ZDF ends crime series "Ein Fall für zwei" after 46 years

The first episode of "Ein Fall für zwei" was broadcast on September 11, 1981. The format has existed with changing casts since 1981. In the pilot episode "Die große Schwester," the later private detective Josef Matula (Claus Theo Gärtner) was still seen as a Frankfurt police officer who, while giving testimony in court, encounters his later partner, attorney Dieter Renz (Günter Strack).

Claus Theo Gärtner shaped the role of private detective Josef Matula for more than three decades. His departure after 300 episodes in 2013 marked the end of an entire era. While the lawyers who handed him investigative assignments changed repeatedly, Matula remained the constant of the series over decades.

Matula, Renz, and the changing lawyers

From May 2014 to today (July 2026), there have been 46 episodes of the buddy series starring Antoine Monot and Wanja Mues in the leading roles. In the buddy crime series "Ein Fall für zwei," Wanja Mues plays private detective Leo Oswald and Antoine Monot plays attorney Benni Hornberg. After season 12, there will have been 50 episodes of the current "Ein Fall für zwei" series, and at the very end, 54 episodes plus the concluding film.

On the occasion of the series ending, lead actor Wanja Mues was quoted expressing regret: "Ein großes Kapitel deutscher Fernsehgeschichte findet sein Ende. Das tut mir leid für die vielen Millionen treuer Fans, die uns am Freitagabend regelmäßig begleitet haben. Jetzt ist Zeit für neue Abenteuer, und ich freue mich schon auf alles, was da kommt." Antoine Monot added: "Unser ganz persönlicher 'Fall für Mues und Monot' ist noch lange nicht vorbei: Wir stehen gemeinsam mit dem Live-Hörspiel Pater Brown auf der Bühne und drehen 2027 den 90-Minüter 'Ein Fall für zwei', der dann als Abschluss im ZDF ausgestrahlt wird."

Farewell words from the lead actors

As early as September, the penultimate, twelfth season of the current team will appear on the ZDF schedule, before the 13th and final season with four episodes follows next year. Subsequently, a 90-minute feature film, which is to be shot in 2027, will "die Geschichte zu einem würdigen Abschluss führen," as the public broadcaster in Mainz stated today. The final season with four episodes is to be broadcast next year.

The Friday crime slot once included series such as "Der Kommissar" and "Derrick," but also "Siska" and "Der Staatsanwalt." To this day and since 1977, there has been the Munich-set series "Der Alte" (with performers such as Siegfried Lowitz, Rolf Schimpf, Walter Kreye, Jan-Gregor Kremp, and Thomas Heinze). Since 2012, the also Munich-set crime series "Die Chefin" starring Katharina Böhm as Vera Lanz has been broadcast.

The Friday crime slot before and after "Ein Fall für zwei"

Currently and only since early 2026, there is, for example, the series "Mordufer," set in the tri-border region around Lake Constance, starring Franziska Weisz and Maria Wördemann – the series shows investigative work by criminal police and customs. With this, ZDF is geographically expanding its Friday offerings, while letting the long-standing Frankfurt-based series about private detective Matula and his attorney partners run out after nearly five decades.

ZDF spokespersons emphasized that "Ein Fall für zwei" had "den ZDF-Freitagskrimi über mehr als vier Jahrzehnte entscheidend mitgeprägt und Generationen von Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauern begleitet." With the planned concluding film in 2027, one of the longest-running crime series in German television comes to an end.

The broadcaster's decision was made against the backdrop of a general realignment of the crime portfolio. ZDF announced that it would focus more strongly on a few formats in the future while simultaneously expanding the spectrum to include regionally rooted material. The makers of the series expressed gratitude toward the audience in their farewell words and at the same time looked ahead – to new projects that are on the agenda after the end of "Ein Fall für zwei."