Manfred Radtke made a small fortune as a ride rental company. “Kirmeskönig” they call him in Münster. And as a king, you need a befitting dwelling. That is why Radtke resides in a moated castle with his two children Tobias and Claudia and his second, young wife Farnaz. But the magnificent shed devours a lot of money – money that the Radtkes don’t have. A kind of medieval performance is intended to attract sponsors and potential guests. Shortly before the premiere, old Radtke is floating dead in the moat. Was it an accident or was it murder? Inspector Thiel (Axel Prahl) and Professor Boerne (Jan Josef Liefers) not only target the family, but also the previous owner of the castle, Clarissa von Lüdecke, who obviously has something to hide.
One of the strongest scenes in the film is a dispute between Professor Boerne and Inspector Thiel. The two bicker over the history of the Anabaptists in the 16th century. A dark era that caused fear and terror beyond the city limits. To this day, three iron baskets on the Lamberti Church in Münster remind us of this horrifying chapter. The corpses of the three leaders of the Anabaptist kingdom were presented to the population in the cages as a deterrent. Boerne and Thiel provide the viewer with this historical excursion in a few minutes and thus ensure that knowledge is conveyed between all the slapstick. The setting in which most of the story takes place is also impressive: a moated castle from the Middle Ages. In the film it is called the Radtkeburg. The original, Schloss Hülchrath, is in Grevenbroich.
After a more serious episode (“Limbus”) from Münster, the door and gate to the silliness are opened again in this “crime scene”. Professor Boerne dances in knight’s armor to the tunes of Michael Jackson, Thiel mocks him as “Knight of the Peanut” and the residents of the castle behave as if they were playing dress-up in a children’s theatre. The viewer feels like “The Little Ghost” from Otfried Preussler’s novel of the same name. That haunts the hallways, wondering: What the hell are all these crazy people up to?
In addition to their differences about the history of the city of Münster, Thiel and Boerne have another difference of opinion: the inspector has recently had a full beard. For the coroner, however, it’s just “undergrowth in the face”. “I, on the other hand, wear a beard of success,” boasts Boerne and compares himself to Salvador Dalí. Thiel, however, has someone else in mind. The doctor reminds him of the communist Walter Ulbricht. Boerne prefers to leave this comment uncommented.
The “crime scene” first ran in December 2020, but it didn’t quite fit the time of year at the time, because it was shot in summer. The repetition in August is more convenient. If you don’t know the case yet, feel free to tune in.
The “crime scene: long live the king!” was first broadcast on December 13, 2020. ARD repeats the case on August 7, 2022 at 8:15 p.m.
