Berlin is on the Baltic

“SOKO Wismar” is investigating in Adlershof

The police station of the fictional special investigations unit “SOKO Wismar” of the eponymous crime series is a long way away from the seaside town of Wismar. It’s located in Studio 20c in Berlin Adlershof, 260 kilometres away from where the plot takes place. In the magnificent early September sunshine, the team is gathering there to shoot selected scenes of the popular crime series. In addition to the head of the station Jan Reuter (Udo Kroschwald), detective chief inspector Lars Pöhlmann (Dominic Boeer) and the forensic medical expert Helene Sturbeck (Katharina Blaschke), the cast also features actors Stella Hinrichs and Gustav Gailus.

To make sure the 8-hour shoot can begin at 9 o’clock sharp, Hinrichs and Gailus are picked up from their homes at 7.30am. After a short visit to the make-up room, they slip into their costumes. Hinrichs becomes detective chief inspector Paula Moorkamp and Gailus transforms into Edgars “Eddi” Jansons, the Latvian exchange officer. Thanks to his Latvian mother, the Hanover native was able to practice the accent using her voice messages.

He wears a white shirt with blue shoulder patches and the inscription “Policija”, combined with a dark blue tie and trousers. Hinrich’s uniform is also blue. In the field, she wears a weapon and a weapon belt. “We have a former policeman on set as a permanent extra who instructs on professional weapons use, but I rarely wear the belt in the studio,” explains Hinrichs. One thing must appear in every episode: Fischbrötchen, the fish rolls popular in the north. “Somebody once counted how many fish rolls were eaten in the series. There were a lot.”

Since half of the series is shot on location in Wismar, the SOKO shoots are never chronological. If any questions come up about the plot, up to six directors are on set to help. With so-called visual continuity, they also make sure that successive frames match. After all, the plate of fish rolls should be exactly where it was in the scene before. Regardless of how often the plate has been moved through the fictional station in various takes.

A small courtyard with a sliding “brick wall” and a tiny tree are common features of the series’ backdrop. The fact that not all too many things in the studio were real took some getting used to for Hinrichs, who, like Gailus, joined the cast in 2021. Before her first scene, she curiously touched the walls around her. “My finger disappeared into the wall once because it was made of polystyrene. I just thought: Oh no, I think I broke something.” The 400-sqm police station feels “very cute”, she adds. “I am routinely surprised about the angles used by the team to make the room seem much more spacious in the series than it actually is,” adds Gailus, her acting colleague.

On the day of the shoot, Hinrichs and Gailus investigate crimes together for three whole episodes: “The King is Dead”, where the corpse is a former captain. “Death’s Little Brother” takes place in a sleep laboratory, and a Michelin star chef is found dead in his restaurant in “Wild Animals”. For the latter, a golden cage with two real budgies is part of the set. “Animals on set are quite unpredictable,” explains Hinrichs. “It can take a bit of patience until the bird is back on its perch. But it’s also a lot of fun having them chirp happily in the background.” It also helps keep the team relaxed. Which they are anyway. That’s northerners for you.

Susanne Gietl for Adlershof Journal

• SOKO Wismar - crime series - ZDFmediathek
• Studio Berlin GmbH