The successful series “Die Kanzlei” with Sabine Postel is getting a feature-length episode for the first time and is very much in vogue with its filming locations.
Whether it’s a romance novel or a thriller – Germany has island fever. If one took crime books and TV crimes as a bare reality, life on the northern German islands would be more dangerous than in Al Capone’s Chicago in the 1920s. Some TV crime series consistently feed off this imaginary crime rate. Others, such as “Wilsberg”, include detours to crime scenes surrounded by the sea that attract the public.
The series “Die Kanzlei”, which emerged from the predecessor “Der Dicke”, is one of the most successful titles in the ARD program, so it really deserves to be honored with a ninety-minute special episode. The lawyers Isabel von Brede (Sabine Postel) and Markus Gellert (Herbert Knaup) and their staff are actually planning a company holiday on Gran Canaria.
“The Chancellery” in feature length in the first: secret island community
But then Brede is ordered to another island. Her mother Marion (Marie Anne Fliegel) has taken up residence in a friend’s hotel on Lasund, which is actually closed, and has surrendered to alcohol. The hotelier Harald Bruns – played by Peter Franke, who had a recurring supporting role as a café owner in 2007’s “Der Dicke” – calls Isa von Brede for help, who rushes up like a figurehead by ferry.
At Lasund, she is not only awaiting her mother, who has fallen into deep melancholy. Bruns also has concerns. His hotel was expropriated and is to be vacated in the near future to make way for an airport. Isa von Brede, who associates pleasant memories of her youth with the hotel, quickly becomes suspicious. The disproportionate plans, the ruthless behavior of the mayor, the stony silence of the residents – that doesn’t sound like a serious building project.
“Ripe for the island” (“The Chancellery”) in the first: filming on the North Sea
She asks her pillion Gellert to do some research. He skips Gran Canaria and rushes to help his girlfriend. The office employees Gudrun Wohlers (Katrin Pollitt) and Yasmin Meckel (Sophie Dal) are also coming. Again ironic: Dal investigates as Süher Özlügül in the ZDF series “Friesland”. Mainly in Leer, but if you need beach scenes, you can sail over to Norderney.
“Die Kanzlei: Ready for the island”, Friday, February 25, 2022, 8:15 p.m., Das Erste
The family tribulations are joined by corruption, criminal activity and tender dalliance, which of course is all intertwined on such a manageable Baltic Sea island. Thorsten Näter has experience in crime and is the regular author of this series. He packs a lot into the story, Gellert witnesses domestic violence and intervenes. Nevertheless, the plot never seems overloaded and unfolds relatively coherently without straining the credibility beyond measure. It is particularly remarkable that he does not commit any homicides and yet – together with director Bettina Schoeller Bouju – knows how to tell an exciting story.
So you shouldn’t expect too much cockiness in the plot or direction. The entertaining character dominates. But it also shows that this team has something to say. (Harold Keller)
