Lindenstraße

Lindenstraße
File:Lindenstrasse.png The logo appearing on the series' title screen
Created by	Hans W. Geißendörfer
Starring	See below
Country of origin	Germany
Original language(s)	German
No. of episodes	1550+ (as of October 4, 2015)
Production
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	Das Erste
Original release	8 December 1985 – present
External links
Website

Lindenstraße (literally "Lime Street") is a German television show on Das Erste. The first episode was aired on 8 December 1985 and since then new episodes have been broadcast weekly. Its current timeslot on Das Erste is Sundays at 18:50. The events of the Sunday episode usually take place on the Thursday before the show, based on the TV station's original plan of airing the episodes Thursday night. Prior of the start of the show, the timeslot was switched to Sunday evening but the Thursday remained the day the events usually take place as the show shall feature the daily life routine of the protagonists on a working day. Exceptions are the so-called holiday episodes that take place on Sunday, such as for Christmas and Easter and also on important election days (especially the election to the German Bundestag).

Setting the pace for other soap operas in Germany, the first episodes were met with mostly bad reviews. However, Lindenstraße soon became one of the most successful shows on German TV.

Development

The creator of Lindenstraße is Hans W. Geißendörfer, whose company Geißendörfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH (GFF - "Geißendörfer film and TV productions") still produces the series today. In the beginning, Geißendörfer also directed the series. It is set in Munich, but filmed at the WDR studios in Cologne-Bocklemünd, where an entire outdoor street mock-up of the eponymous Lindenstraße was built. An actual street named 'Lindenstraße' exists in Munich's Harlaching district, but it has nothing to do with the series' fictional street.

The show is based on the long-running British soap Coronation Street, from which it borrows its main premise (the everyday life of a number of neighbours). It tackles topics such as racism, cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, disabilities (both physical and mental), and homosexuality. In 1987, it gained notoriety for showing the first gay kiss on German television. The show is also known for its prompt incorporation of real-life events and current topics.

United States television actor Larry Hagman made a cameo appearance on Lindenstraße on 19 February 2006.

Geißendörfer wrote and directed the first 31 episodes himself. Now, there are different directors that take turns in about 10-episode blocks. The current directors are Herwig Fischer, Kerstin Krause, Dominikus Probst and Iain Dilthey.

There have been many different writers of the show throughout the years. Currently, three authors share the responsibility of writing the episodes: Michael Meisheit, who has been writing for Lindenstraße since 1997, and Irene Fischer, who has been writing for Lindenstraße since 1999. She has also been playing a main character in the series since 1987. In 2013, Geißendörfer's daughter Hana Geißendörfer joined the team and the first episodes written by her aired in late April.

Setting

Families with children live in the Lindenstraße. The families Beimer-Schiller, Beimer-Ziegler and Zenker, as well as couples without children and communes are very important to the show. There is also a doctor's office, currently run by Dr. Iris Brooks. In the past, it has been run by Dr. Ernesto Stadler, Dr. Carsten Flöter and his stepfather Dr. Ludwig Dressler. There is also a Greek restaurant "Akropolis" and a supermarket.

There are also a few shops in the Kastanienstraße, which is at one end of the Lindenstraße. There is an organic food shop called "1 A Bio" (It used to be the chocolate store "Kakao" and the gourmet food shop called "Alimentari". There is also a café called "Café Bayer" and a travel agency called "Träwel und Iwends" (a pun on the German pronunciation of Travel and Events)as well as the car shop "Die Werkstatt. There are also several main characters who live on this street.

On the other end of the Lindenstraße, one can find the Ulrike-Böss-Straße. In it is a movie theater ("Astor"), the "Café George" and a hair salon.

Cast

File:Lindenstraße Nr. 7 (Villa Dressler).jpg

Lindenstraße Nr. 7, the Dressler residence

Due to the frequency of social problem topics treated in the series, a high proportion of the characters come from minority groups of diverse kind or live in patchwork relationships. From the Greek Restaurant with its family and a Vietnamese which where there from the beginning, characters and whole families with migration background have come and gone from Italy, Turkey, Eastern Europe etc. The current cast counts three male homosexuals, two of them living in marriage with an adopted son, and one female homosexual with a test-tube baby. There's a homeless man, a man in a wheelchair, a child with Down syndrome and so on.

Fans of the series have proclaimed in mild jest that a "normal" family wouldn't survive the Lindenstraße. As if to prove this, the model bavarian family Stadler which moved to the street in September 2008 has only one member, the contrarian Grandfather, remaining in the street as of early 2013. He "occupies" a room in a commune otherwise populated by twens. His son, the family father, fled the street after the family mother had a love-affair with his brother. The mother then broke up with the brother and started a new affair with a young immigrant from the Balkans who hid his visa-less family in an apartment in the same house. The younger family daughter, who became a teenage mother after a Lindenstraße resident of her age purposely broke a condom, fell in love with the same immigrant and left the street in shock after finding out that he preferred her mother over herself. The mother and the immigrant then left the street together. The older teenage daughter had more luck and married a widely liked Lindenstraße resident in Las Vegas with whom she started a successful business in the street, only to suddenly die from a food poisoning originating in the Greek restaurant in February 2013.

Current cast members

Actor	Character	Duration
Domna Adamopoulou	Elena Sarikakis, née Pallas	1985–
Michael Baral	Timotheus "Timo" Zenker #2	2009, 2014–
Daniela Bette	Angelina Dressler, adopted, née Buchstab	2007–
Jo Bolling	Andreas "Andy" Zenker	1990–
Ole Dahl	Paul Dağdelen, accepted, née Hoffmeister #3	2009–
Irene Fischer	Anna Ziegler, née Jenner	1987–2013, 2015–
Joris Gratwohl	Alexander "Alex" Behrend	2000–
Jan Grünig	Martin "Mürfel" Ziegler	1999–2013, 2015–
Erkan Gündüz	Murat Dağdelen	1999–
Ludwig Haas	Dr. Ludwig Dressler	1985–
Kurt Hinz	Hans-Joachim "Hajo" Scholz	1990–
Hermes Hodolides	Vasily Sarikakis	1985–
Beatrice Kaps-Zurmahr	Andrea Neumann	2004–2009, 2010–
Dominique Kusche	Sophie Ziegler #2	1998–
Joachim Hermann Luger	Hans Beimer	1985–
Marie-Luise Marjan	Helga Beimer, née Wittich	1985–
Sarah Masuch	Dr. Iris Brooks	2012–
Bill Mockrigde	Erich Schiller	1991–
Philipp Neubauer	Dr. Philipp Sperling	1992–2003, 2012–
Sontje Peplow	Lisa Dağdelen, née Hoffmeister	1991–
Moritz A. Sachs	Klaus Beimer	1985–
Jannik Scharmweber	Nicolai "Nico" Zenker #6	2015–
Greta Short	Lara Brooks	2012–
Rebecca Siemoneit-Barum	Iphigenie "Iffi" Zenker	1990–2012, 2014–
Toni Snétberger	Vincenzo "Enzo" Buchstab	2006–
Gunnar Solka	Peter "Lotti" Lottmann	2004–
Philipp Sonntag	Adolf "Adi" Stadler	2008–
Andrea Spatzek	Gabriele "Gabi" Zenker, née Skabowski	1985–
Julia Stark	Sarah Ziegler	1987–2003, 2004–
Jacqueline Svilarov	Nina Zöllig	1999–2007, 2011–
Amorn Surangkanjanajai	Gung Pham Kien	1985–
Sara Turchetto	Marcella Varese #2	1998–
Georg Uecker	Dr. Carsten Flöter	1986–1991, 1995–
Claus Vinçon	Georg "Käthe" Eschweiler	1996–2006, 2007–
Cosima Viola	Jacqueline "Jack" Aichinger	2001–
Sybille Waury	Tanja Schildknecht	1985–
Moritz Zielke	Moritz "Momo" Sperling	1992–2001, 2002–

See also

• List of soap operas

External links

• Official website of the show
• Lindenstraße at IMDb
• Lindenstraße-Spoiler