Ein Fall für Zwei
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Ein Fall für Zwei (meaning "a case for two") is a German detective show series.
The series, which is situated in Frankfurt am Main, began in 1981 and is (as of 2006) still on-going. It is unlike other German detective shows in that the main characters who solve the crimes are not in the police, instead they are a defense attorney and a private detective who works for him.
The detective character has been the same for the entire lifetime of the show. Josef Matula (played by Claus Theo Gärtner), a former German police officer, has gone into private business. His method of investigation is very effective and direct, and he sometimes even resorts to dirty tricks.
In contrast, the attorney character has changed several times. The first attorney was Dr. Dieter Renz (played by Günter Strack). Dr. Renz retired in episode #60 and was replaced by Dr. Rainer Franck (played by Rainer Hunold). In episode #149, Dr. Franck was offered a job as a law school teacher instead, and he was thus replaced by Dr. Johannes Voss (played by Mathias Herrmann). In episode #182, Dr. Voss was shot dead by an escaping criminal, and was in turn replaced by Dr. Markus Lessing (played by Paul Frielinghaus).
Most of the episodes follow a simple pattern. Someone is murdered, and the police arrest the most likely suspect. The suspect, claiming to be innocent, hires the current attorney in the series (Renz, Franck, Voss or Lessing) as his lawyer. The attorney does all the paperwork, talks with the police and goes to court. Meanwhile, Matula does all the actual research and detective work - "gets his hands dirty", so to speak. Matula often gets into fights, and even though he is in his early sixties, he often knocks the bad guys out. In the end, the original suspect usually (but not always!) turns out to be innocent after all, and the real culprit is found.
In late 2006 through early 2007, most episodes in the series included Matula visiting a strip club, to interrogate the owner or one of the customers, with very brief footage of topless female dancers. Very few, if any, other German detective shows share this theme. Current episodes have abandoned this theme.
