In the ARD “Tatort” from Münster, it is above all the names of two actors that stand out: Jan Josef Liefers as forensic scientist Karl Friedrich Boerne and Axel Prahl as Inspector Frank Thiel. This regional crime thriller from the Westphalian province is the achievement of a permanent ensemble that – as announced on Thursday – will lose an important member next year.
Public prosecutor Wilhelmine Klemm is known for her deep voice, firm gaze and sometimes very flexible interpretation of the rules. Actress Mechthild Großmann has now announced that she will only play the role of the chain-smoking lawyer three more times.
“When the last Münster ‘Tatort’ with me is broadcast at the end of 2025, I will be 77 years old and I have no plans to stop working,” she is quoted as saying in a press release from WDR. She will therefore continue to act in theater and organize readings, preferably with music, the statement continues. “And if WDR is ever looking for someone for the role of a vicious murderer, I would be back in a heartbeat.”
A special relationship: The prosecutor and the stoner dad
At the same time, Mechthild Großmann reminded everyone that, in addition to Liefers and Prahl, the other actors are always part of the ensemble, such as ChrisTine Urspruch and Björn Meyer, Friederike Kempter for many years “and the wonderful father – Claus D. Clausnitzer” – with whom prosecutor Klemm has a particularly close relationship despite his penchant for hashish. It was an honor and a pleasure for her to play with them for 23 years. “Thank you.”
Alexander Bickel, head of the WDR fiction program department, joined in the thanks: “I am sure that Wilhelmine Klemm will be greatly missed by the team including Chief Inspector Thiel, Professor Boerne, Silke Haller, Mirko Schrader and also ‘Vaddern Thiel’ – despite numerous frictions during the joint investigations to date. Just like our ‘Tatort’ audience, who have taken the character and her wonderful actress to their hearts from the very beginning. Dear Mechthild Großmann, thank you for so many wonderful years of crime entertainment!”