TV anniversary
40 years of the “dream ship” – on the quota course since 1981
Wolfgang Rademann (2nd from right) and his “Traumschiff” crew. Photo: picture alliance / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
40 years of heartbreak at sea: The ZDF “dream ship” set sail for the first time on November 22, 1981. Along with the «crime scene», it is one of the few fictional long-running TV hits on German television.
The world is slowly running out for him, said producer Wolfgang Rademann on the occasion of his 30th anniversary ten years ago, because the “Traumschiff” crew should actually aim for exotic destinations so that they arouse the wanderlust of viewers in Germany.
The inventor Rademann died five years ago at the age of 81, but his popular television series “Das Traumschiff” lives on. On Monday (November 22nd) it will be 40 years since the first episode aired on ZDF. Along with the formats “Tatort”, “Polizeiruf 110” and “Der Alte”, the series is one of the longest-lived fictional German television history.
Since 1981 – at that time Helmut Schmidt was still Chancellor of the Federal Republic – 90 “Traumschiff” episodes have been broadcast. For the anniversary, ZDF has put dozens of old episodes in its media library – and of course there are new episodes at Christmas and New Year, the seventh and eighth edition with Florian Silbereisen as captain Max Parger. They lead to Sweden (December 26th) and Namibia (January 1st) and will be available in the media library from Christmas Eve.
Caribbean dream destination
At the end of November 1981, the television ship set off for the first voyage to the Caribbean. The TV format was created not only under the influence of the American series “Love Boat”, but also the GDR television series “Zur See” from the 1970s.
Heide Keller, who died at the end of August at the age of 81, was part of the regular crew for many years. Until the end of 2017 – more than 35 years – she played the kind-hearted head hostess Beatrice. In 2019, she called the comparatively young Silbereisen captain “a total mistake”, but later adopted a more conciliatory tone.
The “dream ship” has been functioning without major changes for decades. Around 40 percent play on land, 60 percent on board. Three stories are told: a love story, a funny one and an exciting one. Many find the episodes too predictable and the dialogues too wooden, fans love it.
Not everything has stayed the same: The “dream ship” was initially the “Vistafjord” cruise ship, then the “Astor” and the “Berlin”, then the “Deutschland” and, since 2015, the “Amadea”. What has remained – for 35 years now – is the theme music composed by James Last (1929-2015).
The captain’s hat was passed on several times: from Günter König (Captain Braske 1981 / ’82) to Heinz Weiss as Captain Hansen (1983-1999) to Siegfried Rauch as Captain Paulsen (1999-2013) to Sascha Hehn as Captain Burger (2014-2019 ) and finally to Florian Silbereisen.
Numerous stars in guest roles
Actors with a particularly large number of guest roles in four decades were Gila von Weitershausen, Maria Sebaldt and Gaby Dohm, but also Sigmar Solbach, Günther Maria Halmer and Dietrich Mattausch. Stars such as Thomas Gottschalk, Hape Kerkeling, Joachim Fuchsberger, Peter Weck, Hannelore Elsner, Otto Sander, Til Schweiger, Otto Waalkes, Klausjürgen Wussow and Udo Jürgens were also on board.
Inka Bause, who is a farmer looking for a wife, took part in a number of episodes as a fitness trainer. The TV satirist Harald Schmidt is there every now and then as a crew member Oskar Schifferle. He once said to «Spiegel»: «When it comes to engagements, the motto for me is: location comes before content.»
Only recently, the longtime late-night talker blasphemed in the “Bild” that “instead of well-coiffed talking dolls that are on social media” there are now actors again in the “dream ship” – and a little less influencers.