34 years Lena Odenthal
The longest-serving “Tatort” detectives
Lena Odenthal has been investigating in the “crime scene” for 34 years. Which commissioners can hold a candle to her in terms of years of service?
Lena Odenthal, aka actress Ulrike Folkerts (61), is already in her 34th year of service with her latest case “Lena’s Aunt”. As early as 1989, the commissioner flickered across the screens in a “crime scene” for the first time. This makes her the longest-serving investigator in the popular crime series. She doesn’t have the most cases (77) under her belt, but she does have the most years of service.
The Munich investigative team consisting of Ivo Batic (Miroslav Nemec, 68) and Franz Leitmayr (Udo Wachtveitl, 64) had the most operations (91). But the two only came to their first case two years after Odenthal, in 1991.
Max Ballauf (Klaus J. Behrendt, 62) and Freddy Schenk (Dietmar Bär, 61) from Cologne made it to third place among the longest-serving “crime scene” commissioners, with Ballauf having been active as an investigator in Düsseldorf since 1992. Incidentally, they have come up with a total of 86 cases so far.
Moritz Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer, 62) from Austria, who has been investigating from Vienna since 1999 and has been supported by Bibi Fellner (Adele Neuhauser, 64) since 2011, just missed the podium. In fifth place is the popular Münster team consisting of Frank Thiel (Axel Prahl, 62) and Professor Karl-Friedrich Boerne (Jan Josef Liefers, 58), who have been investigating together since 2002.
All current “Tatort” investigators in chronological overview:
Since 1989: Lena Odenthal from Ludwigshafen
Since 1991: Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr from Munich
Since 1997: Max Ballauf and Freddy Schenk from Cologne
Since 1999: Moritz Eisner from Vienna
Since 2002: Frank Thiel and Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne from Münster
Since 2002: Charlotte Lindholm from Hanover (until Film 25) and Göttingen
Since 2003: Klaus Borowski from Kiel
Since 2008: Thorsten Lannert and Sebastian Bootz from Stuttgart
Since 2010: Felix Murot from Wiesbaden
Since 2012: Peter Faber from Dortmund
Since 2013: Thorsten Falke from Hamburg
Since 2013: Nick Tschiller and Yalcin Gümer from Hamburg
Since 2015: Robert Karow from Berlin
Since 2015: Anna Janneke and Paul Brix from Frankfurt am Main
Since 2015: Felix Voss and Paula Ringelhahn from Nuremberg
Since 2016: Karin Gorniak and Peter Michael Schnabel from Dresden
Since 2016: Ellen Berlinger from Freiburg (Film 1) and Mainz
Since 2017: Franziska Tobler and Friedemann Berg from Freiburg
Since 2020: Adam Schürk and Leo Bäumer from Saarbrücken
Since 2020: Isabelle Grandjean and Tessa Ott from Zurich
Since 2021: Liv Moormann, Mads Andersen and Linda Selb from Bremen