For almost a quarter of a century, the doctor’s series “In All Friendship” has been running on the first. Now the 1000th episode is coming up. How was she?
It’s now like a little internal running gag: every Tuesday evening I say goodbye to my colleagues in the newsroom of the “Freie Presse” with the words: “And don’t forget this evening: IaF!” The times when dear fellow campaigners asked back “Ia-What?” are long gone. After 25 years and 1,000 episodes of “In All Friendship” even the biggest ignorant inside the Sachsenklinik knows what I mean. The reactions range from friendly smiles to annoyed raising of eyebrows. I’ve also had to hear “you me too”. I’m still looking forward to the Sachsenklinik.
So now episode 999 “Overheated” and 1000 “RingSwap” in a double pack. IaF-Leipzig is groaning under a heat wave. Like in real life. In fact, an issue that puts a serious strain on hospitals. Just not now. So it might be a little harder to emotionally sweat – or freeze – when nurse Miriam (Christina Petersen), student nurse Jasim (Leslie-Vanessa Lill) and orderly Kris (Jascha Rust) unintentionally lock themselves in the clinic’s cold room – because the door slams shut and themselves cannot be opened from the inside. How strange. gift. Because the case of little Luis (really charmingly played by Maximilian Brauer), who urgently needs a liver transplant, but whose father Daniel (Sönke Möhring) is not allowed to donate his due to an HIV infection, is quite interesting. The story about the twelve-year-old gets you excited and draws the attention of one or the other layperson to the legal problems of organ donation from HIV-positive people in Germany, which he may not have known about before. The dramatic climax and end of the episode is the kidnapping of little Luis by his mother Ramona (Marie Zielke). The woman suffering from bipolar disorder, who wants to give her boy a few nice moments at the lake shortly before the difficult operation, causes a car accident. dr Heilmann (Thomas Rühmann), who calls his colleague Dr. Kathrin Globisch (Andrea Kathrin Loewig) is suspected to be in the car and fears the worst. You just have to watch episode 1000.
The anniversary episode comes up with a surprising solution to the organ donation problem for little Luis: a ring exchange enables father Daniel to donate his liver to a patient with HIV in Switzerland. In return, his son gets an organ from Switzerland. Done. Life saved. That’s the DNA of IaF – and probably one of the reasons why the series has been so popular with audiences for almost a quarter of a century. About five million tune in week after week. Because anyone could get sick – and then wish for a clinical team that fights for their recovery – or for worthy treatment if recovery is no longer possible. Just like dr. Kaminski (Udo Schenk) has taken care of Vera Bader (Claudia Wenzel), who suffers from dementia, selflessly and selflessly for several episodes. In the anniversary episode, the head sarcastist Kaminski just shares the hospital bed with her. Then Bader is suddenly dead. The horrified viewer asks himself: Why? Dementia isn’t fatal, is it? Minutes later, Kaminski mentions what seems rather casual: “Probably a silent stroke while sleeping.” It would have needed a few more scenes to give a more compassionate and dignified conclusion to the really good story of Bader-Kaminski and how he deals with dementia. But the heyday of the IaF quarter century is already upon us: Dr. Heilmann (with IaF since the beginning in 1998) marries Dr. Globisch (since 1999). The two IaF veterans united in marriage after hundreds of episodes of personal setbacks. Finally, some say. That could be the rock in the IaF surf, the platonic friendship triumvirate Heilmann-Globisch and Dr. Martin Stein (Bernhard Bettermann), cause the others to falter.
It’s not the worst starting position. Because as long as the tension lasts, the viewers remain loyal. The MDR has announced two new seasons until 2025. It remains to be hoped that the emotional spark that the Sachsenklinik team so often let jump over its viewers will continue to spark strong – even if it didn’t work out quite so well with the anniversary episode, which was certainly provided with high expectations. (Now in all friendship: Do you want to be kissed at your wedding like Dr. Heilmann did?)
The episode in the ARD media library to look up