Derrick and Klein
As the series begins Derrick has only recently been promoted from hauptinspektor to oberinspektor. The personal relationship between Derrick and his assistant, Klein, is characterized by Derrick's often annoyance over Klein which takes its form as sarcastic remarks to the point of rolling his eyes and shaking his head over his companion in front of witnesses and in public. The reason for this animosity remains unclear since Klein rarely makes any ostensive mistakes, yet Derrick seems to pick at him quite regularly. Klein on the other side never talks back and also never gives the slightest appearance of taking offense at this low-level bullying. These many minor episodes notwithstanding the two work very professionally and organically as a team, however, with Derrick always as the leading partner. Also, this behavior of Derrick becomes less noticable as the seasons progress.
Derrick hardly has any private live; a girl friend occurs only in two episodes. In one episode Derrick says, "no, I am no longer married". Klein does not seem to have any private life. However, as a younger inspector he seems to love getting statements from young, good-looking girls. In that respect and also in the way he goes about a case, Derrick resembles Lt. Columbo. However, as Umberto Eco has pointed out, Columbo is the obedient, seemingly helpless servant of a community of rich and powerful Californians while Derrick, elegantly dressed and impeccably behaved, always appears in control and superior even to the wealthy people he is tracking down.
Just like an earlier television series, Der Kommissar (also written by Reinecker), Derrick features many prominent German and Austrian actors and actresses, including Luitgard Im, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Lilli Palmer, Heinz Bennent, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Horst Buchholz, Traugott Buhre, Hans-Gert Pöttering, Cornelia Froboess, Johanna von Koczian, Uschi Glas, Karlheinz Hackl, Michael Heltau, Harald Juhnke, Curd Jürgens, Martin Schulz, Gudrun Landgrebe, Inge Meysel and Gusti Wolf. Many appear repeatedly throughout several of the seasons.
The series was surprisingly popular in China. Reportedly it was also actually used to teach police officers and inspectors in proper procedure of tracing and solving criminal cases.
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