''Die Chefin'' is a German

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series starring

Katharina Böhm Katharina Böhm (born 20 November 1964) is a Swiss-born Austrian actress. Between 1999 and 2002 she played the role of Livia Burlando in the Italian TV series ''Il commissario Montalbano'', based on the character Salvo Montalbano from the novels ...

as First Police Chief Inspector Vera Lanz, a

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

police detective who has to balance her professional and private life. The show premiered on 24 February 2012 on

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

Plot

Vera Lanz is First Police Chief Inspector of the Homicide division in Munich. After the mysterious death of her husband, a fellow inspector, Vera raises her daughter Zoe alone. Successful in her professional life, Vera struggles personally as she's having an affair with the married

state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

. Her co-worker, Police Chief Inspector Paul Böhmer, is the former partner of her late husband, which provides tension between the investigators. In the first episode, Jan Trompeter completes Vera's team.

Characters

Main

First Police Chief Inspector Vera Lanz (

) is working for the homicide division in Munich, having lost her husband in a mysterious death. She's a strong and respected woman in her professional life, while struggling in her personal life. Police Chief Inspector Paul Böhmer (

Jürgen Tonkel Jürgen Tonkel (born 23 August 1962) is a German actor. Filmography * 1985: ''Blam!'' - Bruno * 1988: ''Büro, Büro'' * 1990: ''Das einfache Glück'' - Frank * 1990: ''Sekt oder Selters'' * 1990: '' Werner – Beinhart!'' - Landadeliger * 199 ...

) is the former partner of Vera's husband. Even though he seems very loyal and even protective of Vera, there exists a lot of tension between them. Police Inspector Jan Trompeter (Stefan Rudolf) is the new colleague of Vera and Paul, who's very good as his job and seems to have caught the eye of his boss.

Recurring

Medical Examiner Heike Steinbeck (Nicole Marischka) works in the coroner's office; she is a friend of Vera. State Attorney Marc Berger (

Stephan Kampwirth Stephan Kampwirth (born 20 March 1967) is a German theatre and screen actor. Biography Kampwirth graduated from Franz Stock High School in Arnsberg in 1986 and then did his civilian service as an ambulance driver in Munich. After training at t ...

) is involved in Vera's professional and private life. Even though he's married, Marc has an affair with Vera. Zoe Lanz (Olga von Luckwald) is Vera's teenage daughter, who's about to finish school and plans to move in together with her boyfriend. Georg Lanz (Hermann Beyer) is the father of Vera's late husband and is still investigating his son's mysterious death.

Episodes

Season 1 (2012)

Production

Filming for the first season, for which the

network ordered four episodes, started on 31 May 2011 and wrapped up on 8 August 2011. Intentionally planned for Saturday nights, ''Die Chefin'' became part of the network's famous Friday night line-up, with many crime dramas like '' Der Alte'' or ''

Ein Fall für zwei ''Ein Fall für zwei'' (''"A case for two"'') is a German television series, which premiered on 11 September 1981 on ZDF. The series, set in Frankfurt am Main, features two main characters who solve crimes: a defense attorney and a private invest ...

''. ''Die Chefin'' is the first Friday night crime drama that revolves around a female investigator.

Reception

''Die Chefin'' was positively received by critics. ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' wrote that Böhm could "believably show the balance between a successful inspector and a struggling woman". The online magazine ''Quotenmeter'' gave the show 80 out of 100 and wrote that "the opposing team of investigators can claim all sympathy".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chefin, die German crime television series 2010s German police procedural television series 2020s German police procedural television series German drama television series ZDF original programming Television shows set in Munich 2012 German television series debuts German-language television shows