“Tatort” commissioner Ulrike Folkerts (63) is still very interested in his film character Lena Odenthal even after 80 episodes. “To be honest, I’m very happy with what I’ve created, it’s also a bit crazy and it surprises me,” she told the German Press Agency. For 35 years, Folkerts is “Tatort’s” longest-serving investigator. “You can’t plan something like that,” said the actor. “This is a gift – to me, the SWR broadcaster and the audience.”
Folkerts is celebrating 35 years on Sunday (October 27) with his 80th Ludwigshafen “Tatort: Dein Guten Recht” (20.15, Das Erste). Her first Sunday crime drama was on October 29, 1989 (“Die Neue”). Since then, the role and the actor have obviously changed, Folkerts said. “Both have become more mature and have more experience in what they do. Ulrike fought with Lena, she threw herself out, looked for solutions, stayed with him and it worked always creatively for Lena and her format.”
Ulrike Folkerts: “I want Lena to leave of her own accord”
Times have changed too, said the Kassel-born actor. “We work under stricter conditions, we have fewer shooting days, the pressure is higher. The positive developments are: We are now producing ‘green’, for example with reduced CO2 and less waste, and it is about diversity to show more, regarding the diversity of In addition, the women’s quota is taken into account when I can.”
If they leave the “crime scene” safe at some point, it won’t be with a car bomb like the Frankfurt team did recently. “That was too brutal, too radical and ultimately too simple for me,” Folkerts said. “I want Lena to leave on her own because she’s got something really nice planned, she’s achieving a dream, she’s following a vision for what’s next. Maybe she’ll fall in love and emigrate? Maybe she will do volunteer work in prison. system and help young offenders?”
35 years ago “of course she had no idea” where the journey was going. “As much as I was locked into the role, it gave me great freedom and independence to be in this profession, to find my place and stand up for something.” At that time she slipped into a male domain. “There were only male commissioners,” said Folkerts, “which changed a lot. And I firmly believe that Lena Odenthal was a role model.”