Crime scene: sharks off Heligoland

Episode of the series Tatort
Original title	Sharks in front of Heligoland
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production ; company	NDR
length	90 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
classification	Episode 157 ( List )
First broadcast	April 23, 1984 on ARD
Rod
Director	Hartmut Griesmayr
script	Peter Hemmer
production	Rüdiger Humpert; for Studio Hamburg Filmproduktion
music	Joe Dixie
camera	Frank A. Banuscher , ; Rainer Stuhlmacher
cut	Karin Baumhöfner , ; Marion zu Stolberg
occupation
	Manfred Krug : Paul Stoever, Chief Detective Inspector; Edgar Bessen : Heinz Nickel, chief detective; Ferdinand Dux : Lothar Mühlenkamp, chief detective commissioner a. D.; Bernd Tauber : Uwe Voss; Ronald Nitschke : Rolf Gerber; Ilse Biberti : Petra Kolb; Hans Hirschmüller : Volker Reinders; Dietrich Mattausch : Karl Lepka; Karl-Heinz Gierke : Alfred Jüssen; Susanne d'Albert : Mrs. Lepka; Peter Petran : Mr. Kröger; Michael Weckler : Mr. Johannsen; Werner Cartano : Captain; Thomas Kröger: radio operator; Helmut Gentsch;

Haie vor Helgoland is a television film from the crime series Tatort by ARD and ORF . The film was produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk and first broadcast on April 23, 1984. It is the first case of the chief detective Paul Stoever ( Manfred Krug ). He investigates on the side of detective chief Heinz Nickel ( Edgar Bessen ) and detective chief inspector a. D. Lothar Mühlenkamp ( Ferdinand Dux ).

action

The gangsters Karl Lepka, Alfred Jüssen and Volker Reinders celebrate the release of Lepka and Jüssen, who spent seven years in prison for various robberies, with a trip to Heligoland. Reinders had served two years at the time. Lepka got the idea that the day trippers would leave a lot of money on Heligoland and that this money would somehow have to be brought back from the island to the mainland. Reinders suspects what his two ex-accomplices are trying to imply. However, he does not want to participate in or support any further raids. However, with their knowledge of his involvement in previous joint crimes, Lepka and Jüssen put him under pressure so that he obtained the information they needed to carry out the robbery. He also hires another accomplice in the person of his girlfriend Petra Kolb, who smuggles the firearms for the attack on board the coat of arms of Hamburg . He promises Kolb a future together without financial worries and no further criminal acts if she helps him this one time with the upcoming coup. After a trip to Heligoland, Petra and the three gangsters go on board, where they hand over the weapons to Reinders.

Friends Uwe and Rolf are also on board. When Rolf takes photos of Petra, she reacts repulsively and flees. While Lepka, Jüssen and Reinders prepare for the attack, Uwe and Rolf keep trying to get closer to Petra. Reinders' attempt to get out fails because Lepka and Jessen force him to take part. The two then attack the ship's purser and force him to open the safe, which they then clear out together with Reinders. When Jüssen gossips and reveals details about Lepka's identity to the purser, Lepka shoots the man in cold blood. Reinders fails again in an attempt to prevent the murder. Shortly afterwards, Uwe and Rolf observe how Petra is talking to Reinders and are amazed because she had denied knowing him shortly before. Reinders instructs them to disembark in Cuxhaven instead of in Hamburg. While the three gangsters drive back to Hamburg by car, the paymaster's body is found. Meanwhile, Uwe and Rolf see Petra again picking up her car at the Landungsbrücken in Hamburg, even though she got off in Cuxhaven. Because the matter seems strange to them, they go after her.

The next morning, both of them found out about the robbery from the newspaper and that there had been a loot of one million Deutschmarks. The detective chief inspector Stoever, who is entrusted with the case, visits the retired chief inspector Mühlenkamp, who was shot a few weeks ago. The projectile of the murder weapon in this case was identical to that of the attack on board. Meanwhile, Rolf is convinced that Petra must have had something to do with the attack on board. Uwe seeks out Petra and watches her in front of her house. However, she denies having been on board. He confronts them with the photo they shared and wants to invite them to dinner. He speculates that she will meet with him because he has something against her in his hand. Meanwhile, Rolf goes to the police and reports to Stoever about three men who disembarked in Cuxhaven with travel bags. He says nothing about Petra and his suspicion of her aiding in the robbery. Rolf's behavior seems strange to Stoever, so that he has him shadowed. Petra tells Reinders about her meeting with Uwe, Reinders encourages her to meet him to find out what he knows. Mühlenkamp agrees to go through all the files he has worked on again before retiring. Stoever informs the press in order to draw the perpetrators' attention to Mühlenkamp. Meanwhile, Petra meets with Uwe. He speaks to her about the photos and his observations, but she reacts defensively. She also rejects his offer to help her and acts innocently. Reinders goes to Lepka and asks whether he also shot Mühlenkamp. He is furious that Lepka was careless enough to use the same weapon twice and believes that this would make it easier for the police to find them. At the behest of Reinders, Petra calls Uwe and makes another appointment with him.

Rolf has the idea that they could blackmail Petra. Uwe doesn't want to take part, however. Rolf then puts Uwe under pressure to reveal the meeting point agreed with Petra and drives there in his place. The police follow him. He confronts Petra with his knowledge and wants to get to her accomplices. She denies being a perpetrator or aiding and abetting, but agrees to take him to an acquaintance who has also been to Heligoland. Stoever's employee, Chief Detective Nickel, notes down the number of Petra's car. Petra brings Rolf to Reinders, but Lepka and Jüssen are also waiting there, who beat Rolf and drag him into her car. They want to know what Rolf knows about them. He demands 50 percent of the prey and bluffs that he also has photos that show them. The photos are deposited with his friend. They torture Rolf, who finally reveals Uwe's address. After Petra broke up with Reinders, she called Uwe and told him that his friend was in mortal danger. They agreed to meet. Meanwhile, Rolf's body is found. Nickel informs Stoever that Rolf got into Petra Kolb's car an hour ago. Uwe and Petra, who were also at the meeting point, noticed the police presence. They realize that Rolf was killed by the two gangsters. Petra now wants Uwe to go to the police, but he hesitates out of consideration for her. The gangsters have now visited Petra's uncle, since they suspect that Reinders has hidden the loot there. They are now convinced that Reinders could trick them and run away with the money alone or with his girlfriend.

Stoever and Nickel go to Petra and meet Reinders in front of her door. Reinder's attempt to escape can be foiled. Uwe and Petra are now looking for Petra's uncle because they think they are safe there. Meanwhile, in the presidium, Stoever hears Reinders, who pretends to be innocent. The officers examine Reinders' criminal record and come across his complicity with Lepka and Jussen. In the files there is an indication that Lepka has been handicapped since a shot in the hand was fired by Mühlenkamp. Mühlenkamp remembers that Lepka threatened to kill him during the trial at the time. After the shooting at Mühlenkamp, Lepka had been checked, but had apparently been able to obtain fake alibis. The police find Reinders' car. Stoever lets Reinders go in order to shadow him. When he doesn't find Petra in her home, he goes to see her uncle. Lepka and Jüssen now have not only Petra's uncle, but also Petra and Uwe in their power. They are just waiting for Reinders to appear and threaten the three of them that it will all be their turn if he does not come. When Reinders arrives at Petra's uncle's property, the first thing he does, as Lepka and Jüssen correctly suspect, is to get the loot out of the hiding place. Lepka succeeds in taking it from him. At the same moment, however, the men are surprised by Stoever and Nickel, who had followed Reinders unnoticed. Lepka refers to Jüssen and the hostages in the house. Stoever offers him the money, Reinders' car as a getaway car and himself as a hostage if he releases the people held in the house. Lepka's attempt to drive away with the booty and the inspector fails due to his own inattentiveness, which results in his arrest.

Production notes

When it was first broadcast on April 23, 1984, Haie had 16.85 million viewers off Heligoland , which corresponds to a market share of 42.0%.

background

Two weeks after it was first broadcast, two real criminals imitated the crime depicted in the crime scene . Masked and with armed force, they pushed the purser into his cabin at night on the seaside resort ship Roland von Bremen , which was moored at Columbuskaje in Bremerhaven . There they forced him to open the safe and then handcuffed him. The two perpetrators captured the daily income of an eight-hour butter trip to Heligoland of 60,000 Deutschmarks and escaped unrecognized. In contrast to the cinematic model, nobody was killed.

criticism

TV Spielfilm noted: "'Tatort' freshman Manfred Krug became one of the longest-lived TV investigators with 41 appearances" and found that the Tatort was a "rock solid crime thriller with a personable hero".