Graf Yoster

Graf (Count) Yoster gibt sich die Ehre [French title: Le comte Yoster a bien l'honneur] (which translates to English as Count Yoster has the Honour) is a TV series (1967–1976) which followed the adventures of the title’s amateur gentleman detective. It was a success in particular in Germany and in France. Originally the show was a German production in black-and-white but it evolved into a European co-production in colour.

Main character

Graf (Count) Yoster was presented as an impeccable gentleman. He used to wear a traditional suit, a bowler hat and an umbrella just like John Steed in the TV series The Avengers and the fictional English solicitor Reginal Prewster who had to accompany Percy Stuart during his missions on TV. Although he lived in a castle in Bavaria (where especially in the beginning a great deal of the show was shot) he wouldn't have the slightest Bavarian accent and his appearance was as British as his Rolls Royce.

Sidekick

Wolfgang Völz played Ioan (or in German: Johann), the count's butler. The idea a butler could make a hero was for German audiences already established by Butler Parker. Ioan would sometimes engage in investigations and then bring the count up to speed as well literally while he drove the count's Rolls Royce. Moreover, he would instantly transform into the count's bodyguard whenever somebody indulged himself to endanger the count's well-being by trying to approach him in any kind of inappropriate manner. He used to apply his highly efficient close-combat techniques in a very businesslike way which was completely different from any Hollywood boxing or Hong Kong manners and would rather resemble the way British soldiers are taught to dissolve comparable issues. He was portrayed as a man of modest origin and it was repeatedly implied that he had even been entangled in criminal activities before he had entered the count's services. Of course Ioan fitted a certain popular cliché and in a British film he would most likely have spoken Cockney English.

Genre

Graf Yoster was very much an amateur detective in the tradition of Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey. His cases were accordingly wodunnits although in the end Ioan would frequently have to give him a hand disarming the detected offenders.

Directors

Among the directors was Imo Moszkowicz, who had also directed a German TV series starring Josef Meinrad as Father Brown.

Guest stars (Selection)

External links

• Graf Yoster at the Internet Movie Database
• Krimi Homepage (German only)
• About German Pater Brown TV show and connections to the Graf Yoster TV show
• Homepage of Béatrice Romand