Heike Makatsch
That’s why her “crime scene” career is over
© SWR/Ziegler Film
First Freiburg, then Mainz, then the end: Heike Makatsch as a “crime scene” investigator is history. These are the reasons for the cancellation of SWR.
In late summer 2015, what felt like it had belonged together for a long time came together: one of the most remarkable and respected actresses in this country took on a position as a “crime scene” investigator and stood in front of the camera for the first time as a detective. The first case involving Heike Makatsch, 52, alias Ellen Berlinger, was broadcast on Easter Monday 2016 with much praise.
Initially intended as a one-off event “crime scene”, both the ratings and the predominantly positive reviews convinced the makers at the responsible Südwestrundfunk relatively quickly: It continues with Makatsch in the most popular crime series in Germany. And despite the potential of Makatsch and her role as Berlinger, which was attested by most “Tatort” observers, the relationship subsequently withered into a non-starter.
In a brief press release in June 2023, Makatsch’s final end was announced – after around eight years of collaboration. However, only five films were produced together during this long period. Without continuity in changing locations (Mainz and Freiburg), the spark didn’t finally fly in the end: after today’s film “Out of the Dark” it’s finally over. And that despite the fact that the last film is undoubtedly one of the best Berlinger crime novels that was unleashed on the audience.
That is SWR’s reason for leaving Makatsch
Makatsch himself has not yet spoken out in interviews about the end of the “crime scene”, but SWR provided the reasons for the end of the long but not very intensive relationship: financial constraints are to blame for the end. It is painful, the Mainz series “after the new case […] for financial reasons,” the statement says. On the one hand, inflation is leading to increased costs for the station’s fictional productions, which “unfortunately we can no longer absorb without cutting back on offer.”
On the other hand, money would have to be reallocated in order to be able to produce more series for the ARD media library. In the future, the SWR will therefore concentrate on the “crime scene” teams in Ludwigshafen, the Black Forest and Stuttgart, which, as before, will investigate two new cases each year. At least they had a few words of praise for Makatsch: It was an honor “to be able to work with such a distinctive and multi-faceted actress like Heike Makatsch in ‘Tatort’,” the responsible program director Clemens Bratzler is quoted as saying. “There couldn’t have been a better portrayal of Chief Inspector Ellen Berlinger.”