Alles was zählt

Alles was zählt
Current Alles was zählt intertitle
Genre	Soap opera
Created by	Guido Reinhardt
Country of origin	Germany
Original language(s)	German
No. of episodes	2150+ (as of April 2, 2015) ^[1]
Production
Executive producer(s)	Guido Reinhardt Rainer Wemcken
Distributor	Grundy UFA TV Produktions GmbH
Broadcast
Original channel	RTL
Original run	September 4, 2006 – present
External links
Website

Alles was zählt (All That Matters) is a German television soap opera first broadcast on RTL on September 4, 2006.^[2] The original plot revolved around Diana Sommer's dream to become a world class ice skater. She fell in love with Julian Herzog, who signed her at the prestigious Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Center, run by the unscrupulous Steinkamp dynasty. Diana and Julian eventually became a couple, but in November 2007, Julian suffered a brain hemorrhage and died during their wedding. Diana remained in Essen until January 2009, when she left to join a skating centre in Halle. The story continues to revolve around the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre and its quest to become a sporting powerhouse, as well as the lives of the characters who work at and around the Centre.

Backstage Information

AWZ is the third daily soap on RTL, created after Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten and Unter Uns. While the show is set in Essen, filming takes place in Cologne.

Tanja Szewczenko is — like Diana, the character she played — a famous German ice skater. In January 2009, she left the series to pursue her skating career.

In February 2008, AWZ was awarded Blu Magazine's Best National TV Format award for its portrayal of the relationship between Deniz and Roman. Actors Igor Dolgatschew and Dennis Grabosch accepted the award on behalf of the series.^[3] While their story was spotlighted, the "DeRo" storyline reached a wide international fanbase with over 12,000 subscribers on YouTube.^[4]

The series is produced by Grundy UFA productions, the same company responsible for RTL's other daily soaps. In October 2007, this show and Unter Uns were part of the first-ever crossover of two soap operas in Germany, when characters from AWZ (Vanessa, Nina, and Tim) attended a concert by Mars from Unter Uns (episode 289); Mars later performed an impromptu concert at the No. 7 (episode 296). In April 2010, another RTL crossover featured Helmut Orosz and Mehrzad Marashi from DSDS performing a duet in the No. 7 (episode 904).

The theme song, "Nie genug", is sung by Austrian singer Christina Stürmer; she returned with her band to perform two numbers for Ben and Isabelle's wedding, "Warum" (episode 1000) and "Juniherz" (episode 1001).

Cast

Current main cast

Actor	Role	Episodes	Years	Notes
Tatjana Clasing	Simone Steinkamp, née von Altenburg	1–	2006–	Former owner (with husband Richard) of the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre; currently runs dance studio with Jenny; mother of Maximilian (by her riding instructor when she was a teen) and of Jenny and Vanessa (by Richard); grandmother of Letizia, Alexander and Sophia; ex-wife of Richard; ex-fiancée of David; one-night-stand of her brother-in-law Rüdiger
Silvan-Pierre Leirich	Richard Steinkamp	1–	2006–	Owner and director of the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre, which he runs with Ben and Max; father of Jenny and Vanessa (by Simone), Ben (by ex-lover Nadja), Marco (by ex-lover Monika) and Nikolas (by ex-lover Céline); stepfather of Maximilian; brother of Rüdiger; uncle of Franziska; ex-husband of Simone; ex-lover of Annette
Julia Augustin	Vanessa Steinkamp	2–667 985–1378 1733–1758 2031–	2006–2009 2010–2012 2013 2014–	Ice-hockey player; daughter of Simone and Richard; daughter of Simone and Richard; sister of Jenny; half-sister of Ben, Maximilian, Marco and Nikolas; niece of Rüdiger; cousin of Juli and Franziska; aunt of Letizia; girlfriend of Tom; ex-girlfriend of Ben (they broke up when they discovered they were related) and Deniz; studied medicine in Boston, then returned to Essen, where she was the majority stakeholder of the Steinkamp Centre
Juliette Greco	Lena Bergmann	181–1608 1772–	2007–2013 2013–	(1st actress in the role) Ballet teacher and fitness trainer at the Steinkamp Centre; daughter of Peter; sister of Annette; half-sister of Katja; wife of Marian (married for immigration reasons and subsequently began dating); ex-wife of Robin van Kampen and Maximilian; ex-lover of Ingo, Oliver, Mike and Florian; mother of Alexander (with Maximilian)
Jörg Rohde	Ben Steinkamp, accepted, né Roschinski	802–	2009–	(2nd actor in the role) Returned to Essen after studying art and marketing in Milan, currently managing the Steinkamp Centre alongside Richard and Maximilian; illegitimate son of Nadja and Richard, half-brother of Jenny, Vanessa, Marco and Nikolas; nephew of Rüdiger; cousin of Franziska; ex-husband of Isabelle and Bea; ex-boyfriend of Katja, Vanessa and Julia; one-night-stand of Zoé and Raquel
Anna-Katharina Samsel	Katja Bergmann	822–2209	2009–2015	daughter of Claudia and Peter; half-sister of Annette and Lena; aunt of Maximilian; with Roman as her trainer, took third place at the Essen Cup shortly after signing on to the Steinkamp team; ex-girlfriend of Tom, Ben and Maximilian; girlfriend of Can; one-night-stand of Deniz
Ania Niedieck	Isabelle Reichenbach	905–	2010–	Professional figure skater who took first place in the Essen Cup, currently working as trainer/skating consultant at the Steinkamp Centre; daughter of Helena and Philipp; sister of Tom; half-sister of Larissa; mother of Sophia (with Maximilian); ex-wife of Ben and Maximilian; ex-lover of Marco and Felix
Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen	Jennifer "Jenny" Steinkamp	1325–	2011–	(3rd official actress in the role) Former figure skater, currently co-managing the dance study with Simone; daughter of Simone and Richard; sister of Vanessa; half-sister of Ben, Maximilian, Marco and Nikolas; niece of Rüdiger; cousin of Juli and Franziska; mother of Annabelle (with David); aunt of Letizia; ex-wife of Julian and Axel; ex-girlfriend of Lars and Hendrik; ex-lover of Maximilian, Marian and Marco; one-night-stand of David
Caroline Frier	Beatrice "Bea" Meyer	1503–	2012–	Employee of the "PommesSchranke"; daughter of Helga; sister of Julia; ex-wife of Ben; ex-girlfriend of Felix; ex-lover of Deniz
Volkan Isbert	Can Öztürk	1590–2216	2012–2015	Bouncer at the club "A40"; nephew of Marian; cousin of Deniz (had sexual preferences to him); grandchild of Melek; ex-boyfriend of Zoé; boyfriend of Katja: ex-lover of Deniz
Christina Klein	Iva Lukowski	2036–	2014–	DJane; daughter of Christoph; step-daughter of Sylvie
Julia Albrecht	Florentine "Flo" Brück	2105–	2015–	daughter of Sonja and Thomas; sister of Leo
Barbara Sotelsek	Sonja Brück, née Kampe	2105–	2015–	wife of Thomas; mother of Leo and Flo
Helena Reetz (1990s)	Sonja Brück, née Kampe	2107–	2015–	wife of Thomas; mother of Leo and Flo
Daniel Brockhaus	Thomas Brück	2107–	2015–	husband of Sonja; father of Leo and Flo
Lars Dickel (1990s)	Thomas Brück	2107–	2015–	husband of Sonja; father of Leo and Flo
Lars Korten	Christoph Lukowski	2108–	2015–	husband of Sylvie; father of Iva
Isabell Horn	Pia Koch	2116–	2015–	DJane; wife of John

Former main cast

Actor	Character	Episodes	Years	Comments
Susanne Schlenzig	Jutta Sommer, née Hoffmann	1–178 312–315	2006–2007	Diana's Mother, Dieter's ex-wife, Nina's stepmother and Lutz Hoffeman's daughter; moved to Cuxhaven
Jan Niklas Berg	Ben Roschinski	2–218	2006–2007	(1st actor in the role)
Andreas Seyferth	Lutz Hoffmann	1–234	2006–2007	Diana's grandfather, Jutta's father; went to live with his daughter in Cuxhaven
Armin Dallapiccola	Dieter Sommer	1–250	2006–2007	Diana's stepfather, Jutta's ex-husband and Nina's father, Manfred's brother †, Oliver's uncle; went to Eisenhüttenstadt to take a job as a Facility Manager
Thorsten Grasshoff	Julian Herzog †	1–313	2006–2007	Jenny's ex-husband, Tim's brother, Diana's fiancé; died at the altar due to a brain haemorrhage
André Emanuel Kaminski	Tim Herzog	5–321	2006–2007	Julian's brother; ex-boyfriend of Ben; left Essen after Julian's death to start a new life
Regine Seidler	Nadja Roschinski	3–358 999–1001	2006–2008 2010	(1st actress in the role) Returns for Ben and Isabelle's wedding
Christiane Klimt	Jennifer "Jenny" Steinkamp	1–452	2006–2008	(1st actress in the role)
Birgit Würz	Nadja Roschinski	359–576	2008	(2nd actress in the role) Skating choreographer; ex-girlfriend of Mike †, Richard, and Marian; mother of Ben (by Richard), was pregnant with Marian's child (miscarriage); moved to Rome for a new job
Tanja Szewczenko	Diana Sommer, accepted, née Reichert	1–588	2006–2009	Jutta's daughter, Dieter's stepdaughter, Nina's stepsister, Oliver's ex-girlfriend, Julian's fiancé; one-night-stand of Deniz; left to pursue skating career in Halle
Maria Wedig	Julietta "Juli" Sommer, née von Altenburg	362–717	2008–2009	Simone's niece, cousin of Jenny, Vanessa and Maximilian, granddaughter of Friederike Gräfin von Altenburg; pursued careers as figure skater, waitress in the No. 7, and banking; ex-wife of Maximilian (convenience marriage), wife of Oliver; left Essen for California after separating from Oliver
Nathalie Thiede	Nina Sommer	1–793	2006–2009	Personal assistant to Dr. Axel Schwarz at the Steinkamp Centre; Diana's stepsister and Dieter's daughter, Jutta's stepdaughter, Oliver's cousin; ex-girlfriend of Deniz and Axel; left to work for Male Function in California after realising there was no future with Axel
Stephen Dürr	Mike Hartwig †	1–810	2006–2009	Ice-skating trainer; ex-boyfriend of Nadja, Diana, and Lena; died in explosion while saving Lena from her father's nemesis
Tobias Licht	Lars Berger	469–882	2008–2010	Skating choreographer at the Steinkamp Centre; ex-lover of Diana and Jenny, Stella's boyfriend; moved to Switzerland with Stella
Nadine Rennack	Stella Coretti	576–882	2008–2010	Skater on the Steinkamp team; daughter of Anton Coretti; Marian's godchild; Lars's girlfriend; ex-lover of Deniz; moved to Switzerland for rehab after being involved in a car accident and then prematurely returning to training and paralyzing herself
Carolin von der Groeben	Zoé Laffort	459–986	2008–2010	(1st actress in the role)
Norman Kalle	Dr. Oliver Sommer	156–267 322–758 828–1008	2007 2007–2009 2009–2010	Formerly the in-house doctor at the Steinkamp Centre, now works with an African aid organisation; Dieter's nephew, Nina's cousin, Manfred's † son; Diana's ex-boyfriend and Juli's ex-husband; moved to Australia with his wife Céline
Nina Bott	Céline Sommer, née Laffort	465–1008	2008–2010	Cook in the No. 7; Zoé's mother with ex-boyfriend, Ingo; Maximilian's ex-wife and Richard's ex-lover; pregnant with Richard's child; moved to Australia with her husband Oliver
Silvia Maleen	Jennifer "Jenny" Steinkamp	501–1023	2008–2010	(2nd actress in the role) she was presumed dead after her flight disappeared over Russia
Heike Trinker	Claudia Bergmann, née Linden	825–844 928–1225	2009–2010 2010–2011	Figure skating choreographer hired to work with the Steinkamp team; ex-wife of Peter Bergmann; mother of Katja; moved to Rosenheim after her engagement to Richard ended
Dennis Grabosch	Roman Wild †	2–1267	2006–2011	Figure skater, placed third in both the World and European championships before pursuing a career as a trainer and then as sports manager of the Centre; brother of Florian, ex-boyfriend of Marc, Andrew and Deniz; died of a brain tumour
Christoph Humnig	Tom Reichenbach	958–1300 1373–1378	2010–2011 2012	Videogame developer; son of Helena and Philipp; brother of Isabelle; half-brother of Larissa; uncle of Sophia; ex-boyfriend of Katja; boyfriend of Vanessa; left for Boston after he and Vanessa break up
Ulrike Röseberg	Annette Bergmann †	1–1445	2006–2012	Lessee of the "Pommesschranke" fry stand near the Steinkamp Centre and sometimes costume designer; daughter of Peter; sister of Lena; half-sister of Katja; aunt of Alexander; wife of Ingo; ex-lover of Richard; one-night-stand of Deniz; died after Jenny ran over her in her car
Michael N. Kuehl	Florian Wild	928–1544	2010–2012	Assistant janitor at the Steinkamp Centre; raised in Gunzenhausen, came to Essen to pursue his dream of playing professional hockey in Essen; younger brother of Roman †; boyfriend of Franziska and ex-boyfriend of Lena; follows Franziska to Canada
Julia Engelmann	Franziska Steinkamp	1024–1544	2010–2012	Rüdiger's daughter; Richard's niece; cousin of Jenny, Vanessa, Ben, Marco and Nikolas; poses as a boy ("Frank Schneider") to increase her chances of playing professional hockey; girlfriend of florian; ex-lover of Deniz; went to Canada after becoming part of a famous ice-hockey team
Rosetta Pedone	Viktoria König	1485–1582	2012	Ex-wife of Marco; ex-girlfriend of Jochen; went to New York
Christina Siemoneit	Sarah Wendt	1273–1616	2011–2013	Hip-hop dancer; sister of Melanie; ex-girlfriend of Marco and Deniz; went to Paris
Katharina Woschek	Zoé Laffort	1466–1666	2012–2013	(2nd actress in the role) Temporary assistanse at the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre and the club "A40"; daughter of Ingo and Céline; ex-girlfriend of Can; one-night-stand of Ben and Deniz; went to South Africa
Ulrich Drewes	Rüdiger Steinkamp	1476–1678	2012–2013	(2nd actor in the role) Manager of the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre; father of Franziska; brother of Richard; uncle of Jenny, Vanessa, Ben, Marco and Nikolas; ex-boyfriend of Monika; one-night-stand of Simone; was sent to prison on account of extortion and kidnapping
Salvatore Greco	Jan Marco Schöler	1260–1761	2011–2013	Dance instructor at Simone's dance studio; son of Monika and Richard; half-brother of Jenny, Vanessa, Ben and Nikolas; nephew of Rüdiger; cousin of Franziska; ex-lover of Jenny, Sarah and Isabelle; went to Rome
Maria Kempken	Lena Bergmann	1612–1770	2013	(2nd actress in the role, temporary replacement for Juliette Greco who was on maternity leave) Ballet teacher and fitness trainer at the Steinkamp Centre; Annette's sister and Katja's half-sister; wife of Marian (married for immigration reasons and subsequently began dating), ex-wife of Robin van Kampen and Maximilian, ex-lover of Ingo, Oliver, Mike and Florian; mother of Alexander (with Maximilian)
Igor Dolgatschew	Deniz Öztürk †	229–1781	2007–2013	Management intern/Richard’s personal assistant at the Steinkamp Centre; formerly pursued careers as hockey player, rentboy, pair skater with Stella and Roman, fashion model, gay callboy and owner of car service; son of Veronika and Marian; father of Jonas (with ex-lover Jessica); cousin of Can; grandchild of Melek; ex-boyfriend of Nina, Vanessa, Roman, Melanie and Sarah; ex-lover of Stella, Jessica, Franziska, Bea and Can; one-night-stand of Annette, Diana, Kaja, Patrick, Zoé, Katja and Letizia; went to Milan for a profitable job as model and died in March 2014 of his AIDS infection (news of his death in episode 1888)
André Dietz	Ingo Zadek †	7–1831	2006–2013	Ice-hockey trainer, physiotherapist, and masseur at the Steinkamp Centre, also pursued a career as a comedian for a short time; ex-husband of Annette (married when she died), ex-boyfriend of Lena and Céline; father of Zoé (by Céline), foster father of Melanie; was murdered by Axel and Spiridula during a strike at "Steinkamp Sport, Tanz und Wellness", which was initiate by him as trade union leader (Simone and Richard should have been arrested for that iniquity)
Daniel Aichinger	Dr. Axel Schwarz	1–331 554–847 971–1443 1810–1881	2006–2007 2008−2009 2010−2012 2013–2014	Former Controller of the Steinkamp Sports and Wellness Centre, also worked for the Ministry of the Interior as the State Commissioner for the High-Performance Centre in Essen; son of Luna and Hans Josef; ex-husband of Jenny; ex-lover of Simone and Nina; fled to Greece as "Costa Papadopoulos" after another scheme went wrong; has returned to Essen with a diplomatic pass, killed Ingo to set up the Steinkamps for the murder and break away back to Greece with his accomplice and new wife Spiridula
Carlo Degen	Joscha Degen †	1698–1895	2013–2014	Footballer; son of David; brother of Lukas; half-brother of Annabelle; sham-husband of Raquel; boyfriend of Kai; ex-boyfriend of Melanie; took a pelting after his coming-out and died of his severe injuries at the hospital
Alexander Gier	Dr. Kai Seebach	1820–1909	2013–2014	sports doctor; son of Barbara; boyfriend of Joscha; leaves Essen soon after Joscha's death
Marc Schöttner	Lukas Levin	1658–1923	2013–2014	Student at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; son of David; brother of Joscha; half-brother of Annabelle; ex-boyfriend of Julia; ex-lover of Letizia; went to New York to complete three semester abroad there
Andreas Hofer	David M. Degen	1628–1933	2013–2014	Choreographer at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; father of Lukas and Joscha; ex-fiancé of Simone; ex-lover of Barbara; one-night-stand of Jenny; father of Annabelle (with Jenny); leaves Essen after kidnapping Annabelle and losing the custody for her
Sam Eisenstein	Marian Öztürk	2–1934	2006–2014	Proprietor of the No. 7 (café and bar), formerly ran the inline-courier service "Get It" and had a shady past as a safecracker; son of Melek; father of Deniz (with ex-wife Veronika); grandfather of Jonas; uncle of Can; husband of Lena (married for immigration reasons and subsequently began dating); ex-boyfriend of Nadja and Jessica; ex-lover of Jenny; went back to Ağın to provide for his mother who is suffering from cancer
Hannes Sell	Felix Landeck	1935–2031	2014	Student at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; son of Rolf; ex-lover of Isabelle; one-night-stand of Letizia and Raquel; went to a dance academy in Zwickau
Anna-Katharina Fecher	Melanie Wendt	1238–1480 1713–2040	2011–2012 2013–2014	Teenager whose parents perished in the 2004 tsunami; placed with foster parents Annette and Ingo; works in reception at the Centre; sister of Sarah; ex-girlfriend of Deniz and Joscha; one-night-stand of Maximilian; leaves Essen to find vocational and personal happiness in Hamburg
Jennifer Dessin-Brasching	Letizia von Altenburg, accepted, née Kaldenhoff †	1644–2058	2013–2014	Student at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; daughter of Janaina and Maximilian; grandchild of Simone; great-grandchild of Friederike; niece of Jenny and Vanessa; ex-lover of Lukas; one-night-stand of Deniz and Felix; bleed to death by a shot of her father's nemesis Rafael Suarez
Alexander Wüst	Erik Schulte †	1924–2101	2014–2015	Inspector; father of Emilia; ex-husband of Tina; fell from a castle tower (by Richard's fault)
Jenny Bach	Julia Meyer †	1639–2106	2013–2015	Student at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; daughter of Helga; sister of Bea; girlfriend of Ben; ex-girlfriend of Lukas; died in a bus crash
Yara Hassan	Raquel Degen, née Santana †	1778–2106	2013–2015	Student at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; widow of Joscha (sham marriage); one-night-stand of Felix and Ben; died in a bus crash
Michèle Fichtner	Antonia "Toni" Fuchs †	2036–2106	2014–2015	Student at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; died in a bus crash
Naima Fehrenbacher	Larissa Schuhmann	2044–2111	2014–2015	Student at "Steinkamp Dance Factory"; daughter of ??? Schuhmann and Philipp Reichenbach; half-sister of Isabelle and Tom; went to Munich
Francisco Medina	Maximilian von Altenburg aka Maximilian Santiago de Castillo	280–1798 2064–2150	2007–2013 2014–2015	Manager of the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre; son of Simone; half-brother of Jenny and Vanessa; father of Letizia (by ex-girlfriend Janaina), Alexander (with Lena) and Sophia (with Isabelle); cousin and ex-husband of Juli (convenience marriage); ex-husband Céline, Lena and Isabelle; ex-boyfriend of Katja; ex-lover of Jenny; one-night-stand of Melanie; was convict erroneously for Erik's death and also for extortive abduction and attempted murder of Richard

Directors

AWZ is directed in week-long blocks with revolving directors, including Christof Brehmer, Stefan Bühling, Gudrun Scherer, Jörg Mielich, Tina Kriwitz, Klaus Knoesel, Annette Herre, Matthias Paul and Andreas Stenschke, to name just a very few.

Broadcast

Country	Network	Title
Germany	RTL Television Passion	Alles was zählt
Belgium	Plug RTL	Le Rêve de Diana
Canada	Séries+	Le Rêve de Diana
France	M6 Téva NRJ 12 NRJ Paris	Le Rêve de Diana
Poland	TV Puls	To, co najważniejsze
Switzerland	TSR 1 TSR 2	Le Rêve de Diana

External links

References

↑ Episode List
↑ First airdate
↑ "Gay Community Honors Alles Was Zählt", RTL Backstage, February 20, 2008
↑ EskimoKissProject subtitled in English

German television soap operas currently on the air

Alles was zählt Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten In aller Freundschaft Lindenstraße Unter uns Verbotene Liebe