Henry Stange

Master roofer Werner Stegemann lives in an idyllic holiday village on the Baltic Sea. His son Nils has broken off contact with him.

A German couple, Niels and Maria, and their teenage son Markus move to the Norwegian coastal town of Hammerfest, hoping for a new beginning in the land of endless twilight. Instead they find themselves drifting further apart. Niels submerges himself in his work as an engineer and an affair with a co-worker, Maria works overtime and Markus struggles at school. One night, after a double shift, Maria’s car collides with something – or someone – on the road. But from tragedy comes mercy: the accident catalysing all three family members towards reconciliation.

Police officers Kessel and Driller are supposed to be on the lookout for an internationally wanted war criminal. But Kessel is a junkie, gets into a fight with a young dealer and runs the man over. His colleague Driller covers all the tracks, but cannot prevent an ambitious public prosecutor from trying to solve the incident. However, the two of them have a much bigger problem: the crime has made Kessel vulnerable to blackmail.

Christa is unperturbed by her son's game: The boy is a fan of "Starship Enterprise". The two of them cheerfully communicate as Kirk and Spock. It is therefore hardly noticeable that Christa develops the first signs of paranoia, especially as deep mistrust is spreading throughout the country: the story is set in the spring of 1986, when a nuclear disaster has just occurred in Chernobyl. Christa's husband has to watch helplessly as his wife drifts into madness.

Bella Block is a long-running German detective television series starring Hannelore Hoger, first broadcast in 1994 on ZDF. In 2010 the 30th series was produced.