Gripping thriller series “Your Honor”
In the beginning there was a cover-up hit-and-run
“Your Honor” offers a top cast: Sebastian Koch (left), Sascha Geršak, Tobias Moretti (right) as well as Ursula Strauss (left) and Paula Beer are there.
© [M] ARD Degeto/ORF/SquareOne Productions/Mona Film/Andreas H. Bitesnich/Philipp Brozsek
High tension with Sebastian Koch, Tobias Moretti and Co. awaits the viewers in the thriller series “Your Honor”.
In the six-part German-Austrian thriller series “Your Honor”, the multiple Grimme award winner Sebastian Koch (59) plays a respected judge who violates his moral principles out of love for his son. But a covered-up hit-and-run triggers an avalanche of lies, manipulation and violence.
Behind one of the opponents of the ambivalent title hero is a no less great film star: Tobias Moretti (62), also a Grimme prize winner, embodies the unscrupulous Innsbruck butchery big businessman Uli Lindner, who will heat up the judge dangerously. “Uli Lindner is such a bizarre and abstract satellite figure that I was incredibly happy to draw her on the edge of absurdity and danger,” enthuses Moretti about his character to the broadcaster.
Apart from these two artists, tuning in to “Your Honor” is also worthwhile in terms of content, because high tension and brilliant performances are guaranteed, right down to the smallest supporting role.
That’s what “Your Honor” is about
For judge Michael Jacobi (cook), his job is a calling. Nevertheless, he defies the law when his son Julian (Taddeo Kufus, born 1999) confesses to a hit-and-run car accident. The comatose motorcyclist (Niko Lukic, born 1997) is no stranger to Jacobi. It is the son of the notorious clan leader Radan Sailovic (Marek Wlodarczyk, 67), whom he once put behind bars.
The otherwise intrepid judge knows how dangerous it will be for his son when the Sailovics find out about it. However, his attempt to get rid of the accident car with the help of his friend Franz Brunner (Sascha Geršak, 46) fails.
Jacobi is under pressure as a result of the investigations by Commissioner Gabriele Kirchner (Ursula Strauss, 47). Meanwhile, Arija Sailovic (Paula Beer, 27), who doesn’t believe her brother had an accident, wants to take over the clan’s business. Now a bloody gang war begins with the shady manufacturer Uli Lindner (Moretti), who also becomes a danger to Jacobi. In order to save his son and his career, the judge must throw all his principles overboard.
Original is an Israeli series
The screenplay for “Your Honor” by David Marian and director David Nawrath (b. 1980) is based on the Israeli series “Kvodo”, which was entitled “Your Honor” as a ten-part US crime drama mini-series with “Breaking Bad” – Star Bryan Cranston (66) was adapted in the role of the judge.
Sebastian Koch was not only on board as an actor, but also involved in the development of the script for the new adaptation of the material. “Producer Al Munteanu called from Paris almost exactly four years ago. In just four minutes he pitched me the plot of an Israeli series for which he intended to buy the rights – with the question whether I would be interested in developing this material and the to play the leading role. But I have to make a decision immediately,” Koch recalls the beginnings of the project.
He immediately agreed. In this way he was involved in the creative process from the very beginning. It was important to him to “repeatedly check this very complex story with its many twists and protagonists for logic and plausibility” – and that actually succeeded, let’s reveal it at this point.
The father of two, Sebastian Koch, can personally understand that his character, Judge Jacobi, violates every one of his moral principles and all legal rules out of love for his son and concern for his life: “But of course. Anyone who has children can immediately Put yourself in that situation. If your child has problems or, as in this case, is in mortal danger, as a parent you have no choice but to do everything you can to help the child.”
Also worth mentioning in the German-Austrian version of the series is the camera work under the direction of Tobias von dem Borne. From minute one he succeeds in taking atmospheric shots in a snow-covered Austrian mountain landscape – but also in scenes that were filmed in Innsbruck and Vienna.
Broadcast on Saturday and Sunday
The first shows the first four episodes of the crime series on April 9 from 8:15 p.m. and episodes five and six on April 10 from 9:45 p.m. following “Tatort: Borowski and the Shadow of the Moon”. The talk show “Anne Will” is canceled on this day. The complete series is also available in the ARD media library.