Derrick is unique. A gentleman inspector and the Mozart (or shall I say Siegmund Freund?) of crime investigation. His technique is virtually exclusively based on talking, listening and observing people's reactions. Derrick takes the view of a master psychologist. Who needs CSI units, evidence, weapons, hand cuffs, technical observation equipment, aggressive interrogation techniques anyway? Other than a few times in the earlier seasons, he rarely loses his temper or his manners, virtually always wears suits and ties, never openly judges the questionable life choices of others and uses his gun only a couple of times. Unheard of in other police shows. Besides all of that, Derrick often doesn't need an assistant. Poor assistant Harry: he is liked because every viewer pities him. Sometimes you realize that Harry is good at his work, but often he's just there so that Derrick has a trusted friend that listens patiently to Derrick's inner train of thought, or so that Harry can execute the boring foot-work for Derrick in order to advance the plot w/o leaving holes. I don't understand why the writers never tried to position Harry as an equivalent partner.

The plots often feature recurring themes. All in all, plots are too often mediocre. Action, special effects, stunts, horror, brutality or suspense is pretty much absent most of the time. Stereotypes are the worst: towards foreigners (esp. South-Europeans, circus people), towards women (esp. naive teenage girls tricked into prostitution and gold-diggers), towards poor families (=their murders are always motivated by simple motives while rich people feel the need to justify their deeds eloquently), towards students, towards junkies (students, poor, artists such as musicians and junkies are often the same subset), towards affluent older man (who chase preferably under age girls) and towards their stiff upper-class families (living in Bogenhausen or Grünwald mansions complete with maids and chauffeurs for their Benzes and Beamers). Poor criminals are often depicted as retards (thus it's often easy to identify the murderer). Recurring adultery, loverboys, (sexually or financially) dependent teenage girls, and incest themes. What's wrong with the writer Reinecker? And is that really how he imagines the life of certain subgroups of the German society? At least I never spotted the Nazi mindset that Reinecker must have had while in the SS and writing for Nazi publications (thank good). It gets worse with every season. Till the mid 80's it's kind of OK, but after 1986 or so most episode are superficial psycho babble. It's really astonishing that the show continued to be an international and national commercial success till the end (which is unfortunate since the Dutch proficiency in German deteriorates quickly now that "Derrick is dood").

What you can't deny though: the production value must have been high. The number of actors (sometimes really good and famous ones; Tappert and Wepper being solid), filming locations, cuts, camera angles and the quality OST (hard to believe, but the now boring town of Munich was a music powerhouse once), must equal a lot of expensive days on set per episode. Some comparable modern shows must have far less budget.

What I like best: the first half of the show (till the mid 80's), Derrick gives you an intimate (yet with some poetic licence) view into West Germany's history, its fashion style, its questionable interior design, its social dynamics and contemporary art. That may be only interesting for younger viewers, that have not experienced this era themselves, but I quite enjoyed that aspect.