsäter) throws her life into turmoil.

Marc and she are lawyers, specializing in construction and tenancy law. While Marc loves the big and complex cases, Fiona likes to deal with the problems of the "little people". Fiona finds the fact that Marc has now taken on the exclusive mandate of a real estate mogul more than disconcerting. She feels left out, even though Marc, as the owner of the law firm, has every right to determine its business focus. But shouldn't he at least have asked her?

She wants to clear her head with physical work and therefore offers her help to Marlies and Joseph. She also accompanies Sascha (Tobias Licht), who comes by once a season with his horse Moritz to pull tree trunks out of the forest that are difficult for Joseph to access. Fiona is fascinated by the intimate relationship between Sascha and his animal. As affectionate as he is with his horse, he is very reserved towards humans - for good reason. It takes a long time for Sascha to confide in Fiona why he has broken with humans.

But Marlies and Joseph don't wear their hearts on their sleeves either. Only gradually does Fiona discover that the two of them are in trouble. Their daughter Leni, barely 20 years old, was recently killed in a cycling accident. Marlies in particular finds it difficult to come to terms with this. Leni wanted to offer "bed and breakfast". She had taken out a loan for the conversion, the repayment of which is now weighing heavily on her parents. Especially as Marlies can't bring herself to even enter the rooms that Leni had designed. Fiona is fascinated by the matter-of-fact way Joseph picks up Marlies and supports her. And how the two of them overcome their difficult fate together.

Marc has now thought things over and turns up at the farm. He loves Fiona and doesn't want to lose her. He would rather reverse the coup. Fiona wavers: can she accept this offer? Marlies, Joseph and, last but not least, Sascha give her plenty to think about.

When dad is on the mat

Since 12.01.24 in the ARD media library

Widower Danyal (Tim Seyfi) is worried about his daughter Jila (Aylin Öcal), even though the doctor has long been able to stand on her own two feet. When the man in his mid-fifties waits in vain for a call back, he hurries to Berlin with two friends from Kitzingen in Franconia. The career lawyer Markus (Marcus Mittermeier) and the entertainer Tobi (Dirk Borchardt), also loving fathers with grown-up daughters in the capital, want to combine the friendly service with the opportunity to see what's going on in their own way.

But as soon as they arrive, the three realize that they know even less about the young women's lives than they could have dreamed! Jila doesn't want to talk to Danyal because she blames him for the failure of several relationships. The unsuccessful actress Tilda (Lara Mandoki) wants her father to stop burdening her with his exaggerated career expectations. And Hanna confronts the smug judge Markus about having married in secret for legally questionable reasons. The three fathers have little time to collect themselves. Their short trip develops a momentum of its own, which also pushes the daughters to their limits ...

When the fifth light burns

On 24.12.23 on the first channel

The job of airport Santa Claus Thorsten (Henning Baum) usually ends before the presents are given. This time, however, force majeure throws a spanner in the works: a snowstorm and the closure of the access road mean that nobody can get out of the terminal on Christmas Eve. Together with his Christkind colleague (Xenia Tiling), Thorsten now has to make sure that those trapped in the terminal are able to enjoy some peace and quiet. Not an easy task, because the mood is extremely tense, and not just with her boss!

There is already a crisis between Sebastian (Tim Kalkhof) and his pregnant girlfriend Anja (Sarina Radomski). The reunion with his school friend Conrad (Daniel Donskoy) causes Sebastian, who is still unaware of his fatherhood, to question their relationship.

Meanwhile, seriously ill pensioner Karl (Ernst Stötzner) desperately tries to hide his dramatic situation from his wife over the festive period. While it continues to snow outside, more and more trouble is brewing for two families. Helicopter mother Jette (Elena Uhlig) and husband Lars (Michael Lott) argue in front of their son. Meanwhile, Katharina (Meike Droste) discovers that her husband is having an affair with his colleague. When the couple's children suddenly disappear, the adults have to put their problems on the back burner.

Only the "Christ Child" knows that this day is particularly difficult for Santa Claus Thorsten ...

The Seed - Deadly Power (6-part mini-series)

Since December 15 in the ARD media library

Munich police detective Max Grosz (Heino Ferch) knows all the tricks of the trade, but - to his regret - is not currently on active duty. When his nephew Victor Vegener (Jonathan Berlin) disappears in Norway and the search is stopped after a short time, Max can't stand the uncertainty for long. On his own initiative, he rushes to Spitsbergen, where the environmental activist was researching the Svalbard seed vault and ultimately broke in. Max wants to pick up the trail on his own. With his seemingly arrogant impatience, the veteran from Germany offends his local colleagues.

Only when a trail of blood is discovered on the polar island and Max confides in policewoman Thea Koren (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) does he find the support he longs for from her. A sign of life from the missing man leads the duo from Spitsbergen to Brussels, where the controversial agricultural group BSG is planning a hard-fought takeover of its main competitor. Young CEO Sven Benjamin (Seumas Francis Sargent) and his experienced string-puller Hoffmann (Rainer Bock) not only have to fear the veto of EU competition watchdog Jule Kronberg (Friederike Becht), but also the revelation of scandalous company secrets, which Max and Thea get closer to. However, they don't realize that both investigators are being pursued by a killer (Laura de Boer) ...

Christmas parcels... everyone has to carry them

December 3, 2023 on ZDF

Adika (Yann Mbiene), who works as a parcel driver before the festive season, rarely loses his good mood despite the stress. It's only when he fights with nurse Tessa (Zoë Valks) over parking spaces that he gets annoyed.

He actually finds Tessa interesting, but does he have the courage to approach her? Tessa, on the other hand, tries to lift the spirits of the resolute senior citizen Charlotte Haslhuber (Sylvia Eisenberger), who is celebrating Christmas without her husband for the first time.

The traditional Christmas run in snowy Mittenwald, where people meet in the forest on skis and sledges and roast bread over campfires, also has to take place without her. Her neighbor Willi Brummel (Hans Stadlbauer) constantly intrudes on her gymnastics exercises with Tessa, which doesn't please the energetic lady either. Tessa, who is new to Mittenwald, has her family near Schwerin and has had her bad-tempered boss Volker (Roberto Martinez) put on duty over the holidays, wants to cheer her up. But how?

Adika's landlords Julian (Florian Bartholomäi) and Tim (Jacob Matschenz), who run the local bakery together and are absolute Christmas fans, are blindsided when youth welfare officer Verena Urbach (Corinna Binzer) informs them that her desired adoption will now take place. Yes, now, so close to Christmas Eve. When little Jonathan lies in their arms on the infant ward, all their worries are forgotten. They are parents!

The couple have waited a long time for this moment. They have to keep a cool head and reconcile the work-intensive last few hours before Christmas with the first exciting hours with Johnny. Tim starts by organizing everything practical that is needed. That's the easiest part, as the two new fathers soon realize...

Bet that...?

November 25, 2023

Thomas Gottschalk is a guest in viewers' living rooms for the last time with "Wetten, dass...?".

In exciting bets, candidates compete against each other for the title of competition king or queen: In the fast-paced outdoor bet from Switzerland, hosted by Hazel Brugger, Christian Zumbühl and his seven team members face a steep uphill climb as they aim to achieve great things together. In the hall, Michelle Chevalier and Antonia Fleig will try to recharge their batteries with a forklift truck bet, and Horst Freckmann's cries for help will not fall on deaf ears at all. Little Münsterländer dog Amie's heart beats for numbers and her owner Michaela Frank must be pretty good at English. Just doing handstands would be far too boring for 14-year-old Felix Mayr from Austria, so he goes one better: his bet requires strength, precision and a skateboard. For Julia Reichert from Munich, bets are one thing above all: striped. And if she doesn't mess anything up, past competition kings might make her the new competition queen.

On the big show stage, the audience can expect a duet sensation: Helene Fischer and Shirin David. Together they will perform an unprecedented version of "Atemlos durch die Nacht" to mark the tenth anniversary. Music icon Cher is back and will not miss the opportunity to bid Thomas Gottschalk a fitting farewell. With "DJ Play A Christmas Song", she is already presenting a Christmas dancefloor hit.

With heart and Holly - motherly feelings

November 17, 2023

Dr. Katrin Herz (Inka Friedrich) and newly qualified country doctor Dr. Holly Sass (Karoline Teska) struggle to find a way to work together, while Holly continues to search for clues that could lead to her mother.

Dana (Ina Hout), a young mother, poses an acute puzzle for the doctors: The daughter of Katrin's regular patient Irena (Anna Grisebach) has extreme emotional fluctuations and memory lapses. When Dana forgets her baby during a walk, Holly's alarm bells start ringing.

While Katrin thinks it's likely that Dana's drug past is casting its shadow and she tries to help, especially through her mother, something in Holly resists. Driven by her own history as a foundling and the question of what drama might have been behind it, she insists on involving the authorities and informs police officer Matusz Zygmund (Felix Goeser). Unfortunately, this leads to the young mother feeling threatened by doctor Holly of all people and evading all investigations.

Further unrest is caused by Ilker Sass (Ercan Durmaz), Holly's adoptive father, who unexpectedly visits his daughter and wants to introduce unconventional innovations in the practice in order to better organize the flood of patients. Above all, however, he is worried about Holly and wants to help her find her origins.

Nyad

November 03, 2023

"NYAD" is a remarkable true story about perseverance, friendship and the triumph of the human spirit. The movie is about a captivating episode in the life of world-class athlete Diana Nyad. Three decades after ditching long-distance swimming for a successful career as a sports journalist, the then 60-year-old Nyad (played by four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening) set her mind on achieving the milestone she was missing: the seemingly unconquerable distance of 177 kilometers between Cuba and Florida - and becoming the first person to do so without a shark cage. So, with her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (played by two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster) and a dedicated sailing team, she embarked on a nerve-wracking odyssey that would last four years.

In Hollywood, Jodie Foster (60) could win her third Oscar for her portrayal of the lovable Bonnie. Annette Bening (65) is given less of a chance because she plays the rather unsympathetic Diana Nyad. That would certainly be a huge disappointment for the previously "Oscar-less" actress.

What we fear

October 27, 2023

Lisa (Mina-Giselle Rüffer) moves to remote Großstetten with her mother Franka (Marie Leuenberger). But their new start together is overshadowed by sinister events - on the first anniversary of a shooting rampage.

Franka hopes that the move will be good for her daughter Lisa in particular. The 17-year-old has been suffering more and more panic attacks recently and was bullied at her old school. She is therefore only cautiously making contact with her new classmates.
Franka is not exactly welcomed into her new job as head of the police station, because no one has been waiting for this woman from the big city.
Meanwhile, Simon (Paul Ahrens), also a pupil at the grammar school in Großstetten, is confronted by his parents: They have found out that he is gay. Simon's father Karl (Peter Jordan), who is the pastor of a strict, free church, finds this unbearable. He wants his son to undergo conversion therapy in order to be "cured".
On the evening of the memorial service for the victims of the shooting rampage, events come thick and fast. Lisa is haunted by a disturbing vision that not only terrifies her ...

All episodes of the six-part neoriginal horror-mystery series are available to watch in the media library.

Malibu - Kiss the frog

October 22, 2023

Jantje's (Karla Nina Diedrich) and Stefan's (Tom Radisch) "Malibu" plans are in jeopardy once again when Philine Schilling (Dennenesch Zoudé) discovers an endangered species at the campsite.

With the discovery of the rare toad, the biology teacher thwarts Jantje and Stefan's vision of opening up a new meadow on "Malibu". But what worries Jantje almost more is the fact that Stefan makes friends with Jacob (Nicola Mastroberardino).

An endangered toad lives happily in the reeds on the banks of the river, right next to the idyllic meadow that Jantje and Stefan want to develop. Philine uses all her energy to put pressure on Jacob, the man in charge at the office, to protect the toad's habitat - which in turn plunges Jantje into a personal crisis. Not only does Jacob's new love affair with his colleague Sonja (Lara Marian) throw her off balance, but the closure of the meadow also means that the site has no economic future.

Jantje tries everything in her power to stop Philine from going ahead with her plan. But Philine is also going through a life crisis - which she doesn't want to admit to herself. Without consciously forcing it, an attraction develops between her and Cosmo (Karl Seibt), her 20-year-old neighbor at the campsite, forcing both of them to come to terms with their attitude to life, their feelings and their future.

Tatort - Out of the darkness

October 8, 2023

A woman falls from the balcony of her apartment. An apartment whose windows are taped up, whose entire condition speaks of despair. It was obviously suicide. But Ellen Berlinger (Heike Makatsch) meets Chief Inspector Thomas Engels (Andreas Döhler) from the police, who had tried in vain to protect Amira Hassan from an anonymous stalker. He assumes that Hassan has been driven to her death. Berlinger begins to investigate, going against the opinion of her colleague Lukas Wagner (Ludwig Trepte) and Engels' superior Zerrer (Rainer Sellien).

When another woman, Julia Ritter (Susanne Wuest), contacts the department about anonymous stalking, Berlinger sees her suspicions confirmed. The anonymous stalker is playing his vile game with Julia Ritter, destroying her reputation, her self-confidence and trying to drive her to suicide. Berlinger wants to do everything she can to protect Julia Ritter - and this time she has not only Thomas Engels but also Lukas Wagner at her side. They try to shield and protect Julia Ritter and at the same time unmask her persecutor. But clues indicate that the perpetrator could be in the ranks of the police ...

After just five episodes, Heike Makatsch has to say goodbye to her role as detective Ellen Berlinger. The crime scene from Mainz is unfortunately canceled for cost reasons.

You can still watch the crime scene "Aus dem Dunkel" free of charge in the Ersten media library until April 8, 2024.

Fritzie - Heaven must wait: In the ZDF media library

September 29, 2023

While Fritzie (Tanja Wedhorn) settles into her new home with Herta (Barbara Schöne), there are big changes at school.

Fritzie's chance date Henrik (Götz Schubert) has taken over as interim principal. The first "problem pupil", Benno (Arthur Gropp), causes a clash between their pedagogical concepts.

When Stefan Kühne (Florian Panzner) wakes up from his coma with temporary amnesia, he still thinks he and Fritzie are a happy couple. Is it Fritzie's love for a well-known person that the tarot cards of landlady Herta Schöller promise? Fritzie has other worries: she discovers a lump in her right breast. And then a man she hasn't seen for over 40 years turns up at the door: her father Karl Maiwald (Jochen Nickel). And so the drama takes its course ...

Six new episodes of the series "Fritzie - Der Himmel muss warten" are available to watch in the media library.

Objection, darling! - A case of love: In the ARD media library

September 22, 2023

Lawyer Eva Schatz (ChrisTine Urspruch) fights for the rights of her clients with all her heart and soul. No wonder her best friend Sissi (Karmela Shako) trusts Eva's qualities when it comes to her divorce.

The lawyer is firmly convinced that you can be happy without love for life.

Her new acquaintance Hanno (Wolfram Grandezka) would fit in quite well with the concept of the fun-loving single woman: good-looking, sensual - and unattached! At least that's how Hanno appears. However, Eva soon begins to doubt whether her crush is really playing with open cards.

There is not enough time to sort out her personal turmoil - especially as Eva has to look after her father. She wants to use all her power for a desperate client. Christina (Cornelia Gröschel), a geriatric nurse, is in danger of losing custody of eight-year-old Marie (Rosa Wirtz) after the death of her wife. When Eva enters the ring on behalf of Marie and Christina, the lawyer has no idea who she is up against on the other side ...

This is the start of the new Friday evening series "Objection, darling!". The next part, entitled "Among Fathers", will be shown on 29.9. on ARD (from 27.9. in the ARD media library). The films were shot a year ago in Leipzig. Further parts are to be produced from October.

Rosamunde Pilcher - Headline Love: In the ZDF media library

September 15, 2023

Laura Seal (Nicola-Rabea Langrzik), a self-employed gardener in Cornwall, has been committed to her small community, in which she is firmly rooted, since her youth.

As the youngest member of the local council, Laura has just set up a community garden in which the residents grow fruit and vegetables together when her father, the mayor Francis Seal (Eckhard Preuß), unexpectedly suffers a heart attack.

Francis, who is also experiencing marital problems with his wife Betty (Maria Bachmann), fights tooth and nail to temporarily relinquish his office in order to take it easy. He considers himself indispensable, especially as the most important project in decades, the modernization of the dilapidated port, is about to be signed. The local council has to force Francis to take a break and elects his daughter to office.

At the same time, Robert "Bob" Spencer (Garry Fischmann), an aspiring journalist, has fallen flat on his face in London with a sensational report. His publisher Lady Hennessy (Kerry Norton) offers him the position of editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, which he is forced to accept. When Laura and Bob meet, there is an immediate spark. They grow closer, although they both have to fight on different fronts at first: Laura is of public interest as a young mayor, and Bob urgently needs to fill columns. What's missing is a big story.

This comes in the form of photos that a stranger leaks to the newspaper. They prove illegal machinations by the old mayor Francis. His daughter Laura also seems to be involved ...

Merz against Merz - Weddings: In the ZDF media library

September 8, 2023

After their divorce, Anne (Annette Frier) and Erik (Christoph Maria Herbst) are passionately fighting for pole position in the race for a happier life. Anne is doing well, she has taken a younger lover.

Erik is therefore under pressure to make a move, especially as a double wedding is coming up in the family, where everyone will come together for a showdown. Son Leon (Philip Noah Schwarz) wants to get married and is planning a joint celebration with Grandma Renate (Carmen-Maja Antoni) and Grandpa Günter (Bernd Stegemann), who want to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Crime scene: the gazebo.

Erik naturally wants to appear in the best light on this big day and resorts to unusual means in his search for a partner. In the meantime, his son Leon has successfully started his medical studies. Two lies in one sentence, because he has already failed his physics exams twice - something he has never told his parents, who are financing his studies, or his fiancée.

Meanwhile, Anne's father Ludwig (Michael Wittenborn) keeps stirring up the nursing home with blatant actions, and each time the "children" Anne and Erik have to move in - for a telling-off from the care manager. Maria (Claudia Rieschel) tries her hand at a new life without Ludwig, her guilty conscience always in her luggage. At the wedding reception - between potato salad, Ludwig's musical interlude, an emergency doctor's call-out and an unplanned rapprochement between Anne and Erik - it finally comes to a showdown.

Under Different Circumstances - Mothers and Sons: In the ZDF media library

September 1, 2023

Early morning, near Flensburg: a farmer finds a car overturned under a bridge with a dead body. At first it looks like an accident.

But then evidence shows that the victim, Björn Hinrichs (Tom Jester), was killed before the accident. Hinrichs was the manager of an apartment building and had a dispute with one of the tenants: Henning Riedel (Matthias Reichwald), who has a criminal record for assault and is considered violent. When the investigators find the victim's blood and Riedel's DNA on the murder weapon, the case appears to be solved for Jana's colleagues.

But Jana Winter (Natalia Wörner) does not believe that Riedel is guilty and concentrates on another lead: Hinrich's affair, Imogen Jepsen (Isabella Bartdorff), who also lives in one of the apartment buildings, and her son, Lukas Jepsen (Tom Gronau), a trainee police officer who turns up one too many times during the ongoing investigation.

The detective doesn't let up and discovers that Imogen Jepsen's alibi - she claims to have been in her favorite pub at the time of the crime - is a fake. Lukas Jepsen had persuaded the landlord to slip the investigators an old surveillance camera recording showing his mother. When Jana catches her son Leo (Jacob Lee Seeliger), of all people, secretly searching through the investigation documents, things get tricky.

Season 2 of Murder Sisters - Crime is a Family Affair: New in the ZDF media library

August 25, 2023

Janina Janssen (Kim-Sarah Brandts), a sports teacher at the nearby naval school, is found dead, apparently shot at close range. Her husband had reported her missing two weeks earlier.

While Viktoria (Lena Dörrie) and Sami (Tamer Trasoglu) investigate the victim's surroundings and soon come across inconsistencies, Feli (Caroline Hanke) concentrates on the maggots she collects from the body. She hopes that they will shed light on the crime scene and the time of the crime. The news of his wife's death hits naval officer Sven Janssen (Christian Schneeweiß) hard. The two were happily married, and Janina had lovingly cared for Sven since he became paraplegic following a tragic accident. Viktoria and Sami begin their investigation in the vicinity of the naval school. There, too, they are shocked by the death of the popular sports teacher. But the deeper the team digs into Janina's circumstances, the more possible motives they uncover.

When the autopsy reveals that Janina was pregnant, but that her husband could almost certainly not be the father, the investigation gathers pace. Janina had apparently used an online platform for her appointments, which now becomes the focus of the detectives' attention. Did she meet her killer there?

While the murder case keeps the sisters on their toes professionally, there is still plenty of potential for conflict in the family flat share: Feli and Josh (Jonah Djalili) have a completely different system of organization than Viktoria and Jule (Anne Moll) - apparently none at all. Viktoria wants to change this and already has a plan, but her sister is anything but enthusiastic about it ...

Billions - The final season: New on WOW

August 18, 2023

Former Attorney General Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) has hit finance mogul Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) hard and was even prepared to accept a prison sentence to achieve this. Now, however, Chuck is more determined than ever to bring other financial criminals to justice. Meanwhile, the question is whether Mike Prince can recover to continue pursuing his dream of the presidency. Bobby "Axe" Axelrod (Damian Lewis) resurfaces and makes connections with former allies. Will these connections help him return and exact revenge?

About the series

At first glance, the successful manager of a hedge fund, Bobby "Axe" Axelrod, presents himself as a generous philanthropist. He invests his fortune in charitable projects and pays tuition fees for the children of deceased colleagues who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks. However, ambitious prosecutor Chuck Rhoades is firmly convinced that Bobby's dazzling image conceals dark criminal activities. Wendy, Rhoades' wife, works as a motivational psychologist - at Axelrod's company, Axe Capital, of all places. As a result, she is caught in the crossfire of the investigation and is faced with the difficult decision between a job offer from her husband and her loyalty to her superior. No other series provides such an authentic insight into the world of Wall Street's most influential players. The makers of the series have meticulously researched the financial world and modeled the characters on real-life examples.