Crime scene: expect the worst

Episode of the series Tatort
Original title	Expect the worst
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production company	NDR
length	92 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
classification	Episode 21 ( List )
First broadcast	September 24, 1972 on German television
Rod
Director	Peter Schulze-Rohr
script	Friedhelm Werremeier Peter Schulze-Rohr
production	Rüdiger Humpert Wolfgang Kühnlenz (at Studio Hamburg)
camera	Richard pupil
cut	Karl-Hermann Joksch
occupation
Walter Richter : Chief Inspector Paul Trimmel Joachim Richert : Detective Master L ... Ulrich von Bock : Chief Detective Petersen Manfred Schermutzki : Chief Detective Krombach Matthias Wegner : Jakob Tonndorf Sabine Sinjen : Jill Biegler Kornelia buoy : Helena Biegler Günter Einbrodt : Berthold Weyer Franz Rudnick : Professor Lachnitz Wolfgang Wahl : Professor Becker Karl-Heinz Gerdesmann : Professor Scheuerlein Kyra Mladeck : Charlotte Becker Bruno Dallansky : Millionaire Munck Gustl Bayrhammer : Chief Detective Melchior Veigl Gerhard Friedrich : Peter Wendisch Lothar Grützner : Senior Physician Meyers Kurt Klopsch : Chief of Police Jochen Köppel : Organizer Herbert Leonhardt : Night porter Rolf Mamero : State Secretary Karl-Ulrich Meves : Doctor Lieselotte Rau : widow brewer Erica Schramm : Jill Biegler's landlady Frank Straass : Oberkirchenrat Dr. Jülich

Expect the worst is an episode of the ARD crime series Tatort . The episode, produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) under the direction of Peter Schulze-Rohr , was first broadcast on ARD on September 24, 1972. It was the fifth case for Chief Inspector Paul Trimmel and the 21st crime scene.

action

Dr. Tonndorf, the manager of a Hamburg data center, which among other things also has donors and recipients for kidney transplants in his computers and selects recipients for donor kidneys, was shot dead at his workplace one Sunday while he was working. The porter finds the body, but has not seen the perpetrator come or go. His assistant, Jill Biegler, was briefly in the office that day, but had left the building shortly before the murder, as the porter can confirm. She says that she was interested in Tonndorf, but that Tonndorf was homosexual and therefore not interested. She also does not know about Tonndorf's enemies.

Shortly afterwards, a stranger breaks into Biegler's apartment and turns on the gas tap on the bathroom stove to kill her in her sleep. The attempt, however, was not suitable to kill Biegler. When she regains consciousness, she advises Trimmel to get data from the computer about Professor Lachnitz, who carries out kidney removal from the newly deceased. However, the Lachnitz survey did not reveal any suspicion. On the way back from Lachnitz, Trimmel suffered a traffic accident in which he was slightly injured. Obviously the steering of the car was manipulated.

Helena Biegler, Jill's sister, has kidney disease and is on dialysis . She urgently needs a donor kidney, Jill had gone to bed with Professor Tonndorf so that he would prefer her when looking for a donor. While looking through the computer data in the data center, Trimmel learns from Jill's sister and expresses the suspicion that Jill might have killed Tonndorf because he did not get his sister's kidney. Jill may have obtained an alibi with the help of her sister .

Meanwhile, Prof. Becker, who was in close contact with Tonndorf, has a patient in Munich, the millionaire Munck, who urgently needs a donor kidney. A friend of his had received a new kidney from Prof. Becker against payment of half a million Deutschmarks. Munck offers a full million, but Prof. Becker tells him that his supplier has died and that it is therefore not possible for Munck to get a new kidney.

Meanwhile, one of Trimmel's assistants, Petersen, determined Frau Brauer, one of the last donors from whom Lachnitz removed the kidneys. Brauer had given her consent to this operation. Petersen assumes that Brauer had agreed to the removal so that her husband could be kept alive two days longer. Since the brother of the deceased was also dying and both were the heirs of their father, a very rich and very old shipowner , the fact that her husband survived his brother resulted in a more favorable line of succession for them and their children.

When Trimmel's assistant Lobe wants to visit Jill Biegler, he comes across her friend Berti, who has been hiding with her from the police for several days because he is wanted for an attack on the Hamburger Hochbahn. This says that he met Jill through her sister Helena and that he had nothing to do with the gas attack on Jill.

Since Jill Trimmel still says nothing about her sister and claims to have met Berti in a disco, Trimmel doesn't believe her anymore. Trimmel visits Prof. Becker in Munich and confronts him with his suspicion that he had Tonndorf killed because he had made ever greater demands on the kidneys. Trimmel gets upset and collapses, since his injuries from the car accident were obviously more severe than expected. Prof. Becker calls a colleague for help and arranges an emergency operation . He only tells his colleague that Trimmel collapsed as soon as he got to his office. Prof. Becker operates on Trimmel, who had a brain hemorrhage . Becker did not let Trimmel die.

Prof. Becker and his wife commit suicide while Trimmel is slowly recovering from the operation. He wanted to avoid that his illegal organ procurement becomes public and he has to answer for it. Meanwhile, Petersen and L Bäumen interrogate Jill Biegler and Berti. Petersen noticed the similarity of the two hairstyles, so that he and Lüllen test whether Berti could not have left the car park of the data center instead of Jill Biegler. In fact, from a distance, the porter thinks Berti is Jill Biegler.

Jill continues to deny the fact, but Berti finally unwraps, whereupon Jill also makes a confession. He had promised her a kidney for his sister, but would rather move the kidneys expensively than provide one to save the life of Jill's sister Helena. She felt exploited and betrayed and therefore took revenge on Tonndorf. She also hoped to manage the data center so that she would have been able to get a kidney for her sister herself. The “attack” on Trimmel, on the other hand, turns out to be a botched job by Trimmel's workshop.

reception

Audience rating

When it was first broadcast in Germany on September 24, 1972, 64 percent of viewers saw the episode Expect the Worst .

criticism

The critics of the television magazine TV Spielfilm give the thumbs up for this crime scene and believe that "Author Friedhelm Werremeier was ahead of the times with his subject in 1972" and assess according to the title: "You better expect high voltage!"

Web links

• Crime scene: Expect the worst in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Expect the worst in the online film database
• Summary of the plot of Expect the worst on the ARD website
• Expect the worst at Tatort-Fans.de
• Expect the worst with the crime scene fund

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Certificate of Approval for Crime Scene: Expect the worst . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2009 (PDF; test number: 118 646 V).
2. ↑ Without evidence, audience rating at tatort-fundus.de, accessed on August 31, 2016.
3. ↑ TV feature film : This case goes to the kidneys: Inspector Trimmel tracks down organ dealers. TV crime classic from 1972 film review accessed on August 31, 2016.

previous episode July 9, 1972: Kressin and the man with the yellow suitcase

Crime scene follow

next episode October 8, 1972: Rat's Nest