Thiel and Boerne

Detective chief inspector, Frank Thiel and forensic medical examiner, Dr. Karl Friedrich Boerne are the lead protagonists of the German television series, Tatort Münster.

The fictitious detectives are portrayed by actors Axel Prahl and Jan Josef Liefers respectively. This humorous series has been airing since 2002 and is produced for the German television channel WDR. Two episodes are produced each year and on November 25, 2012, the decennial anniversary of the show was celebrated with the episode “Das Wunder von Wolbeck” ("The Wonder of Wolbeck"). Tatort Münster is part of the German television crime series, Tatort, which has been running continuously since 1970.

Tatort Münster was developed by the screenwriters, Stefan Cantz and Jan Hinter. The character of Professor Boerne was based on a renowned forensic examiner from the University of Münster. German actor Ulrich Noethen was offered the role in the beginning but he turned it down which lead producers to offer the roll toJan Josef Liefers. According to Liefers, he had already observed 13 autopsies.

The production took place mostly in Cologne and the surrounding area since the WDR production companies, Colonia Media and Filmpool are also located in Cologne. Only exterior shots were filmed in Münster on a regular basis. Production was sponsored by the organization, Filmservice Münster.Land, which is part of Münster’s public relations office. The regional Münsterland E.V. association and the IHK (industry of trade and commerce), Nord-Westfalen also sponsored the show. A single episode of Tatort Münster is reported to have an approximate budget of 1.3 million euros.

The concept of a perpetual present is a typical narrative feature. Perpetual present means that individual episodes are not connected in a chronological way; instead, each episode is set in the immediate present under similar conditions to the previous episode. This results in the absence of character development. For example, the son of Detective Thiel is 12 years old in the first episode, "Der dunkle Fleck", in 2002 and six years later in "Wolfsstunde" he has aged only one year. Furthermore, the character of Nadeshda Krusenstern had to wait more than ten years to finally receive her detective’s promotion, which is an unrealistically long period of time. Nevertheless, there is some procedural development. For example, Detective Thiel does not have a driver’s license in the beginning of the series and has to rely on others to give him a ride, but several episodes later he can be seen driving himself.

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