Bülowbogen practice

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Television series
Original title Bülowbogen practice
Country of production Germany
original language German
Year (s) 1987-1996
length 50 minutes
Episodes 107 in 6 seasons
idea Ulrich del Mestre
music Jürgen Knieper / theme music recorded by the Sherry Bertram Orchestra (Hansa)
First broadcast October 6, 1987 on Das Erste
occupation
Berlin memorial plaque on the house, Zietenstrasse 22, in Berlin-Schöneberg

Praxis Bülowbogen is the title of an early evening series on First German Television , which was produced and broadcast by ARD from 1987 to 1996 and comprises 107 episodes.

The focus of the series is the practice of the doctor Dr. Peter Brockmann (portrayed by Günter Pfitzmann ). The practice is located at Zietenstraße 22, near the Bülowbogen, a curve in Bülowstraße or the underground line U2, which runs there as an elevated train, in the Schöneberg district of Berlin . In addition to the many everyday problems of his patients, Brockmann has to deal with his difficult family himself and at the same time to master his relationship problems, especially with his doctor's assistant Gabi Köhler ( Anita Kupsch ).

After 107 episodes, the series with Pfitzmann in the lead role was discontinued. With him also Anita Kupsch and part of the workforce stopped. All six seasons have now appeared on DVD .

The series successor is called Dr. Sommerfeld - News from the Bülowbogen with Rainer Hunold in the lead role.

Protagonists of the series

Peter Brockmann

Peter Brockmann is a general practitioner and runs a family doctor's practice that is always well attended in the West Berlin district of Schöneberg . His father was a pharmacist in Berlin and died on the Eastern Front in World War II . His patients come from different social classes. He is often confronted with problems such as long-term unemployment and poverty and associated other problems such as drugs , alcohol and domestic violence . He is at his patient's side with words and deeds and also supports them with problems that go far beyond medical issues, which often leads to difficulties himself, which even lead to threats of murder and violence. However, he will not be deterred by this.

As the series progresses, details about his biography come to light. At the age of 17, he was drafted as an anti-aircraft helper in the Second World War , together with the entire class of the upper prima . He later studied medicine in Greifswald and Berlin and passed his exams there. He then followed his doctoral supervisor , the Berlin political reasons left to the University of Vienna and received his doctorate there in medicine.

At the beginning of the series he is married to Hannelore (called "Lore") Brockmann (nee Maerker), who, however, left him 20 years earlier and initially disappeared without a trace. The marriage resulted in his daughter Katrin, who in turn was eight years old when her mother left.

Over the course of these 20 years, Brockmann maintained relationships with various women, initially with his office assistant Gabi. This relationship broke up, however, because Brockmann did not get a divorce, but Gabi wanted to marry. Nevertheless, both remain very close friends. Later relationships, such as with the restaurant owner Bea Knapp and the lawyer Iris Pauli, break up after a while. He even enters into an engagement with the pharmacist Pia Michaelis, but a wedding never takes place because the relationship also falls apart.

During the course of the first season, his wife Lore shows up unexpectedly and reveals to him that she felt so neglected at the time because Peter was always busy with medicine. She met a man named George and emigrated to the United States . Whether George was a German who emigrated with Lore or whether he was a US citizen and moved her to live with him is not conclusively answered.

George has since died, but left her a large fortune and a villa in Hollywood . In the second season the marriage of Peter and Lore is in mutual agreement divorced . After the divorce, the contact breaks off again until Peter Brockmann receives the news that Lore died of cancer in the USA.

In the penultimate episode of the series, Peter Brockmann met his colleague Dr. Peter Sommerfeld know and get on very well with him right away. Sommerfeld explains to him that he would like to take over the practice. Although he is in a joint practice with a colleague, he no longer gets along with him and would like to open his own practice, if possible in the area around the Bülowbogen. After many conversations and discussions, especially with Gabi Köhler, Brockmann finally plans a wedding with her and announces that he will hand over his practice to a successor in the foreseeable future. Whether this will happen is no longer an issue, but the follow-up series starts with Peter Sommerfeld taking over the previous practice from Peter Brockmann and reopening it as his own.

Katrin Brockmann

Katrin Brockmann is the daughter of Peter and Lore. She is also a doctor of medicine and initially works in a hospital for a limited period. When her mother returns, Katrin is initially dismissive as she adds to Lore that she had left the family. Eventually, however, there is a debate between mother and daughter. A discrepancy in the course of the series is that at the first meeting between Lore and Katrin (episode 19) there is talk of letters that Lore had written from America and that Katrin and her father also read. After Lore's death (episode 82), Lore's letters appear, which Lore had written but never sent. Several hints from Peters and Katrin (episode 89) now suggest that they did not receive any letters from America during Lore's lifetime.

During the second season she received a job offer from Münster . At the same time, Peter Brockmann made her the offer to work in his practice. This offer takes it and goes as specialist in internal medicine in the practice, making them the joint practice is. She has a relationship with Carlos Neuhaus, the brother of Peter Brockmann's temporary partner Pia Michaelis. However, after he cheated on her, she attempted suicide while driving a car , which she survived with serious injuries. After that she is temporarily paraplegic . She moves with her father into a ground floor apartment in Richard Solms' house, where she falls in love with his stepson Wolf. After he has reconciled with his wife, the short relationship ends. During this time she is on the mend and slowly learns to walk again. In order to further advance her therapy progress, she goes to Freiburg with her former student colleague Christian Eschenbach to receive further treatment there. After a while, she sends her father a letter and tells him that she has started a relationship with Christian Eschenbach, is staying in Freiburg and will therefore no longer return to the group practice.

Maerker family

The Maerker family is the family of Peter Brockmann's wife or ex-wife Lore, who initially lived in a villa on the island of Schwanenwerder . He also lives in a wooden house on their property. Owning a medical products company makes the family very wealthy. The original owner and founder, the late consul Kurt Maerker, is Lore's father. After his death, the company shares were divided between his widow Anna and his children Gisela, Lore and Georg. Some family members also work on the management team. While Georg Maerker and his sister Gisela Saalbach as a PhD chemist in function of two equal partners are mainly responsible for the production, Bernd Saalbach, the man of Gisela Saalbach than cares authorized (without ownership to be of shares) casts to the business side and always again the desire to expand and develop new business areas, e.g. B. in the field of cosmetics. However, Peter Brockmann manages his wife's shares in her absence and therefore has a blocking minority on the supervisory board , so that many such projects are overturned due to his veto , which turns Bernd Saalbach against him.

When the latter carries out an expansion project bypassing the supervisory board and concludes a contract with a marketing agency that later turns out to be dubious and that actually only wants to get company shares, the company gets into such financial distress that it even threatens bankruptcy . In this case, Peter Brockmann can remedy the situation by granting the company a loan of 1.6 million marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 1.36 million euros) from the dividend from his wife's shares . However, he makes this subject to the condition that Bernd Saalbach is curtailed in his competencies and decisions that he makes must be signed off by his brother-in-law Georg Maerker until the loan is fully repaid so that his wife's money is not carelessly jeopardized becomes.

Since then, Bernd Saalbach has begun to intrigue against Peter Brockmann in revenge . For example, he scatters the assumption that Peter Brockmann is not at all entitled to use a doctorate because he never did a doctorate in medicine. However, this can later be clarified in its favor. At the time, he had failed to have his doctorate recognized in Germany. Later he tries through Lore Brockmann, who wants to go back to the USA after her divorce and conclusion of all business, to get their company shares or to get them to his side. Since Peter Brockmann is supposed to continue to take care of these matters, this plan also fails. Bernd Saalbach finally drives his intrigues so far that he should be dismissed by resolution of all shareholders. However, he anticipates this dismissal by giving notice. After that he gets a job with a group not described in detail. After planning further intrigues against the families, none of which are working, he gets drunk in a pub, causes an accident with his car while drunk, in which two people are seriously injured, and hits the road . As a result, he lost his driver's license, was sentenced to a fine and 18 months in prison, which was suspended. In addition, he has to reckon with further civil law consequences and puts the blame for this on the Maerker family, who have completely destroyed him psychologically and therefore demands compensation in the millions. Some time later he tries again to get in touch with the whole family, his children and Peter Brockmann, apologizes to everyone for his behavior and says goodbye because he has accepted a position as a manager at a company in Leipzig . Shortly afterwards, he probably takes his own life by overdosing on sleeping pills .

During the first season it turns out that Rudi Lehmann, who works as a caretaker and chauffeur, is an illegitimate son of Consul Kurt Maerker. He had an affair with his then laboratory assistant Dorothea Lehmann. The resulting legal inheritance claims bring both the company and the family into financial distress for a short time.

The marriages of the remaining family members are also desolate. Lore and Peter Brockmann lived separately for over 20 years until they divorced by mutual agreement. The marriage of Gisela and Bernd Saalbach falls apart because he is spinning more and more intrigues against the family out of revenge. Georg Maerker, like his father, has a relationship with his laboratory assistant. At the same time his wife Rebecca is having an affair with her French teacher, this is but because she wants to save her marriage and then learns of the affair her husband. A short time later she had a serious accident on the AVUS , in which it is not clear whether it was really an accident or an attempted suicide. Although she survived relatively easily injured, she has since suffered from severe psychosis , thinks that the whole family has conspired against her and even causes a fire in Villa Maerker. After she was raped in a travel agency and devastated the facility there, she was forcibly admitted to a mental hospital. She later lives in a sanatorium in Switzerland and no longer appears in the series. During this time Georg starts an affair with Rudi's wife Sonja so that he can keep it in hand. However, this plan is thwarted. Towards the end of the third season, Rudi and his family leave the Maerkers' property for good and go to Cottbus , where he wants to get into a taxi company .

Maerker AG got into ever greater financial difficulties, so the family decided to sell both the villa on Schwanenwerder and the entire company. Georg Maerker moves into a condominium with his mother Anna , while Peter Brockmann first moves in with his partner Pia and after the relationship ends and after Katrin's car accident, he moves into the apartment of his former school friend Richard Solms. Gisela Maerker leaves Berlin and goes to a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland . Georg Maerker takes early retirement , but then starts thinking about how to start a new company. But for financial and organizational reasons he refrains from these plans and decides to start all over again. Since he is both a chemist and a pharmacist , he takes a job in the pharmacy of Peter Brockmann's partner Pia Michaelis for a while. There he begins an affair with the pharmaceutical technical assistant Annemarie Seidel, but it breaks up again quickly because he has kept quiet about the fact that he is actually married. After Peter Brockmann and Pia Michaelis' relationship ended, he quit his job. He then returned to Maerker AG's research and development department. There he begins a relationship with Nadja Bredow, who has a doctorate in pharmacy, without knowing that she is also having an affair with Richard Solms, the manager of Maerker AG, and that he is thus ignorantly in a love triangle . When Richard Solms' criminal machinations come out and he has to vacate his post at Maerker AG, Nadja Bredow separates from him and only wants a relationship with Georg Maerker until he confesses to her that he is still married at the moment. So she ends this relationship too. Unbeknownst to this, Richard Solms, who was completely desperate, stayed in Nadja Bredow's apartment and first shot his former lover, Georg Maerker, who followed her, and finally himself.

After the funeral of the murdered Georg Maerker, his mother Anna Maerker decides to leave Berlin and go to her daughter Gisela in Switzerland.

Sigi Kaul

Sigi Kaul is a 17-year-old girl at the beginning of the series and apparently a long-time patient of Dr. Brockmann, who lives with his grandmother in an apartment, as both parents work in West Germany . During the course of the first season, she learns that her dying grandfather once made a lottery win of one million marks and never touched this money because of his modest way of life. The inheritance goes to her parents, but they are killed in a car accident on the AVUS . First, she gives up her job in a department store and leads a very extravagant lifestyle, which, however, uses up all the money quickly. She decides to sell her expensive penthouse apartment and put this money back into savings and to train as a doctor's assistant. Later on in the series, she initially couldn't find a job and ended up working briefly as a vacation replacement in Brockmann's practice until she received another job offer from the internist in whose practice she was trained and accepted it.

Grandpa beak

Grandpa Schnabel is an old patient who initially worked with Dr. Brockmann and later with his daughter Katrin is in treatment and visits the practice regularly. He seems to like to spend time in the waiting room, as he often lets other patients with the sentence "I have time, I can wait". At some point, however, Peter Brockmann notes that he probably also does this because he is very lonely. He also doesn't appear again towards the end of the series. (Note: The background is the death of the actor Herbert Weisbach in 1995.)

Solms family

The Solms family is the family of Peter Brockmann's former school friend Richard Solms. Both graduated from high school together and were drafted as flak helpers in World War II. Peter Brockmann saved Richard Solms' life during this time. After Lore Brockmann's death, Peter Brockmann inherits the company shares that he managed for his wife for years. Richard Solms is a business economist and works for MEDAG, the group that took over the company after it was sold by the family. After many years, he tries to get in touch with Peter Brockmann, because he wants to get precisely those company shares and the associated blocking minority in order to be preferred when the parent company issues new shares. Since Peter Brockmann initially trusts him, he gives him power of attorney to manage the company shares. He is married to the pediatrician Birgit Solms, who also runs her practice in-house. His stepson, the teacher Wolf Solms, with whom he does not have a good relationship, is married to the teacher Bettina Solms, who has disappeared without a trace for several years and then suddenly reappears. Their daughter Laura Solms emerged from the marriage. It later emerges that the reason for her disappearance was a brief affair with her father-in-law.

Since Peter Brockmann also has to leave his house on the property because of the sale of the Villa Maerker and is looking for a shared and handicapped-accessible apartment with his paraplegic daughter, Richard offers him to move to the lower floor of his house, where a large apartment is free. This offer is made with the intention that he would like to get the company shares. After a while, Kathrin Brockmann falls in love with Wolf Solms and also develops a loving relationship with his daughter. It also turns out that Richard Solms has a relationship with the pharmacist Nadja Bredow, who works in the research department of Maerker AG. When his wife finds out about this, he has to leave his own house. Besides, his criminal machinations come out. For example, he conducted risky speculative transactions abroad, gave the power of attorney he received to the bank to manage the shares as security and embezzled company capital. On the advice of the board of the parent company, Peter Brockmann finally revokes this power of attorney. He is also being pressured to be released from his duties at his own request so that the scandal does not come to the public through the public prosecutor. In addition, he should be liable for the financial damage incurred. He complies with this request. His lover, Nadja Bredow ends the relationship (episode 101). In the same episode ("Deadly Triangle") Richard sneaks into Nadja's apartment with the help of a duplicate key, where he first shoots Nadja, then Georg and finally himself.

Wolf and Bettina Solms are reconciled with each other after death, which makes Katrin Brockmann jealous. After Katrin's meeting with her long-time student friend, who is now working in Freiburg, Katrin moves to the Black Forest, which clears the way for Richard and Bettina. Plans to move into an apartment of his own come to nothing, which is why Peter Birgit offers to move out. Birgit Solms, who is an internist , has the idea of ​​joining Peter Brockmann's group practice and taking over from his daughter's place. However, the latter refuses the offer because he only wants to run the practice as a family business. He is also planning to move out of the apartment in Villa Solms and to vacate it for Wolf and Bettina Solms and to return to a vacated apartment in the old Villa Maerker on the island of Schwanenwerder. Whether this will be implemented remains open at the end of the series.

The homeless

At the beginning of the series, Peter Brockmann maintains good contacts with the homeless "Gleisdreieck". He observes the Kietz very closely on his forays and tries to help other people through his contacts. He is always informed about what is happening. So he says of himself that he has to take care of the doctor too. “Gleisdreieck” is a nickname he was given because he initially lived near the Gleisdreieck underground station . In fact, he claims to be a count and of noble descent. Why he fell into homelessness is not discussed in detail. A special feature is that it often appears out of nowhere and involuntarily frightens Peter Brockmann. As the story progresses, his friend Berti comes to Berlin. He spent several years in prison because he was involved in a robbery on a money truck. At that time he had stolen 80,000 marks and buried them in a safe place near the Berlin Wall . When he wanted to dig up the money again, he was shocked to find that a residential area with many high-rise buildings has now been built at this point. In addition, he initially suffers from a severe alcohol problem , but overcomes it. In the further course of the series he takes over the task of “Gleisdreieck”, who has gone to Paris and also has the habit of appearing out of nowhere and involuntarily frightening Peter Brockmann. (Note: The background to this change was the death of the actor Klaus Schwarzkopf in 1991.) In addition, his best friend Ludger added himself. (Note: The background is the friendship between Günter Pfitzmann and his colleague Gerd E. Schäfer .) He is a caretaker and therefore lives free of charge in a tenement house. However, due to an alcohol problem, he can no longer do this job, has to leave his home and becomes homeless. His two fish, Neptune and Ilse, find a new home in the aquarium in Peter Brockmann's waiting room. During his regular visits, he falls in love with the practice assistant, Sister Erika. During the 6th season, Peter Brockmann and Gabi Köhler find the sad Ludger in the stairwell of the practice. This tells them that his best friend Berti has died. (Note: The background is also the death of the actor Günter Meisner in 1994.)

Guest appearances

Numerous well-known actors had guest appearances in individual episodes in the series. For example:

Others

With a view to the success of the series, a renaming of Zietenstrasse to Pfitzmannstrasse was discussed in the Schöneberg district council in 2014 , but ultimately no decision was taken.

For his role as Dr. Peter Brockmann was awarded the Golden Camera in 1987 to Günther Pfitzmann and the Telestar in 1988 .

On October 15, 2018 , a Berlin memorial plaque was unveiled at the former location for the broadcast in Berlin-Schöneberg , Zietenstrasse 22 .

Web links

Commons : Praxis Bülowbogen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zietenstrasse is to be renamed. In: Berliner Woche , November 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ Bülowbogen practice. Retrieved August 16, 2018 .