"Tatort" in the check Why the crime stars always shoot late at night
Their penultimate case took chief detectives Ivo Batic (Miroslav Nemec, left) and Franz Leitmayr (Udo Wachtveitl) to the Residenztheater.
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
At first, Nora Nielsen (Giulia Goldammer) and Carl Silberman (Lukas T. Sperber) were still on stage together. But then the young woman was poisoned during the performance of Chekhov's "The Seagull".
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
Dressing room attendant Ria Jäger (Liliane Amuat, right) was considered a close confidante of the dead woman. Like the actress Gina Rohland (Ursina Lardi), she knew about the toxic relationship between Carl and Nora.
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
The director Freya von Kaltenberg (Anna Stiebich) was shocked by the events at her house. Nevertheless, she wanted to go ahead with the play because: "We have a full house tonight."
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
Rejoicing too soon: Stella Papst (Luzia Oppermann) thought she had replaced her missing colleague, but then Nora turned up after all.
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
Their penultimate case took chief detectives Ivo Batic (Miroslav Nemec, left) and Franz Leitmayr (Udo Wachtveitl) to the Residenztheater.
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
At first, Nora Nielsen (Giulia Goldammer) and Carl Silberman (Lukas T. Sperber) were still on stage together. But then the young woman was poisoned during the performance of Chekhov's "The Seagull".
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
Dressing room attendant Ria Jäger (Liliane Amuat, right) was considered a close confidante of the dead woman. Like the actress Gina Rohland (Ursina Lardi), she knew about the toxic relationship between Carl and Nora.
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
The director Freya von Kaltenberg (Anna Stiebich) was shocked by the events at her house. Nevertheless, she wanted to go ahead with the play because: "We have a full house tonight."
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
Rejoicing too soon: Stella Papst (Luzia Oppermann) thought she had replaced her missing colleague, but then Nora turned up after all.
Image: BR/Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion
An actress died on the stage of the Residenztheater in Sunday evening's "Tatort: Das Verlangen". Filming the Munich crime thriller presented the ensemble around Udo Wachtveitl and Miroslav Nemec with special challenges.
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- A poisoned actress called Commissioner Leitmayr (Udo Wachtveitl) and Batic (Miroslav Nemec) to the scene in the Munich "Tatort: Das Verlangen" (Crime Scene: Desire )
- Unusual working hours awaited the cast of the ARD crime drama during filming in Munich's Residenztheater.
- The case at the theater was the penultimate assignment for the Munich investigative duo. In 2026, they bid farewell to the crime drama institution after 25 years.
The penultimate case for outgoing Munich "Tatort" detectives Franz Leitmayr (Wachtveitl) and Ivo Batic (Nemec) took the duo to Munich's Residenztheater: the day before, the young actress Nora Nielsen (Giulia Goldammer) had collapsed on stage during a performance.
The filming of the movie "Tatort: Das Verlangen", which took place exclusively in the theater and the associated buildings, presented the crew with special challenges ...
What was "Tatort: Das Verlangen" about?
Nora's death was basically an unfortunate coincidence in two respects: the young woman would almost never have been on stage on the evening of the crime. Shortly before the performance of Anton Chekhov's drama "The Seagull", Nora, who was playing the role of Nina, had disappeared from the face of the earth.
Out of necessity, artistic director Freya von Kaltenberg (Anna Stieblich) and director Akim Birol (Thiemo Strutzenberger) had already found a replacement: Stella Papst (Luzia Oppermann) was already in costume when stage manager Lara Frost (Stephanie Schönfeld) found Nora crying in one of the shower cubicles in the dressing room.
After some persuasion, Nora pulled herself together, put on her costume and entered the stage where, in her very last scene, she drank from a bottle of wine which, according to the script, should have been emptied by her partner Carl Mayerkoff (Lukas T. Sperber). The cherry juice laced with the strong painkiller tilidine was actually intended for him, and Nora ultimately died as a result.
The glass was poisoned by the cloakroom attendant Ria Jäger (Liliane Amuat): "I didn't want to kill him at all. I just wanted him to suffer," she defended herself. As a close confidante of Nora's, she knew about the toxic relationship Nora had with Carl. A similar relationship with the actor had driven the young actress Lily Bach to suicide six months earlier.
What was it really about?
The investigation into this highly emotional criminal case took place exclusively on the premises of the Munich Residenztheater, on its main stage, on a rehearsal stage, behind the scenes and in various of the theater's own workshops. This gave the television audience a unique insight into the working world of the actors and actresses as well as some other professions at the theater.
"The fact that this crime scene is set entirely in a theater was both a great attraction and an enormous challenge for us," emphasize producer Jakob Claussen and producer Thomas Klimmer in a joint statement on the film: "We would particularly like to emphasize that this would not have been possible without the exceptionally close cooperation with the Residenztheater (Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel). We are very grateful for that."
What difficulties did "Tatort" bring with it?
Lead actor Udo Wachtveitl also described the particular challenges of filming in an interview with the BR program "Abendschau": "We have to shoot when it's summer vacation, of course. Otherwise we won't get in here at all."
However, the theater usually uses the break in the summer vacations for renovation work: "That means we can only start at four o'clock, when the normal construction work is finished," the actor continues. For the "Tatort" crew, this meant that filming usually continued until two or three in the morning.
For Wachtveitl's colleague Miroslav Nemec, there was another special aspect: the now 71-year-old was himself a permanent member of the ensemble at the theater in the heart of Munich from 1981 to 1986. "When you come here, it all comes back to you as a memory, which is of course also very nice, but also movingly emotional," he explained in an interview with BR's "Abendschau" program.
Which stars are really performing at the Residenztheater at the moment?
Incidentally, the production of Anton Chekhov's drama "The Seagull" shown in excerpts in "Tatort: Das Verlangen" is not a real production of the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel: directed by Alvis Hermanis, the play was last seen in 2019 at the Cuvilliéstheater, which is part of the Residenztheater.
However, some of the actors appearing in "Tatort" can currently be seen at the Residenztheater: Liliane Amuat, who plays the cloakroom attendant Ria Jäger in "Tatort", is currently appearing at the Residenztheater as Pippi Longstocking, among others.
Vassilissa Reznikoff's roles include Sally Bowles in the musical "Cabaret", while Lukas Rüppel plays Robert Dudley in "Maria Stuart".
What's next for the Munich "Tatort"?
"Tatort: Das Verlangen" is the penultimate case for the two chief detectives Leitmayr and Nemec. Their final "Tatort" under the working title "Unvergänglich" has already been shot as a two-parter with film numbers 99 and 100.
It will be shown in 2026. Under the evocative title "Unforgettable", the crime thriller tells the story of the last four days that separate Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr from their retirement after 35 years of service together.
But then a female corpse, burned beyond recognition, is found in a municipal office deep beneath Munich's St. Quirin Square. The detectives and their assistant Kalli Hammermann (Ferdinand Hofer) are confronted with an extremely tricky set of facts.
Incidentally, the latter will remain on "Tatort": In the future, Kalli Hammermann will investigate together with chief detective Nikola Buvak (Carlo Ljubek). A first film with the working title "Zwischenwelten" has already been shot and will also be shown in 2026.
