

Season 1 • Episode 38
LatestBella 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.
Acting
Hoger's silences speak entire dissertations.
Writing
Complex female protagonist written by actual woman, shockingly.
Production
Hamburg's gray beauty as co-star.
Creator
Doris Gercke
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hannelore Hoger was 52 when she started and 68 at the final episode, making this one of TV's rare age-appropriate long runs for a woman.
Creator Doris Gercke wrote the novels first; Bella Block predates Helen Mirren's Jane Tennison by two years, making her arguably TV's first complex older female detective.