The Black Forest Clinic | |
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Title card
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Genre | Medical drama |
Written by | Herbert Lichtenfeld |
Directed by | Hans-Jürgen Tögel Alfred Vohrer |
Starring |
Klausjürgen Wussow Gaby Dohm Sascha Hehn Barbara Wussow |
Composer(s) | Hans Hammerschmidt |
Country of origin | West Germany |
Original language(s) | German |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 73 |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Wolfgang Rademann |
Location(s) | Germany |
Cinematography | Gernot Köhler Manfred Ensinger Jürgen R. Schoenemann |
Editor(s) | Heidrun Britta Thomas Inge P. Drestler Angelika Sengbusch |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | ZDF |
Original release | October 22, 1985 | – March 25, 1989
External links | |
Website | schwarzwaldklinik |
The Black Forest Clinic (German: Die Schwarzwaldklinik, German pronunciation: [diː ˈʃvaʁtsvaltˌkliːnɪk]) is a German language medical drama television series that was produced by and filmed in West Germany. The series was produced between 1984 and 1988 with the original airing being from October 2, 1985 to March 25, 1989 on (at that time) West Germany's ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) television channel.
The series' storyline follows the inner workings of a small fictional hospital in the Black Forest region of Germany as well as the lives of the Brinkmann family of doctors who work at the hospital.
Shortly after broadcasting had begun in 1985, The Black Forest Clinic became a highly popular television event, reaching audiences of over 20 million viewers. 25 years since its debut, it is still highly regarded in Germany. The series had been re-broadcast several times since 1985 and has spawned two television films released 20 years after its initial airing.
The creation of The Black Forest Clinic was influenced by the popularity of the Czechoslovak medical drama series Hospital at the End of the City which originally aired from 1977 to 1981 and was broadcast in both East Germany and West Germany. Actor Klausjürgen Wussow in interviews cited long-running American daytime television drama General Hospital as a major influence on The Black Forest Clinic.
The setting for the fictional hospital was the real-life Glotterbad Clinic in the town of Glottertal located in the Black Forest of Baden-Württemberg. Only the exterior of the Glotterbad Clinic was photographed and shown in the series, the filming of action inside the hospital was done in a studio in Hamburg. The name for the fictional hospital was borrowed from the location as well — Schwarzwald being the German language name of Black Forest.