Stubbe chronicles the life of Wilfried Stubbe, a Hamburgpolice detective, in a both work- and family-related way. Stubbe lives with his daughter Christiane, his wife Caroline — until the character's death in the episode "Auf Liebe und Tod" — and his aunt-in-law Charlotte ; the family moved to Hamburg from his hometown of Dresdenat the beginning of the series. Together with his colleague Bernd Zimmermann, Stubbe has to solve a variety of criminal actscommitted in all circles of the Hamburg society.
Production
Stubbe is produced in Hamburg. The house in which Stubbe lives is located in the district of Moorfleet directly at the dike. Apart from Hamburg, other locations were used to film some sequences, for example Boizenburg and Dresden.
Characters
Wolfgang Stumph as Wilfried Stubbe - Stubbe is the main focus of the show. He is a quiet and professional detective with the Hamburg police with a sense of humor. Unlike his colleague, Zimmermann, Stubbe is more receptive to emotions who often trusts his gut. After his wife's death, he has a hard time trying to cope with the new role as a widower.
Lutz Mackensy as Bernd Zimmermann - Zimmermann is Stubbe's counterpart and colleague. Unlike Stubbe, he prefers to deal with facts.
Marie Gruber and Renate Krößner as Caroline Stubbe - Stubbe's wife and mother of Christiane. She works as a saleswoman in the beginning but then founded her own business. She dies due to an embolism after being hit by a car in the episode Auf Liebe und Tod.
Stephanie Stumph as Christiane Stubbe - Christiane is Stubbe's daughter. After the death of her mother, she moves out and begins to study journalism.
Margret Homeyer as Charlotte Hoyn - Charlotte is Caroline's aunt who goes on to live with Stubbe. She often has weird hobbies and her character serves as a running gag in the show.
Reception
Stubbe is the most successful ZDF detective series, with 6-7 million viewers on average and 15-20% market share. The series has been praised for the way it displays a police inspector with real family troubles to handle. Wolfgang Stumph has received several awards for his portrayal of Stubbe, amongst them the Bayerischer Fernsehpreis in 2004. Since the median age of the ZDF audience is 58, Stubbe has successfully been used to attract younger audiences with storylines that focus more on the problems of teenagers and almost half its audience is younger than 50.
