Four months without "Tatort" That's why the 2024 summer break has a record length
No new "Tatort" for almost four months, a third of the year. This time, fans of the most popular crime series are noticeably undersupplied with new material.
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- At 17 weeks, the "Tatort" summer break in 2024 will be longer than ever before, due to the European Football Championships and the Olympic Games.
- This year, there will only be 32 new "Tatort" episodes in total, which is significantly fewer than in previous years.
- The next new episode of "Tatort" will be broadcast on September 15; until then, reruns or sports broadcasts will be shown on Sundays.
It's been a long time since it's been away: this year's " Tatort " is in its longest summer break ever. According to current planning from the ARD program management in Munich, the 2024 break will last a full 17 weeks - a record. Previously, 2020 and 2012, with their 13-week summer breaks, were considered record years for the popular ARD Sunday crime series "Tatort". Last year, the summer break lasted eleven weeks, two years ago it was ten weeks.
As things stand, there will only have been 32 new "Tatort" crime dramas at the end of the year - the lowest number for a long time. Last year there were 35, before that 36, in 2021 there were 33, before that always around 36 to 37, in 2015 even once 40.
New Sunday thrillers will only continue in September
Since Whit Monday (May 20), there has been no first broadcast of "Tatort". The first fresh "Tatort" crime thriller is currently scheduled for September 15. Until then, there will continue to be prime-time repeats on Sundays or a sports broadcast, such as on August 4, when athletics from the Summer Olympics in Paris will be shown live on the first channel.
Sunday repeats in the coming weeks include the NDR "Tatort: Borowski und der Himmel über Kiel" from 2014 (July 28), the MDR "Tatort: Level X" from Dresden from 2017 (August 11), the WDR "Tatort: Ein Freund, ein guter Freund" from Münster from 2022 (August 18) and the Stuttgart SWR "Tatort: Videobeweis" from 2022 (August 25).
The "Tatort" summer break, in which "Tatort" reruns are shown instead of fresh crime dramas on Sundays at 8.15 p.m. on the first channel, has only gradually become established. There have been regular reruns in the summer since 1996. Since 2003, the number of reruns in the summer has increased, but has often been interrupted by first broadcasts (including "Polizeiruf 110"). The first continuous "Tatort" summer break in the first series was in 2007 and then again from 2010.
Repeats on Sunday evenings for weeks on end
ARD cites the two major sporting events in 2024 as the reason for the long summer break this year. The European Football Championship in Germany runs from June 14 to July 14, while the Olympic Games in Paris are from July 26 to August 11. After that are the Paralympics (August 28 to September 8).
After the last "Tatort" before the summer break (May 20), there was a new Munich "Polizeiruf 110" on May 26. Since then, however, no new Sunday crime thriller has been shown on ARD television.
The ARD series "Tatort" has been around for almost 54 years (in the Federal Republic) and the crime series "Polizeiruf 110" for around 53 years (initially as a production of GDR television).
Tatort", featuring around 20 different teams from the various ARD broadcasters as well as Swiss and Austrian television, is by far Germany's most popular TV series. Since 1970, 1271 films have been labeled and broadcast.