A strong team: mixed doubles

Episode in the series A strong team
Original title	mixed double
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
length	90 minutes
classification	Episode 1 ( list )
First broadcast	March 28, 1994 on ZDF
Rod
Director	Konrad Sabrautzky , Neithardt Riedel
script	Krystian Martinek , Neithardt Riedel
production	Klaus Michael Kühn , Norbert Sauer
music	Johannes Schmoelling
camera	Heinz-Dieter Sasse , Michael Steinke
cut	Karen Loennecker , Sybille Windt
occupation
Maja Maranow : Verena Berthold Florian Martens : Otto Garber Karin Baal : Daniela Heitberg Leonard Lansink : Georg Scholz Tayfun Bademsoy : Yüksel Yüzguler Jaecki Schwarz : Sputnik Maximilian Wigger : Axel Traugott Buhre : Verena Berthold's father Heino Ferch : Willi Sebastian Koch : Stefan Dirk Nawrocki : Jörg Andreas Schmidt-Schaller : Kippenberg Victor Schefé : Pjotr André Hennicke : Bruno Karin Düwel : Mrs. Garber Dagmar Biener : Policewoman Michael Kind : Heiner Hans Martin Stier : Operations Manager
chronology
Successor  → Merciless

Mixed Double is a German television film by Konrad Sabrautzky and Neithardt Riedel from 1994. It is the pilot episode of the crime series Ein stark Team with Maja Maranow and Florian Martens in the leading roles.

action

The entrepreneur Kippenberg runs a chain of copy shops and an import-export GmbH in Berlin. The Kripo has strong evidence that Kippenberg's real source of income is drug trafficking and that his company is only used for money laundering. An undercover agent contacts Piotr, one of Kippenberg's employees, as an alleged dealer. Piotr, who has no idea that his apartment is bugged and he himself is under surveillance around the clock, procures the first shipment of heroin for his "new customer". That is enough to justify a search warrant for Kippenberg's warehouse. At the time of the search, the business partner was visiting, who immediately opened fire on the police. After the emergency services have brought the situation under control, there is a surprise. The drug trade is just a side business that Piotr and his accomplices run without Kippenberg's knowledge. Kippenberg itself is a much bigger catch. He has prepared everything to import ready-to-use neutron bombs on a large scale. Only the police operation prevented the handover of a first sample copy at the last minute.

Accompanying the crime thriller, the main characters of the series are presented in detail. Verena Berthold is a "Westerner", self-confident and has many years of experience in the police service. She is single and still lives with her father. It was only against her massive protest that she was assigned Otto Garber, of all people, who was disreputable as a strange and solitary figure, as a new partner. Otto Garber, the divorced father of one daughter, was a police officer in the GDR even before the fall of the Wall. In principle, he doesn't think much of women in the police force. The idea of ​​a self-confident "Wessi" as a partner does not inspire him. By chance, a former companion of Otto opened a new restaurant very close to the investigation site. This is where Sputnik comes into play, a man of indefinite age who apparently enjoys Otto's trust and has a rich treasure trove of wisdom from which he likes to quote.

Background, first broadcast

The film was originally planned as a single crime comedy for Monday evening programs. Due to the high audience participation, another film was finally shot with mercilessly and so the crime series A strong team developed . Karin Baal played the role of SEK leader Daniela Heitberg in this pilot episode, from episode 2 Irm Hermann was occupied in this role.

The first broadcast of this film on ZDF took place on Monday, March 28, 1994 during prime time .

Locations (selection)

Mixed doubles were filmed in and around Berlin .

• The police headquarters was in the TELES building, Ernst Reuter Platz 8.
• The main suspect, Kippenberg, lived in a villa at Klopstockstrasse 14a. Berthold and Garber observe the villa from their company car, although Verena Berthold lives diagonally across the street at Schillerstrasse 10 with her father. (which is of course imperceptible in the film).
• The factory site where the illegal drug deals are carried out was at Wilhelminenhofstrasse 89.
• The rooftop chase was filmed at Gubener Straße 34-36.
• Sputnik's snack bar was on Frankfurter Allee 2.

Web links

• A strong team: Mixed doubles in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• A strong team: mixed doubles at crew united
• A strong team: Mixed doubles at Moviepilot

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A strong team: Submerged online edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt from January 4, 2020