''Flikken'' (Belgian Dutch for "Cops") was a popular
Flemish
Flemish may refer to:
* Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium
* Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium
*Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium
* Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...
-
Belgian TV series
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
about a police-department located in
Ghent
Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
. The show started in
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
and ended on 19 April 2009. In the series, a team of six police officers solved various crimes, petty crimes as well as organised crime. The series always aimed at showing the policework in a realistic way—though a little personal drama was never far off.
Of all the actors that came along during the ten seasons, only Mark Tijsmans (playing Wilfried Pasmans) and Ludo Hellinx (playing Raymond Jacobs) appeared throughout the entire series.
Flikken was produced by the
VRT and broadcast on Belgian public channel
Eén
VRT 1 is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, VRT Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadcast in between some programm ...
and
TROS
TROS, originally an acronym for Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting ("Television Radio Broadcasting Foundation"), was a Dutch television and radio organisation part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. This broadcasting association was partic ...
in the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
.
Flikken is very popular in
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
and the Netherlands. The show has had very high ratings of up to 1.8 million viewers during the last (10th) season.
Every year the VRT organises the Flikkendag, a family day where the public can meet the actors of the show. There are many games, demonstrations of the real police and other safety organisations and performances of singers (including some of the actors on the show).
On 18 April 2009, a special farewell party was organised in Ghent, in which the actors and crew said goodbye to their fans - thousands had assembled to watch the show on stage.
In the Netherlands a
spin-off
Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media
*Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine
* ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
''
Flikken Maastricht
''Flikken Maastricht'' (Belgian Dutch for "Maastricht Cops") is a Dutch police drama. The series is set in Maastricht, Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, a city in the south of the Netherlands, and began broadcasting on Dutch channel NPO 1 on 3 Sep ...
'' runs from 2007. A second spin-off, called ''
Flikken Rotterdam'', was first broadcast in 2016. Both series are still running to this day.
Media adaptations
In 2005 a
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
came out based on the series, ''Flikken game - De Achtervolging''. It received bad reviews for its "unflashy" style.
A second video game, ''Flikken Game 2: Moord in Hotel Ganda'', was released in 2007. The game is a localised version of the 2006
Swedish game ''Dollar'', written by crime writer
Liza Marklund
Eva Elisabeth "Liza" Marklund (born 9 September 1962) is a Swedish journalist and crime writer.
Her novels, of which most feature the fictional newspaper journalist Annika Bengtzon, have been published in forty languages. Marklund is the co-own ...
.
In 2010 the TV series was adapted into an action comic, written by Zaki Dewaele and drawn by Michaël Vincent.
Episode
Cast
Main
Recurring
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, id=0217205, title=Flikken
een.be
Flemish television shows
Belgian crime television series
Belgian drama television shows
Television shows set in Belgium
1999 Belgian television series debuts
2009 Belgian television series endings
Television shows adapted into comics
Television shows adapted into video games
2000s Belgian television series
Works set in Ghent
VRT 1 original programming
NPO 1 original programming