Media: In all conviviality: Two hearts

On the occasion of the anniversary of Sachsenklinik: With a trip to Thailand, the series of oldest hospitals in Germany celebrates its 20th anniversary. The first shows this Friday, October 26 the film "In Friendship – Two Hearts" at 20:15.

This is a 90-minute television film with the team from the Leipzig Clinic and the end point of his birthday celebrations around the TV burner, which according to the channel, activates an average of 5.16 million viewers Tuesday at 9 pm. The special stage takes place exactly two decades after the start. "At that time, I thought that if it would be a year, it would be great," said actor Thomas Rühmann (Dr. Heilmann). "Today, after 20 years, I just think: Mannomann!"

For Roland Heilmann, now head of the clinic, it all started with an emergency medical mission, which he had to move from the beginning of the first episode – for the actor Rühmann, the work of the series took place just in time. "I did not play well with the theater at the time, the" IaF "offer saved me." Her colleague, Andrea Kathrin Loewig, reacted a little differently: "I did not get the first one role in the cast.A little later, I received the offer from Kathrin Globisch and I thought: you see, I knew that I belonged here, play doctor, was at the top of my wish list. "

So far, Saxonia Media has produced 21 seasons, as reported by Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk (MDR). 1580 clinical pictures were treated. "The team around Dr. Heilmann performed 1295 operations, 44 patients died in series," they say. The universities used two episodes as teaching materials for the students. Many celebrities went to the Sachsenklinik – up to the theater legend Johannes Heesters, who played his last big role on television here for his 100th birthday. With the death of actors Hendrikje Fitz (Pia Heilmann) and Dieter Bellmann (director of the clinic, Gernot Simoni), the series lost two public favorites, who were present from the beginning.

While the actor Bernhard Bettermann only in 2006 as dr. Martin Stein, who is the friendly and unique medical trio with Heilmann and Globisch, has been a member of the board since the beginning. "When we started, there were a lot of PhDs on German TV, so it all came off, and we suddenly stayed there like a loner until all the hospital series came from America, "she says. It's a gift to be able to tell a story for so long – "many formats no longer have such a chance".

"IaF", on the contrary, even gets offshoots: the spin-off "The Young Physicians" is already launched on ARD-eve (Thursday, at 18:50), on November 1, we can see "Die Nestern".

"The successful mother, so to speak, has had children and pbaded on her good genes," said MDR-fiction director Jana Brandt. For her, "proximity to life and humanity" make up the series. The daily routine of the clinic, the patients' cases and the privacy of the protagonists offer an "infinite potential for dramatic and emotional stories". Also during the trip to Thailand: Dr. med. Heilmann is invited to a congress in Bangkok and the administrative director, Marquardt, is allowed to travel with him. Heilmann meets an attractive Swedish doctor (Petra van de Voort). His son in Leipzig is in danger of death and he finds himself in prison in Thailand.

Rühmann knows what to do with his character in the near future: "Rolli must now step out of his mourning phase and will soon have a new wife." And in the distant future? In 20 years, he could not imagine "at all," he says. "I would be 83. And I've always found it strange that colleagues are in the theater for only 40 years," he says. "I can imagine that Sachsenklinik will be created in 20 years, but nobody knows how television will evolve."

The shooting of the 22nd season is already underway. The new episodes will be aired from January 2019.