Since 2022, Katharina Wackernagel has been playing the main role in the ARD series “Murder with a View”. Now the new season starts. In the star-Interview, the actress talks about the difficult start as Caroline Peters’ successor and reveals why a life in the country is out of the question for her.
By Alexander Nebe
Why is there weird humor like in the ARD series “murder with a view” is so rarely seen in German productions?
It’s certainly true that we’re not brave and consistent enough when it comes to humor – and we’ll probably never be able to manage nasty British humor in this country. Especially since the concern that the gags could be misunderstood is greater than ever before in the age of wokeness. In general, however, I think that we Germans often have more humor than we are given credit for. But when it comes to quirkiness or cross-genre comedy, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
“Murder with a View” takes place in the provinces. After how many days of country living do you, as a self-confessed city plant, get a buzz?
After just one day! By the time I wanted to go out for sushi in the evening, I would be completely annoyed. I wouldn’t want to have to drive to the next bigger town to do this. And since I’m also a self-confessed car person, I’d have to ride my bike. And then back down a dark country road at night? I am a city person with heart and soul and need life and hustle and bustle in the evenings. Of course, I don’t necessarily have to go to pubs or bars every evening, but I love this feeling of life that I could do anything at any time if I wanted to.
Don’t you feel like resting and slowing down?
Sometimes yes, but then I go to Norway, where I often visited with my family as a child. Or to Brittany: I like to be there with friends or family, then we cook together, eat outside and go for a walk on the deserted beach late in the evening. I love and enjoy that very much. But only for a clearly limited vacation period. I can’t imagine living in lonely places in everyday life. That would be far too boring for me! I also don’t want to have to take the S-Bahn 45 minutes into the city. I want to get out the door – and be able to throw myself straight into life.
At the start of the new edition of “Murder with a View” there was headwind for you and the team on social media.
It was the first time that I was approached in a very personal and hurtful way on Instagram, for example. We really had to deal with a wave of outrage after the reboot was announced and I was quite shocked by the intensity of the comments. That was awesome and a completely new experience for me. I also found it a shame that the haters refused any dialogue. Luckily there was a happy ending.
Actually?
When the first episodes aired, the tide turned. On the one hand, because the broadcast was very successful and some admitted that their concerns were unfounded. They realized that my goal was never to take Caroline Peters’ place, but rather that we tell a completely new story.
The actors Sebastian Schwarz, Katharina Wackernagel (M.) and Eva Bühnen in the series “Murder with a View”. The first seven episodes of the new season will air on ARD every Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. from April 16, 2024. Six more episodes will follow in autumn 2024.
© Frank Dicks / ARD
Your “Murder with a Chance” character, Inspector Marie Gabler, is betrayed at the beginning of the first episode and reacts in a very hot-blooded way. How would you personally react?
I can also be a very impulsive woman at times. But immediately attack someone in an emotional state? That wouldn’t happen to me. I always have to think things through carefully before I come to a decision. While it can be very liberating to express anger and disappointment unfiltered, it can also destroy things forever.
How important is loyalty to you in a relationship?
Since I have been single for five years and am very happy with this situation, loyalty is not an issue for me at the moment. And for me personally, loyalty doesn’t have to be the cornerstone of a relationship. Honesty and sincerity are much more important to me. In addition, I am simply too open and seducable; I’m too keen on meeting new people to find it quite disingenuous to say that I want to dance around freely and openly – but that my partner isn’t allowed to do that.
Her mother had a relationship with two men at the same time for a long time. Would such a partnership model also be conceivable for you?
This relationship model is definitely exciting and special. My mother is also a very special woman. But for my brothers and I, that was never an option. Personally, being with a man is sometimes too strenuous for me.
Is it true that your mother wasn’t initially happy that you wanted to become an actress?
Since she is also an actress, she also knows the difficult processes that come with this profession. You only have yourself! Your craft is your face, your voice, your body – and you will be judged by that. This can push you to emotional limits.
And your mother wanted to protect you from that?
Exactly! Because she knew: If you go out into this world, you will be confronted with the fact that you can never hide behind what you do for a living. You always put your soul on the table and sometimes that can be very painful. But she never said that she didn’t want me to take this path. My parents really wanted me to go to drama school – that turned out differently. But they still supported me every step of the way.
Since when have you known what kind of life you want to lead and what you want from your life?
To this day I still can’t say exactly. This is a long process that is not yet finished. A very important step in my life was definitely realizing a few years ago that I didn’t want children. At first I didn’t think about this question at all and concentrated fully on my career. But then the topic kept coming up again. However, it came more from outside than from myself.
In what way?
Journalists in particular kept asking me: When are you ready to have children? Your biological clock ticks so slowly too! At times it was just excessive. Although I am a person who is in the public eye, if I don’t bring up the topic of children in interviews myself, then I find it difficult when people keep asking me about it.
Did the repeated questions trigger you in a certain way?
Yes, especially since the topic also played a role in my relationship at the time. My boyfriend at the time would have liked to have a child. That’s also why I had to make this decision at some point. That was a sad and challenging time for me because it also resulted in the separation from my boyfriend.
How annoying is it to you that parts of society continue to suggest to us that our lives are not complete if we do not have children at some point?
I find it quite absurd that this is actually still the case today. Especially since society has to seriously ask itself the question of how long our world will continue to exist in the form it currently presents and how long we can continue to live in such privilege here in Germany. And we already have more than enough people due to overpopulation.