On September 20, the Erste network will broadcast a new case featuring detectives Ballauf (Klaus J. Behrendt, 66) and Schenk (Dietmar Bär, 65). At 8:15 PM, the popular duo will investigate in Tatort: Die letzten Menschen von Köln in the prepper milieu. The 96th Cologne Tatort by Behrendt and Bär is the second new episode after the end of the summer break. On September 13, Charlotte Lindholm will first return to screens.
What Tatort: Die letzten Menschen von Köln is about
According to WDR, the crime drama takes the Tatort detectives, who have been active for decades, deep underground into a former Cologne civil defense bunker, among other locations. But it first begins with the recovery of a World War II bomb. The cathedral city of Cologne is thrown into great commotion by the events.
Meanwhile, Max Ballauf and Freddy Schenk attempt to solve the murder of a vocational school teacher who was killed with a hunting knife. The chief inspectors are looking for Elara Schmidtke (Katharina Schüttler, 46), the victim's sister, who is participating in a prepper workshop in a former bunker. Ballauf and Schenk subsequently try to locate the secret location. The preppers also find themselves in an extreme situation where mutual mistrust and aggression threaten to take over.
Klaus J. Behrendt "doesn't want to end up in something like that"
Filming took place in part at the former civil defense bunker in Cologne-Kalk. The location caused feelings of oppression for the experienced Tatort investigators. It was "very cold and dark," WDR quotes Klaus J. Behrendt in a statement. The location was supposed to provide "space for more than 2,000 people," but according to plans, food and water would have only lasted for two weeks. "And then? Honestly, I don't want to end up in something like that," Behrendt remarks.
His colleague Dietmar Bär thinks little of the prepper scene's precautionary mindset. "When the last can is opened, the last bottle of water is emptied," even the best-prepared person would have to come out of the "protective bunker and open the hatch." Bär therefore believes: "You can save yourself that time. And the money for survival training too."
For Katharina Schüttler, a reunion after 28 years
Katharina Schüttler (Oh Boy, Ku'damm 56) plays a lead guest role in Tatort: Die letzten Menschen von Köln. For the actress, it's a special reunion. She already played a student in Bombenstimmung, the second Ballauf and Schenk case from 1997.
