Undercover (Belgian TV series)
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Undercover |
| Original title | Undercover |
| Country of production | Belgium , Germany , the Netherlands |
| year | 2019 |
| Production company |
ZDFneo , Netflix , Proximus , Good Friends , Federation Entertainment , Dutch Filmworks |
| length | about 50 minutes |
| Episodes | 10 in 1 season ( list ) |
| genre | Crime series |
| Director |
Frank Devos (Ep. 1–4) , Eshref Reybrouck (Ep. 5–10) |
| idea | Jan Theys |
| music |
Steve Willaert , Hans Mullens |
| camera | Laurens De Geyter |
| cut | Gert Fimmers |
| First broadcast | February 24, 2019 on Eén |
First publication in German |
May 8, 2019 on ZDFneo , ZDFmediathek |
| occupation | |
| |
Undercover is a mainly Belgian crime - television series that began of 2019. The 10-part first season is about two police officers who are covertly investigating a drug dealer in order to collect evidence for his transfer. It was co-produced by ZDFneo and Netflix , among others, and was first published in German in May 2019.
action
The Dutchman Ferry Bouman is the boss of a group of criminals who manufacture and sell large quantities of ecstasy in the Belgian province of Limburg . On the weekends, he lives with his wife Danielle and his closest employees in a bungalow on a campsite in Limburg. When the Belgian Federal Police become aware of Ferry, they begin - in cooperation with the Dutch police - in Ferry's environment to collect evidence against him as undercover police officers , who are the Flemish Bob Lemmens and the Dutch Kim de Rooij . Disguised as permanently camping lovers "Peter" and "Anouk", they move into a caravan in the direct vicinity of Bouman - in the further course of the action a house - on the campsite. Little did they suspect that Ferry is secretly in contact with the informant Walter Devos, who works for the homicide squad and is known to the drug chief Marc Gevers. Walter elicits information from him about his investigation, but not about the undercover operations.
Bob and Kim try to gain the trust of Ferry and his helpers, using different approaches that lead to conflict - they are risky, he is more concerned with safety. While Kim builds a friendship with Danielle, Bob Ferry makes him believe that he is an international natural stone dealer and, as such, also in the smuggling business. Ferry's followers also include his brother-in-law and managing director John Zwart and the aggressive ex-kickboxer Jurgen, who injured "Peter" when he tried to relax "Anouk" from him. Bob damages Jurgen's car, only to offer himself as a helper in removing the alleged traces of an accident and thus to gain Ferry's trust. Bob and Kim can secretly steal the SIM card numbers on Ferry's cell phones. When they therefore visit their superior Nick Janssens in Antwerp , they are secretly observed by John, who is therefore suspicious of. Bob will.
With information the drug squad received from monitoring the cell phones, it was able to arrest Jurgen shortly after he had picked up a shipment of raw materials used to produce ecstasy. At Bob's suggestion, the department releases Jurgen again, also in order to strengthen Bob and Kim's position of trust in Ferry - knowing full well that the immediate release will put Jurgen in a dangerous position. In fact, Jurgen is shot dead by John shortly afterwards out of suspicion. Ferry checks “Peter's” trustworthiness and subjects him to a number of tests, including the collection of a load of PMK from Poland including the fictitious theft of the load. A real-life married father, Bob is forced to neglect his marriage in favor of undercover investigations; therefore his wife files for divorce. A little later he has sexual intercourse with Kim.
When Walter participates in the homicide investigation into Jurgen's death, Marc finds out by shadowing Walter that he is John serving as an informant. Then Marc and public prosecutor Liesbeth Mertens force him, under threat of exposure, to continue playing his role as an informant, but to pass on all information from the gangsters to the investigators. In the meantime, Ferry and John have found out that their latest ecstasy customer Gino Maldini is selling the goods they bought to a German at a profit. As they therefore see their market position in jeopardy, they force Gino to reveal the German's name, with Gino seriously injured in the face. Gino therefore takes revenge and injures Ferry with a shot, Bob can save him from worse hits. In the pursuit of Gino, John is helped by Bob, who in turn Nick follows. Unplanned, John sees Nick, whom he had once seen with Bob and Kim, and whose trustworthiness he now doubts again.
Meanwhile, Danielle maintains a friendship with Kim, which - forced by Kim for investigative purposes - is becoming increasingly lesbian , and also takes ecstasy with her. As a result, Kim works to get Danielle - and thus Ferry - to stay here, as Ferry - feeling mortal danger for himself - wants to move away from Europe.
In the French port city of Saint-Malo, the investigators arrange a meeting between Ferry and John with a potential ecstasy buyer who secretly also works for the police and pretends to pay with cocaine . Meanwhile, John uses wiretapping to reinforce his suspicion that Bob and Kim are working for the police and that the trade talks are staged. So when he wants to kill Bob, he drowns in a duel with Bob in the harbor basin. Bob initially hides his guilt for the killing both the police and Kim, who - against him. therefore suspicious - the termination of the undercover investigation enforced. The bogus ecstasy sale fails, Ferry and Danielle leave for Aruba , and the police classify John's death as an accident.
Two months later, the bodies of two men who were murdered by John months ago are found in a forest next to the campsite. At Bob's insistence that Ferry be arrested for this, Liesbeth lets the undercover investigation against Ferry resume and also uses Bob and Kim. With an invitation to the wedding of “Peter” and “Anouk”, the investigators lure Ferry back to Belgium and most of his gang to the same place at the same time. The investigators stage a deal in Charleroi with the delivery of a large amount of ecstasy from Ferry's followers. Seconds after the police seized the ecstasy load, Ferry and his wife and cronies are arrested at the wedding reception at the campsite. The investigation against Ferry is over. He later receives a visit from a friend of John's in prison, who shows him a sound recording of Bob's final duel with John, which is supposed to prove that John's death was not an accident.
Emergence
The plot is based on real events around a police manhunt in 2013 in Chimay , when some undercover investigators smashed a large drug laboratory.
Nico Moolenaar acted as the showrunner . Scriptwriters for all episodes of the first season are Piet Matthys , Nico Moolenaar, Bart Uytdenhouwen ; At least in the first three episodes other people are named as scriptwriters.
The German dubbed version was created by Hamburger Synchron GmbH with Oliver Böttcher as the dialogue book author and dialogue director .
publication
The series premiered on February 24, 2019 on the Belgian public television channel Eén . ZDFneo will broadcast the first season synchronized in German for the first time from May 8, 2019, since the entire season has also been available in the ZDFmediathek . In many countries outside Germany, the series is available on Netflix via video-on-demand . The first season will also be released in German on May 10, 2019 on DVD and Blu-ray.
Episodes
In the German synchronization, the episodes do not have a German title, they all appeared on May 8, 2019.
| Ep. | Original title | First broadcast ( Eén ) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camping Zonnedauw | Feb. 24, 2019 |
| 2 | Hoogsensitief | 3rd Mar 2019 |
| 3 | Italian Designer Drugs | 10 Mar 2019 |
| 4th | Legio Patria Nostra | 17th Mar 2019 |
| 5 | Over de grens | 24 Mar 2019 |
| 6th | Sirenes | 31 Mar 2019 |
| 7th | De kop van die wout | April 7, 2019 |
| 8th | Nouveau moons | Apr. 14, 2019 |
| 9 | Bodem | Apr 21, 2019 |
| 10 | Show time | April 28, 2019 |
criticism
There was praise for the series from German critics. For example, Oliver Kaever from Spiegel online judged the first season to be “dramatically extremely sophisticated and emotionally rousing. Modern series television from the supposed hinterland. "Heike Hupertz found the work in the FAZ as exciting and as" a stylish and soundproof, plump, plush Belgian Noir variant ". The film service awarded three out of five possible stars and said the series impressed with “a lot of black humor and grotesque moments” as well as a “brilliant cast cast, gripping montage sequences and tricky scripts”.
Web links
- Undercover in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Undercover at Fernsehserien.de
- Undercover in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Undercover. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ cf. IMDb
- ↑ a b cf. Opening credits
- ↑ Undercover in the German synchronous file , accessed on May 11, 2019
- ↑ a b Oliver Kaever: Exzesse auf dem Campingplatz , in: Spiegel online from May 7, 2019, accessed on May 11, 2019
- ↑ Heike Hupertz: Belgian conditions , in: FAZ from May 8, 2019, accessed on May 11, 2019