KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst

Series premise

In German law enforcement, the “Kriminaldauerdienst” is a 24/7 stand-by service of the Kriminalpolizei (responsible for criminal investigations). Divided into a day and night shift, the officers of the Kriminaldauerdienst are responsible for collecting information about a crime with the ultimate goal of referring it to the responsible units (unless the crime can be solved during the shift). It should be noted that, in reality, Berlin, unlike other major cities such as Munich, Hamburg or Cologne, has no such service.

Plot

The series follows the story of the fictional day-shift squad of the Berlin “Kriminaldauerdienst” (Crime Squad) in the problematic quarter Kreuzberg. It can be divided into three narrative levels; a plot spanning all three seasons is a corruption case within the Berlin police that the officers of the Berlin Crime Squad investigate, additionally, the show follows the private lives of the investigators, and the criminal cases they are confronted with everyday.

The main characters of the show are the seven officers of the Berlin Crime Squad:

Season 1

In season 1, Jan Haroska embezzles drug money from the crime scene of an explosion in order to help his estranged daughter − and thus his grandson − who is in debt after her husband's suicide. However, the money belonged to the Russian drug dealer Han who now looks frantically for it which endangers Haroska's life and that of his family.
The explosion was orchestrated by another drug dealer, Aoun, to put his rival in his place. The investigation is reassigned from the KDD to the Landeskriminalamt and led by Rainer Sallek who, together with the Berlin Chief of Police, is in business with Aoun. Refusing to let go of the investigation, Enders and his team start to uncover the corruption. In the season finale, the squad is attacked by snipers belonging to the drug mafia during an undercover operation at the Gendarmenmarkt, ending the season with a cliffhanger.
Other storylines include the relationship between Haroska and Maria Hernandez, as well as Sylvia Henke, who is kidnapped and raped. Kristin Bender takes a liking to Enes, an adolescent fugitive from Kosovo who has to steal to support himself.

Season 2

In season 2, the squad continues investigating the corruption case. Helmut Enders relies on the contacts of Armin Ponew, a former cop who now is involved in manipulated sports betting in the Fußball-Regionalliga (football regional league); as a result, Enders himself becomes entangled in criminal activities.
Additionally, Jan Haroska is forced to leave the KDD because of his relapse into alcoholism and the show chronicles his attempts to sober up and rejoin the police force. Also, Sylvia Henke has difficulties coping with the aftermaths of her rape. Kristin Bender makes an effort to adopt Enes as her foster child.

Season 3

The third season is very focused on the character of Mehmet Kilic who has developed a cocaine addiction and works in a night club to support his drug habit.
When an undercover police officer is killed by a weapons dealer, Kilic is asked to go undercover as the victim and him were in the same club that night. Kilic is tested in his loyalty to his colleagues on the one hand, and the Turkish club owner who is his friend, on the other hand. The series finale depicts a hostage crisis in the KDD precinct; however, the episode does not present a series finale in a classical sense, but rather another cut within the show's story, with the ending remaining open in many aspects.

Cast and characters

Other important characters include:

Production and broadcasting

The series was primarily shot in the Berlin neighborhoods of Kreuzberg and Neukölln. For the exterior shots of the KDD precinct, the old building of the Heeresbäckerei Berlin was used whereas the interior scenes were shot a studio close to the Berlin Tegel Airport.

Season 1, consisting of a pilot episode with a length of 90 minutes and 10 episodes, was broadcast from February 2, 2007 to April 20, 2007 on ZDF. Season 2, containing 9 episodes, was broadcast from May 2, 2008 to July 4, 2008.
Shooting on season 3 began in October 2008. On November 17, 2009, the ZDF announced that the series would not be renewed for a fourth season. Because the third season was co-financed by arte, the channel had the rights to first run, showing the episodes from January 12, 2010 to March 2, 2010. The final season aired on ZDF from April 9, 2010 to May 21, 2010.

International broadcast

The series was broadcast in French on arte under the title KDD – Berlin Brigade Criminelle. In 2010, the series was sold to Eurochannel and was first broadcast on the Canadian Eurochannel in October 2010 as KDD – Berlin Crime Squad Eurochannel then went on to broadcast it in Spanish-speaking countries (KDD: Policia de Investigación), Portuguese-speaking countries (KDD: Policia Investigativa de Berlim), French-speaking countries and on the Polish Eurochannel (KDD: Berlinski Oddzial Kryminalny).

Narrative and visual style

The series differed from many German television series due to its rapid narrative pace, the complexity and thickness of the plot and the subject matters (which included forced marriage, euthanasia, rape, gambling addiction, child sexual abuse and abuse of elderly in nursing homes).

The series was shot with two cameras to enhance the dynamic and achieve a more fluent way of acting. Another characteristic was the coloring of the series, which was kept in livid shades of green and beige, which was likened to modern US-American television series such as The Wire. The minimalistic and electronic soundtrack also contributed to the exceptional style of KDD – Berlin Crime Squad.

Reception

KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst was received almost unanimously well with critics. They were particularly impressed with the series' narrative pace (“The series has this high narrative pace known from American TV series”, Süddeutsche Zeitung) and the complex stories (“...The era of ironing in front of the television is over...”).
The series' challenging of German crime series traditions was also lauded: “Does one really want the world to be kept in order by people who cannot even get their own lives together? A question that is especially disturbing on Friday nights in the ZDF. Here, investigations are usually carried with a state-underpinning noblesse [...] The integrity of the investigators was yet always guaranteed during the “fire place hour” of crime entertainment”, contemplated Christian Buß in the Spiegel. KDD was called “by far the best of the current German crime genre” and was praised for its realism.

Audience response

Despite the acclaim and enthusiasm with which KDD was received by critics, the series proved unsuccessful with the television audience. Airing on Friday nights where the ZDF traditionally shows crime series, the viewing figures corresponded to the average ZDF share, but were far inferior to that of the other crime series shown the same night.
Series creator Orkun Ertener mused that the show was “...too complex, too fast, too dark, too immoral” for the German audience and voiced his fear that ambitious series such as KDD will never be successful in Germany: “...We will most likely never gain upon Great Britain and the US that are setting the standards”. The magazine Stern called KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst a series caught “in the quality trap”.

Deutscher Fernsehpreis

Adolf-Grimme-Preis

Bayerischer Fernsehpreis

International TV Broadcasting & Film Awards (New York Festivals)