Henkjan Smits

“When I do my suicide for you, I hope you’ll miss me too,” Herman Brood sang in “Rock ‘n’ Roll Junkie” – just one of many announcements of his own death Brood worked into his songs. It’s a subject Brood, who jumped off the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton 15 years ago, often sang about. In Unknown Brood, a whole range of people look back on the rock and roller’s turbulent life, including fellow musicians, his manager, a former girlfriend, photographer Anton Corbijn, Brood’s wife and their daughter. Video footage shot by Brood himself and never seen before is intercut with a rich collection of archive material, including a humorous clip of Brood barking the Dutch national anthem. His sister Beppie Brood stresses her brother’s split personality: on the one hand the shy, vulnerable man wary of other people, and on the other the one who played Herman Brood – an extravagant, hedonistic junkie and rock and roll star.

When Sinterklaas and Diego arrive at the harbor in Spain, they discover that the pakjesboot has already departed. This marks the start of a race against the clock to catch up with the boat in time. That’s not easy, because thanks to the meddling of the crooks Joris and Boris, the Piets left for the Netherlands a day early...

This VPRO's ‘summer classic’ is based on an equally simple and refreshing idea that originated in 1988: When during the summer most of the channels are showing reruns, ask interesting people people to curate their ‘favorite television evening’ and let them clarify the fragments in a long-form interview/conversation. The programme was first aired in 1988. Each episode takes up an entire Sunday evening, lasting typically three hours. It consists of an in-depth studio interview with a notable Dutch, Belgian or other Dutch-speaking foreigner, interspersed with cinema or television footage selected by the guest, which is subsequently discussed. Guests include writers, scientists, television personalities, politicians or business people.

De Lama's is a Dutch television show made by BNN and first aired on 26 June 2004. It is an adaptation of the Channel 4 show Whose Line is it Anyway?. Patrick Lodiers hosts the show, which contains both well-known and more obscure elements of theatresports. The most important of these is improvisation. De Lama's consist of the following comedians: Ruben Nicolai, Tijl Beckand, Ruben van der Meer and Jeroen van Koningsbrugge. Jandino Asporaat, Ad-Just Bouwman, Sara Kroos, Arie Koomen, Kristel Zweers and Martijn Oosterhuis are ex-Lama's. Other than in the British and American series, every episode of De Lama's features a Guest Llama, a well-known Dutch person who offers suggestions for games and always joins the regulars for one or two games at the end. At the end of 2006, regulars Sara Kroos and Arie Koomen left the show, leaving it with only three regular performers. To help alleviate this problem, broadcaster BNN organised a televised competition, Lama Gezocht, in order to find a new performer to round out the team. Ad-Just Bouwman eventually won this competition, and joined the Llamas. He, however, is no longer part of the troupe, reportedly because his artistic style didn't fit in with the other Llamas. Another recently 'llamafied' performer, Jandino Asporaat, left at around the same time to focus on his own theatre production, although rumour has it that his style clashed with the remaining three members as well. Jeroen van Koningsbrugge is the only new member to remain with the Llamas until the end.