Crime scene investigators in Munich say goodbye after 35 years

There has been speculation for a long time, but now it is official: the experienced Munich “Tatort” commissioners Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr have announced their retirement. A turning point in the history of the Sunday night crime thriller.

The Munich detectives “Tatort” leave the successful television series ARD. After more than three decades, 69-year-old actor Miroslav Nemec and his 65-year-old colleague Udo Wachtveitl are saying goodbye to the Sunday evening crime thriller. Their hundredth case will be the last for commissioners Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr, as Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) announced on Tuesday. So far there are 93 cases pending.

According to BR information, more films are planned for 2024 and 2025 – “before the commissioners say goodbye to the service after 35 years and 100 cases”.

“As ‘chief inspectors’ of the crime scene, Udo and I have guided several real police colleagues and a police chief from Munich into retirement in recent years. They were all a little younger than us. “It’s a good reason for us to say hello at some point,” Nemec said, according to BR. Wachtveitl called his involvement with “Tatort” “the longest sloppy relationship I’ve ever had.”

The Munich team is one of the longest serving crime scene investigators ever. Her first case was broadcast in 1991. Only Ulrike Folkerts as Ludwigshafen researcher Lena Odenthal has been employed for two years longer, but has had significantly fewer cases in that time. The Munich team has so far reached 93 cases; no investigative team has ever had more cases.

Two episodes have already been filmed, and according to BR, five more will follow, then the 100 will be full. Seven new episodes featuring Leitmayr and Batic will air over the next two years – the next in early February.

There was speculation about an ending for the Munich duo, who regularly end up high in the popularity rankings of the TV researchers (albeit behind the Münster team), at least since it was openly mentioned in the Christmas “Tatort” in 2022.

31-year-old actor Ferdinand Hofer had already said he could imagine continuing to play his ‘Tatort’ role as Kalli’s assistant even if the bosses retire. However, the BR initially left it unclear how things would continue after the long era of Nemec and Wachtveitl: “Who will join the Tatort Munich team after the end of this era from 2026 will be decided in peace and in due course time to be announced.” (sda/dpa)