All current teams of the Sunday-night crime series from ARD, ORF and SRF, with the main characters, their actors, what happened recently (2023–2026), and what comes next. State: October 2026, based on German Wikipedia.
In Dein gutes Recht (2024) Odenthal shoots and wounds a man and faces disciplinary proceedings. In Der Stelzenmann (2025) LKA internal investigator Kurt Breising looks into her conduct.
In Sashimi Spezial (2026) that same Breising becomes the new police director, so he is now her boss. By the end it emerges he is involved in shady dealings, and a proceeding against him is opened.
In Explosive Mischung (2026) a man out for revenge on Odenthal takes Stern and colleague Mara Herrmann hostage in police headquarters. Breising ends up the hero, and the case against him is quietly dropped.
The long-time lab tech Becker and secretary Keller retired in Avatar (2024).
Last aired:Explosive Mischung, 4 Oct 2026 Next:Im Nebel, early 2027
Background
The longest-serving investigator in Tatort history (since 1989).
For 22 years Odenthal worked and shared a flat with Mario Kopper (Andreas Hoppe). He was thrown out of the police over mafia ties in Kopper (2018) and moved to Sicily.
Johanna Stern came from the state police (LKA) in 2014. The two clashed at first and slowly grew into a real team.
The recent cases (2025–26) are self-contained, with nothing personal carrying over.
The big open question is Ballauf's exit: Behrendt leaves after Köln episode 100 (autumn 2027), and how Ballauf goes has not been revealed. Merle Rautenberg (Ricarda Seifried) starts in Entfesselt (2027).
Last aired:Die letzten Menschen von Köln, 20 Sep 2026 Next:Die Guten Leute, Der Glücklichmacher, then the farewell episode 100
Background
Ballauf already appeared in 8 Düsseldorf episodes (1992–94); with them he is the investigator with the most films (103).
Almost every episode ends at the sausage stand on the Rhine with a view of the cathedral. The stand closed in 2020 and is now in a museum.
Assistant Franziska Lüttgenjohann (2000–2014) was strangled at the end of her last case.
Klaus J. Behrendt leaves after film 100; from 2027 Schenk works with Merle Rautenberg.
In Unter Gärtnern (2024) a skeleton turns out to be a policeman missing for 30 years whom Thiel's father and Klemm knew. Spies steal the bodies from forensics and get away.
In Die Erfindung des Rades (2025) prosecutor Klemm retires: she drives off in an old VW bus with her great love from 50 years ago. Boerne loses his driving licence.
Her permanent successor is still open: Nikola König (Lou Strenger) is only an interim prosecutor.
Last aired:Die Erfindung des Rades, 7 Dec 2025 Next:Narrentanz (carnival), 15 Nov 2026
Background
The comedy Tatort, and the one with by far the highest ratings: Fiderallala (2025) reached a 42% market share.
Thiel and Boerne are neighbours in the same house. Running gags: Boerne's vanity, his assistant Silke "Alberich" Haller, and Thiel's hippie father Herbert.
Chain-smoking prosecutor Wilhelmine Klemm retired in episode 48 (2025); Nikola König (Lou Strenger) took over.
In Geisterfahrt (2024) Lindholm has a brief affair with Nick Schmitz, her partner Anaïs's husband.
In the same episode their boss Gerd Liebig turns out to be a wife-beater who blocked the investigation. He is suspended after a suicide attempt, Anaïs takes over the department (her last episode), and Lindholm's punishment transfer ends.
Back at the LKA in Hannover. In König in Gelb (2026) she starts to doubt her own memory and worries about her mother Annemarie, who is back in the story.
Last aired:König in Gelb, 13 Sep 2026 Next: none announced
Background
As an LKA investigator she travels to towns and villages all over Lower Saxony, usually working alone.
Her flatmate Martin Felser, a crime writer, raised her son David with her (David came from an affair in Spain). After 16 episodes Martin left without warning.
In 2019 she was transferred to Göttingen as a punishment, paired with Anaïs Schmitz (Florence Kasumba) until 2024. Since 2025 she is back in Hannover.
In Verblendung (2025) Bootz is one of the hostages taken by right-wing extremists at a film premiere. The Stuttgart police president is shot dead, and a video shows the interior minister confessing to killing prisoners.
In Vergebung (2023) the pathologist Dr. Vogt hid that the victim was his childhood friend, which hurt the team's trust in him.
Otherwise the cases are self-contained, with no announced exits.
Last aired:Ex-It, 18 Jan 2026 Next:Lucys Geburtstag (already shown at festivals), Blindes Vertrauen
Background
Lannert was an undercover agent ("Chris Gabriel") in Hamburg. When his cover was blown, his wife and daughter were killed; he moved to Stuttgart for a new start.
Bootz is the family man whose job wears down his marriage; in Spiel auf Zeit his wife Julia leaves him and takes the kids.
In Murot und das Paradies (2023) Murot is corrupted: in exchange for "happiness dreams" he lets an investigation fizzle out. Wächter covers for him with a forged sick note, he is suspended, and the villains escape to Shanghai.
In Murot und der Elefant im Raum (2025), burned out, he tries an experimental therapy machine and enters a coma patient's mind; Wächter has to rescue him.
Last aired:Murot und der Elefant im Raum, 28 Dec 2025 Next:Murot und die Mittsommernacht, 2027
Background
Works for the state police (LKA) with his assistant Magda Wächter (Barbara Philipp).
In his first two cases he has a brain tumour he calls "Lilly" that talks to him; it is removed in case three. (Murot is an anagram of "Tumor".)
Known for the most experimental episodes, for example a time-loop film (Murot und das Murmeltier).
In Cash (2024) Pawlak, deep in gambling debt, tips off a gangster about a police check, then quits and flees to Seville with his daughter. Faber loses his post as head of the unit, and Ira Klasnić becomes boss.
In Abstellgleis (2025) KTU chief Haller, whom Faber blames for Bönisch's death, is found stabbed. Faber's DNA is on the body, so he goes on the run, and Kossik returns from the LKA.
In Schmerz (2026) Rosa Herzog confesses that she stabbed Haller (he had been blackmailing her). She turns herself in and is arrested. Faber has lost his closest person again.
Klasnić's childhood trauma from the Bosnian war resurfaces. New detective Leo Sturm (Sophia Mercedes Burtscher) joins next.
Last aired:Schmerz, 22 Feb 2026 Next:Blut und Wasser, spring 2027
Background
The most serial Tatort: storylines run across many episodes.
Faber lost his wife and daughter in a "car accident". In Auf ewig Dein it turns out to be murder by Markus Graf, son of a man Faber once jailed. Graf breaks out in Tollwut and is finally caught in Monster.
Faber and Martina Bönisch (Anna Schudt) slowly fall for each other; they kiss in Liebe mich! (2022), and in the same episode she is shot dead.
Jan Pawlak (2018–2024): wife addicted to drugs, daughter Mia kidnapped in Monster.
Rosa Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger, 2021–2026): her mother is an ex-RAF terrorist in hiding, whom Rosa hands over to the police.
Kossik was shot in Sturm (2017), turned out to have survived and moved to Düsseldorf, and returned in 2025 as an LKA man.
In Was bleibt (2024) Julia Grosz, just offered a BKA job, steps into a street fight, is stabbed, and dies before Falke reaches her.
In Schweigen (2024) Falke, grieving at a monastery, uncovers child abuse covered up by a bishop.
In Im Wahn (2025) the copycat killer, consultant Finn Jennewein, shoots a colleague and gets away.
In the double episode Ein guter Tag / Schwarzer Schnee (2025) autistic cyber specialist Mario Schmitt arrives as the new partner, in a Mocro-mafia case on the Dutch border.
Last aired:Schwarzer Schnee, 21 Dec 2025 Next:Paranoia, 2027
Background
Falke is a working-class Hamburg cop who moved to the federal police (Bundespolizei) in 2014, so the cases range all over the north.
Partners: Katharina Lorenz (2013–15), who quit after a case of police violence; then Julia Grosz (Franziska Weisz, 2016–2024).
Side story: his son Torben, from an affair, did not know Falke was his father; later they live together.
In Vier Leben (2025) a sniper case is tied to the Kabul evacuation, and a woman bleeds to death in Karow's hands.
In Gefahrengebiet (2026) the killer stole Karow's service pistol and shoots himself with it. Bonard retires, and Karow is left without a partner.
Next, Boris Aljinovic returns for one case as his old character Felix Stark, at Karow's side.
Last aired:Gefahrengebiet, 1 Feb 2026 Next:Zwei minus Eins gleich Null, early 2027
Background
Built on purpose as a serial: the first big question was whether Karow had something to do with the death of his former drug-squad partner Gregor Maihack. Resolved in Dunkelfeld (2019).
Partner Nina Rubin (Meret Becker): over several episodes her marriage breaks apart. She dies on duty in Das Mädchen, das allein nach Haus' geht (2022), after giving her bulletproof vest to a witness.
Susanne Bonard, ex-teacher from East Germany, joined in 2023; her farewell episode was Gefahrengebiet (2026).
Exists because of fans: Hinrichs played a detective who died in a 2012 Munich episode, viewers campaigned for his return, and BR created a new team for him.
Paula Ringelhahn (Dagmar Manzel) retired after 10 cases in Trotzdem (2024). Only one episode a year.
In Unter Feuer (2024) a caller tells Winkler her brother's death was no accident: colleagues wanted him dead. The culprit, a unit head, takes her hostage and is shot.
In Herz der Dunkelheit (2025), Gorniak's last case, she sleeps with a suspect's father and searches the daughter's things without permission. She then takes leave from the police.
Since then it has been Winkler and Schnabel. In Nachtschatten (2026) Winkler is taken hostage. In May 2026 MDR announced a multi-year production pause for budget reasons.
Last aired:Nachtschatten, 1 Jan 2026 Next:Das, was du zurücklässt (already filmed; new trainee Milla Brandis)
Background
Started in 2016 as the first all-female investigator duo (Gorniak and Henni Sieland).
Winkler's first case: her mistake gets Gorniak stabbed. Her brother, also a cop, died in a joint operation, and her father blames her.
Boss Schnabel is a grumpy conservative who grew up in a children's home. Gorniak left in 2025.
In Ad Acta (2024) Tobler's father, a retired cop, has cancer and urges her to apply for head of department.
In Der Reini (2025) Berg's brother escapes from psychiatric care and is shot dead. The family secret comes out: Reinhard killed their father, and Friedemann helped bury him on the farm. Berg is suspended.
In Das jüngste Geißlein (2026) the internal investigation is closed and Berg returns to duty. In Innere Angelegenheiten (2026) riot police cover up a killing.
Last aired:Innere Angelegenheiten, 19 Apr 2026 Next: none announced
Background
They cover the whole Black Forest region, not one city.
In episode 5, after a carnival party and a lot of alcohol, the two end up in bed together.
Berg's family farm and his brother hold a secret, revealed in Der Reini.
The money story: after his father died, Adam secretly dug up the loot from his father's last bank robbery. In Die Kälte der Erde (2023) Leo finds it in Adam's sports bag and silently gives it back.
In Der Fluch des Geldes (2024) the two fall out over the loot. Leo takes a gambling stake from Adam undercover, and a woman from the clique flees abroad with it.
In Das Ende der Nacht (2025) one of the old robbers, who once blackmailed Adam and whom the two let go, resurfaces. Pia is kidnapped and shot, and a bunker explosion ends on a cliffhanger over Leo's survival.
In Das Böse in dir (2026) Leo is alive but still hurt, Pia is traumatised and getting pills illegally, and Esther comes out while the team investigates in her home village.
Last aired:Das Böse in dir, 8 Feb 2026 Next: likely early 2027
Background
Adam and Leo were school friends. Adam's criminal father beat and drilled him; as a teenager Leo knocked the father down to free Adam, and they covered it up with a fire.
The father lay in a coma for years and dies in episode 3. This shared secret drives the whole series.
Pia's younger sister Mara has been missing since 2014. Leo and Pia are badly hurt in Das Ende der Nacht.
In Fährmann (2024) Grandjean's one-night stand turns out to be a serial poisoner who poisons her. She had hidden evidence from Ott, and it emerges she once jailed the wrong man, who killed himself.
In Rapunzel (2025) they finally switch to "Du". In Kammerflimmern (2025) Ott's mother is put in danger by a hacked defibrillator.
Last aired:Könige der Nacht, 3 May 2026 Next: none announced
Background
Grandjean, a career cop from French-speaking Switzerland, distrusts Ott, a rebellious profiler from a rich Zurich family.
Ott's fear of guns comes from a suicide attempt; abuse in her childhood is hinted at.
Running gag: Grandjean only calls her "Ott". They move from "Sie" to "Du" in Rapunzel.
Mads Andersen left after Donuts (2023) and now works at Europol.
In Solange du atmest (2025) Selb goes solo for family reasons without telling Moormann, who sees it as a breach of trust.
In Wenn man nur einen retten könnte (2026) Selb is in hospital, injured. Next, Moormann is badly hurt in a car crash.
Last aired:Wenn man nur einen retten könnte, 25 Jan 2026 Next:Deadline, date open
Background
Selb, the blunt and brilliant BKA analyst, already worked with the previous Bremen team (Lürsen and Stedefreund) and had a relationship with Stedefreund.
Danish undercover cop Mads Andersen (Dar Salim) was part of 3 early films.
In Dunkelheit (2025) Kulina has a breakdown over his Srebrenica memories, and boss Schatz threatens him for not spying on Azadi.
In Licht (2025) he is cleared in his disciplinary case and chooses to stay with Azadi.
In Fackel (2026) two homicide colleagues are exposed as killers. Kulina's ex-girlfriend sets herself on fire.
Open thread: in the next case Azadi's private Tehran investigation comes to the front. An old "drug" murder was a political assassination of Iranian dissidents, and she plans to lure the killer back from Iran.
Last aired:Fackel, 22 Mar 2026 Next:Vier Finger, 22 Nov 2026
Background
A cold-case unit only.
Azadi secretly investigates an old case: a hit squad that killed four people in Frankfurt, with links to Tehran.
Kulina's 13-year-old brother Enes was killed in Srebrenica in 1995 and never found. Their boss uses Kulina to spy on Azadi.
In Borowski's last case, Borowski und das Haupt der Medusa (2025), on his final day he kills the killer when his gun goes off in a struggle. Because he was already off duty, he ends up in custody, still planning a future with Frieda Jung.
New start: Sahin applies to become Kriminalrätin and has to pass an assessment by police psychologist Elli Krieger, with whom she clashes. She suspects a colleague of economic crime. Double episode.
Last aired:Unter Freunden, 11 Oct 2026 (tonight) Next:Unter Feinden, 18 Oct 2026
Background
Takes over from Klaus Borowski (Axel Milberg, 2003–2025, 44 films). Sahin was already Borowski's partner since 2018.
Borowski's best-known arc: the stalker and killer Kai Korthals in Borowski und der stille Gast and …die Rückkehr des stillen Gastes.
Long-time pathologist Dr. Steinbrecher was poisoned in Zugzwang (2025).
In the farewell Unvergänglich (2026) Batic and Leitmayr investigate as retired private citizens. Leitmayr is badly shot, and Kalli Hammermann's unit saves them. Final scene: they run a detective agency on the Croatian coast.
In Zwischenwelten Buvak investigates in the Neuperlach neighbourhood where he grew up. It premiered at Filmfest München in June 2026.
Last aired:Unvergänglich – Teil 2, 6 Apr 2026 Next:Zwischenwelten, 2027
Background
Follows Batic and Leitmayr (1991–2026), the team with the most films ever (100). Their farewell was the double episode Unvergänglich at Easter 2026.
Hammermann was already the old team's young assistant; Buvak appeared in the farewell as head of the SWAT team. First case: Zwischenwelten.
The last regular episodes (Der Elektriker 2025, Gegen die Zeit 2026) left nothing open for the team.
The finale is still to come and how Eisner and Fellner exit is being kept secret. The new duo: Hahn is offered the lead of their special unit on condition she picks her own team, and on day one finds her half-brother Maleky there anyway.
Last aired:Gegen die Zeit, 26 Apr 2026 Next: finale Dann sind wir Helden (working title), end of 2026; new team 2027
Background
The two are half-siblings.
They follow Moritz Eisner and Bibi Fellner (Harald Krassnitzer, Adele Neuhauser), who stopped in 2026 after 62 films. Fellner started out fighting alcoholism, and Eisner first called her "a wreck".
Recently retired
München: Batic & Leitmayr1991–2026 Miroslav Nemec & Udo Wachtveitl. 100 films, the record. Farewell: Unvergänglich (2026).
Wien: Eisner & Fellner1999–2026 Harald Krassnitzer & Adele Neuhauser. Eisner since 1999, with Fellner since 2011.
Kiel: Klaus Borowski2003–2025 Axel Milberg. 44 films, three based on Henning Mankell stories.
Crossovers between cities
Köln × Leipzig Quartett in Leipzig (2000), Rückspiel (2002), and the double episode Kinderland / Ihr Kinderlein kommet (2012), the first Tatort crossover spanning two films.
Dortmund × München In der Familie parts 1 and 2 (2020): Faber and Bönisch work a mafia case together with Batic and Leitmayr.
Dortmund special Das Team (2020): an improvised film: Faber and Bönisch join police officers from across North Rhine-Westphalia at a team-building workshop, where one of them is murdered.
Ludwigshafen × München Lena Odenthal has a short guest appearance in the Munich episode Kleine Diebe (2000).
