Starting today, ZDF is showing the new series “Mandate for May” on the “Bergdoktor” slot. Many viewers will not know Julia Hartmann, who plays the title character Mai Gardner, but there are numerous stars in the supporting roles who are well known from other TV series.
For leading actress Julia Herman, the role feels tailor-made after various TV projects and cinema appearances alongside Matthias Schweighöfer (“Schlussmacher”). The 38-year-old, who became a mother for the first time in 2022, wanted a permanent project that she was “burning” for. as she explains to our colleague from the Berliner Morgenpost in an interview: “When it came, it was a blast. It was a little too early because my son was only nine months old when we started filming and I had a lot of respect for doing that to him. However, we found a wonderful nanny and there were many breaks to breastfeed. The scripts captivated me so much that I really wanted to play the character of Mai. I really want to develop it further.”
That’s what “Mandate for May” is about (from March 21st, 8:15 p.m. on ZDF)
In the six-part series “Mandate for May”, which was first announced by ZDF under the title “Vogtland”, her character Maria “Mai” Gardner travels from Berlin to the remote Vogtland for a mandate. She represents a company whose wind turbine had a piece of ice thrown off it and killed a child. The parents Matthias and Linda want justice, Mayor Heike is trying to smooth things over.
The people in Vogtland are stubborn, but with heart. Nobody needs a lawyer from the big city who makes everything more complicated, but Mai’s arrival throws things into disarray. She decides to stay in Vogtland, takes on cases, renovates a house – and learns how to use a weapon. Because there is a reason why Mai doesn’t want to go back to Berlin and bring her 15-year-old son Kaleb (Jashan Gupta) with her: she is on the run from her violent husband Bo, played by Kai Schumann.
In “Tatort” from Leipzig from 2009 to 2013, Schumann played the forensic doctor Dr. in nine cases alongside Simon Thomalla and Martin Wuttke. Johannes Reichau. He then played Bochum Commissioner Nikolas Heldt in the ZDF crime series “Heldt” for eight seasons, which was discontinued in 2021.
Isabell Gerschke, who plays the landlady Babette in “Mandate for May,” also has plenty of series experience. Gerschke recently left the ARD long-running hit “In aller Friendship”, where she has been working as a gynecologist Dr. since 2020. Ina Schulte could be seen. A return to the hospital series doesn’t seem to be out of the question.
In Vogtland, Mai Gardner appreciates the distance from her husband Bo, but as the series progresses she increasingly seeks to be closer to forester Urs. He is played by actor Moritz Otto, who stars as the title character Dr. in the RTL medical drama series “Der Schiffsarzt”. Eric Leonhard could be seen.
The cast is made up of many familiar faces (see gallery), including Birge Schade (“Tatort”, “Spring”, “Mr and Mrs Bulle”), Christoph Schechinger (“The Boss”, “Bad Banks”), Anne Kanis (“In All Friendship”) and Jashan Gupta (“Among Us”) count. Let’s see whether so much star power will help the ZDF series be a success and a possible sequel. The expectations for the series slot in primetime on Thursday evenings are always high.