Swiss thriller on a Sunday night? This is usually a forceps delivery, especially if we recall the previously unsuccessful episodes of “Tatort” in Zurich. But there is another way: today the new SRF crime series “Die Beschatter” starts in the same slot. It combines comedy and suspense and works for two reasons: first, unlike the creators of Tatort, controversial director Michael Steiner (53) loves his characters and lets them say things that come from ordinary people, not from the drawing board.
And Steiner is trying to get to the bottom of the features of the region and integrate them into the plot. The Zurich native can count on screenwriter Simone Schmid (43), who hails from Basel.
Relaxation and Lyoli
The most important thing in successful surveillance, as the protagonist and private investigator Leo Brand first explains to his detective students, is to avoid eye contact, relax and find “Loli” that distracts the person being tracked.
Steiner himself applies this advice perfectly. “Shadows” were set up with a light hand, a blessing in comparison with the Zurich exercises. He also found Lely. He is student detective Milan, played by Dardan Sadiq (30), who is bumbling in the line of duty and the counterpart of the series’ female mascot Agota, embodied by Meryl Marty (32).