{{for, the surname, Stockinger (surname) ''Stockinger'' is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n-made

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

, with fourteen 45-minute episodes first aired from 1996 to 1997. The series is a spin-off from the popular Italian-Austrian television drama ''

Inspector Rex ''Inspector Rex'' (German: ''Kommissar Rex''; Italian: ''Il commissario Rex'') is an Austrian-Italian police procedural comedy-drama television series created by Peter Hajek and Peter Moser. Originally an Austrian series aired from 1994 to 2004 ...

'', and focuses on

Ernst Stockinger ''Inspector Rex'' (German: ''Kommissar Rex''; Italian: ''Il commissario Rex'') is an Austrian-Italian police procedural comedy-drama television series created by Peter Hajek and Peter Moser. Originally an Austrian series aired from 1994 to 2004 on ...

, one of the original members of the homicide division or ''Mordkommission'' in German. Stockinger (

Karl Markovics Karl Markovics is an Austrian actor and film director. He was born in Vienna, Austria. Biography Markovics' mother worked as a clerk and his father was a bus driver. Markovics did not want to go into a professional career but wanted to become a ...

) leaves the series to return to

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

where his wife (who did not appear in the original series) has inherited a dental practice from her late father. He is appointed as ''Bezirksinspektor'' (District Inspector) at the ''Landes Gendarmerie'' (provincial police force), sharing an office with District Inspector Antonella Simoni ( Sandra Cervik). Unlike the members of the team in ''Rex'', who appear to be self-directed and are seldom seen to answer to senior management, Stockinger reports to Dr Brunner (Herr Hofrat), a philosophising

bureaucratic The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

senior police inspector. Stockinger is portrayed as a clumsy, almost

Inspector Clouseau Inspector Jacques Clouseau (), later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical ''The Pink Panther'' series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in the ...

-like character, driving a clapped-out 1973 VW Variant, but single-minded when following up clues. The series was first broadcast in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in February 2008 on SBS television. SBS was responsible for the English subtitles therefore bringing the series to a wider audience than simply those with a knowledge of the German language. SBS also provided the English subtitles for all the Inspector Rex series. The series has since been released in two parts on DVD.

First Episode

'Stocki' arrives at the height of the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

, receiving free tickets to the annual performance of Jedermann (which he misses). Coincidentally, this event will set the scene for his first case which involves the murder of one of the city's chocolatiers, Herr Fehling. His bitter business rival, Baldinger, is the obvious suspect but Stockinger is not prepared to jump to conclusions.

List of episodes

#Salzburger Balls #Fatal Night #Last Stop Hallstadt #Corpse in a Field of Daffodils #Innocent Lambs #Horror on the Traun #Murder Season at See-Hotel #The Secret of Krimmler Falls #The Power of The Dead #Living Targets #Arrows at Tennegau #Still Water #Clues to a Death #Death at Saalbach

External links

review on The Age website''Stockinger'' at The Internet Movie DatabaseEpisode Synopses
(in German) Austrian crime television series 1996 Austrian television series debuts 1997 Austrian television series endings 1990s Austrian television series Austrian television spin-offs German-language television shows