Lindenstraße

Lindenstraße

The logo appearing on the series' title screen
Created by Hans W. Geißendörfer
Starring See below
Country of origin Germany Germany
Original language(s) Germany German
No. of episodes 1550+
(as of October 4, 2015) [1]
Production
Camera setup Multiple-camera setup
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network Das Erste
Original release 8 December 1985 – present
External links
Website

Lindenstraße (literally "Lime Street") is a German television drama series, broadcast by Das Erste. The first episode aired on 8 December 1985 and since then new episodes have aired weekly.[2] Its current timeslot on Das Erste is Sundays at 18:50. The events of the Sunday episode usually take place on the Thursday before the show, based on the TV station's original plan of airing the episodes Thursday night. Prior of the start of the show, the timeslot was switched to Sunday evening but the Thursday remained the day the events usually take place as the show shall feature the daily life routine of the protagonists on a working day. Exceptions are the so-called holiday episodes that take place on Sunday, such as for Christmas and Easter and also on important election days (especially the election to the German Bundestag).

Setting the pace for other soap operas in Germany, the first episodes were met with mostly bad reviews. However, Lindenstraße soon became one of the most successful shows on German TV.[3]

Development

The creator of Lindenstraße is Hans W. Geißendörfer, whose company Geißendörfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH (GFF - "Geißendörfer film and TV productions") still produces the series today.[4] In the beginning, Geißendörfer also directed the series. It is set in Munich, but filmed at the WDR studios in Cologne-Bocklemünd, where an entire outdoor street mock-up of the eponymous Lindenstraße was built. An actual street named 'Lindenstraße' exists in Munich's Harlaching district, but it has nothing to do with the series' fictional street.

The show is based on the long-running British soap Coronation Street, from which it borrows its main premise (the everyday life of a number of neighbours).[3] It tackles topics such as racism, cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, disabilities (both physical and mental), and homosexuality. In 1987, it gained notoriety for showing the first gay kiss on German television. The show is also known for its prompt incorporation of real-life events and current topics.

United States television actor Larry Hagman made a cameo appearance on Lindenstraße on 19 February 2006.

Geißendörfer wrote and directed the first 31 episodes himself. Now, there are different directors that take turns in about 10-episode blocks. The current directors are Herwig Fischer, Kerstin Krause, Dominikus Probst and Iain Dilthey.

There have been many different writers of the show throughout the years. Currently, three authors share the responsibility of writing the episodes: Michael Meisheit, who has been writing for Lindenstraße since 1997, and Irene Fischer, who has been writing for Lindenstraße since 1999. She has also been playing a main character in the series since 1987. In 2013, Geißendörfer's daughter Hana Geißendörfer joined the team and the first episodes written by her aired in late April.

Setting

The series is set in the Lindenstraße, a fictional street in Munich. The resident families Beimer-Schiller, Beimer-Ziegler and Zenker, as well as couples without children and communes are very prominent characters in the show. There is also a doctor's office, currently run by Dr. Iris Brooks. In the past, it has been run by Dr. Ernesto Stadler, Dr. Carsten Flöter and his stepfather Dr. Ludwig Dressler. There is also a Greek restaurant "Akropolis" and a supermarket.

There are also a few shops in the Kastanienstraße, which is at one end of the Lindenstraße. There is an organic food shop called "1 A Bio" (It used to be the chocolate store "Kakao" and the gourmet food shop called "Alimentari". There is also a café called "Café Bayer" and a travel agency called "Träwel und Iwends" (a pun on the German pronunciation of Travel and Events) as well as the car shop "Die Werkstatt". There are also several minor characters who live on this street.

On the other end of the Lindenstraße, one can find the Ulrike-Böss-Straße. In it is a movie theater ("Astor"), the "Café George" and a hair salon.

Cast

Lindenstraße Nr. 7, the Dressler residence

Due to the frequency of social problem topics treated in the series, a high proportion of the characters come from minority groups of diverse kind or live in patchwork relationships. From the Greek Restaurant with its family and a Vietnamese which where there from the beginning, characters and whole families with migration background have come and gone from Italy, Turkey, Eastern Europe etc. The current cast counts three male homosexuals, two of them living in marriage with an adopted son, and one female homosexual with a test-tube baby. There's a homeless man, a man in a wheelchair, a child with Down syndrome and so on.

Fans of the series have proclaimed in mild jest that a "normal" family wouldn't survive the Lindenstraße. As if to prove this, the model bavarian family Stadler which moved to the street in September 2008 has only one member, the contrarian Grandfather, remaining in the street as of early 2013. He "occupies" a room in a commune otherwise populated by twens. His son, the family father, fled the street after the family mother had a love-affair with his brother. The mother then broke up with the brother and started a new affair with a young immigrant from the Balkans who hid his visa-less family in an apartment in the same house. The younger family daughter, who became a teenage mother after a Lindenstraße resident of her age purposely broke a condom, fell in love with the same immigrant and left the street in shock after finding out that he preferred her mother over herself. The mother and the immigrant then left the street together. The older teenage daughter had more luck and married a widely liked Lindenstraße resident in Las Vegas with whom she started a successful business in the street, only to suddenly die from a food poisoning originating in the Greek restaurant in February 2013.

Current cast members

Actor Character Duration
Michael Baral Timotheus "Timo" Zenker #2 2009, 2014–
Daniela Bette Angelina Dressler, adopted, née Buchstab 2007–
Jo Bolling Andreas "Andy" Zenker 1990–
Ole Dahl Paul Dağdelen, accepted, née Hoffmeister #3 2009–
Irene Fischer Anna Ziegler, née Jenner 1987–2013, 2015–
Joris Gratwohl Alexander "Alex" Behrend 2000–
Jan Grünig Martin "Mürfel" Ziegler 1999–2013, 2015–
Erkan Gündüz Murat Dağdelen 1999–
Ludwig Haas Dr. Ludwig Dressler 1985–
Hermes Hodolides Vasily Sarikakis 1985–
Beatrice Kaps-Zurmahr Andrea Neumann 2004–2009, 2010–
Dominique Kusche Sophie Ziegler #2 1998–
Joachim Hermann Luger Hans Beimer 1985–
Marie-Luise Marjan Helga Beimer, née Wittich 1985–
Sarah Masuch Dr. Iris Brooks 2012–
Philipp Neubauer Dr. Philipp Sperling 1992–2003, 2012–
Sontje Peplow Lisa Dağdelen, née Hoffmeister 1991–
Moritz A. Sachs Klaus Beimer 1985–
Jannik Scharmweber Nicolai "Nico" Zenker #6 2015–
Greta Short Lara Brooks 2012–
Rebecca Siemoneit-Barum Iphigenie "Iffi" Zenker 1990–2012, 2014–
Toni Snétberger Vincenzo "Enzo" Buchstab 2006–
Gunnar Solka Peter "Lotti" Lottmann 2004–
Philipp Sonntag Adolf "Adi" Stadler 2008–
Andrea Spatzek Gabriele "Gabi" Zenker, née Skabowski 1985–
Julia Stark Sarah Ziegler 1987–2003, 2004–
Jacqueline Svilarov Nina Zöllig 1999–2007, 2011–
Amorn Surangkanjanajai Gung Pham Kien 1985–
Sara Turchetto Marcella Varese #2 1998–
Georg Uecker Dr. Carsten Flöter 1986–1991, 1995–
Claus Vinçon Georg "Käthe" Eschweiler 1996–2006, 2007–
Cosima Viola Jacqueline "Jack" Aichinger 2001–
Sybille Waury Tanja Schildknecht 1985–
Moritz Zielke Moritz "Momo" Sperling 1992–2001, 2002–

See also

References

  1. ↑ Episode List
  2. ↑ "Lindenstrasse: Germany's answer to Coronation Street". BBC News. 19 April 2013.
  3. 1 2 Coronation Strasse. BBC Radio 4. 20 April 2013.
  4. ↑ "Radio and TV - Formats - Goethe-Institut". Goethe.de. 1985-12-08. Retrieved 2013-12-21.

External links

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