Season 53

The team investigate when the body of a man is found in the Dortmund harbor area.

Total Blackout: Upon waking up, Commissioner Thiel cannot for the life of him explain how he ended up in this hotel room. And what are Professor Boerne and that giant plush koala doing sitting on the edge of his bed? But things are about to get even worse: A body has been found in the woods nearby. The victim turns out to be Thiel’s former boss from his days with the Hamburg Homicide Squad—a man he hasn't seen in years. Or has he? Professor Boerne is fascinated by Thiel’s amnesia and joins him in the search for clues. (Text: ARD)

Carolin and Moritz Seitz were once known as a successful couple of actors. But today she is considered the wife of a murderer: four years ago, Moritz Seitz was convicted of killing the former theater star Thore Bärwald after an excessive New Year's Eve party. Now Ole Stark turns himself in to the police. He is also an actor and claims to be the real killer. The public prosecutor's office cannot initiate new investigations, but they give Ballauf and Schenk a week to find out what is true about the story that is being served to them.

After four years in prison for the manslaughter of her father, Sara Manzer wants to look ahead. She has support for her new life - primarily from her friend Marlene, who takes her into her apartment. Sara, who has turned from a party girl into a reserved woman as a result of her imprisonment, wants to shake off memories and reorient herself. But then the police show up at her door. A former colleague was stabbed and old files of her case were found on him. She reluctantly admits that she spoke to Benno Rose before his death. He had new insights into her old case that should relieve her. Sara insists she had nothing to do with Rose's death. Which doesn't stop the inspectors from investigating.

Feline Wagner disappeared a year ago and a friend reported her missing. Now her body is found by chance in a burial forest during preparations for an urn burial. An argument at the site distracts Faber: It's hard to miss the fact that Commissioner Bönisch and the KTU member Sebastian Haller are already having their private dispute on duty again. Observing that Martina Bönisch's emotional life is putting a strain on herself and her work doesn't leave Faber unmoved. Rosa Herzog and Jan Pawlak contact the Ihle funeral home: The gravesite was reserved here, a few days after Feline Wagner disappeared. It was paid for in cash by a man who gave a false name. Another murder victim is rescued, just a few steps away from the first. There was a year between the two murders - and soon twelve months have passed again...

What begins as a completely "normal" murder investigation takes on ever wider ramifications: The shopaholic Magnus Rosponi is found beaten to death in his apartment. But neither his cheerful bowling friends nor Silke Haller, who recognizes the dead man as a teenage crush, can explain why the popular man had to die. Instead, Professor Boerne finds a strange, small object in the corpse. Thiel discovers parallel amorous entanglements. And when the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution turns up in the shady characters Muster and Mann, things get absurd. Apparently Thiel and Boerne have stirred up a hornet's nest and even attracted the attention of an assassin. But how is it all connected? And what's the story with the little dog that loves eating bananas?