Alfred Komarek

Schönbrunn is a world of marvels and mystery, of public glamour and curious secrets. The wealth of its building and landscape architecture, the grand views and hidden details, the wildlife, tamed nature as well as its past and present human population supply more stories and images than even the most insatiable camera can record.Schönbrunn in the protean succession of the seasons, of light and shadow, day and night is presented by Sir Peter Ustinov and was broadcasted in the “ORF-UNIVERSUM”-series for the 250th anniversary of the Schönbrunn Zoo.

Simon Polt (Erwin Steinhauer) is no longer a gendarme. Arrived in retirement, he participates cheerfully in the Weinviertel on village life. When a corpse is found after a feast, his sense of right and wrong again becomes noticeable. The police do not see any third party debt. He sees it differently.

Real estate speculator Albert Hahn is found dead in his cellar. He died of fermentation gas poisoning. The doctor in charge assumes it was an accident. But Polt knows that the dead man was hated in the community. He suspects that the murderer wanted to make the death look like an accident. Many of the winegrowers had a motive. After a long investigation in the wine cellars, he discovers that all the cellars are connected by holes. Polt doesn't want to leave the feeling that it was a murder. As he drinks some wine with his friends, they all confess to the crime. They had all poisoned Albert Hahn with the fermentation gas together, but only one of them wants to take all the blame, as the rest have children and wives. He commits suicide and leaves a confession behind.

Editor-in-chief Daniel Käfer is unemployed. His magazine "Intelligence" was discontinued due to "too high a standard". Now he wants to think about his future in Ausseerland, where he spent his best summer vacations, but his return to the realm of his childhood turns out to be a dangerous labyrinth that entangles him in the dark secrets of the Ausseer people.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral ranks amongst Austria‘s most famous cultural monuments. Yet, one would not think of that Cathedral being one of the most astonishing natural areas in Austria.Georg Riha and his team have explored the Cathedral from its foundations to the top of its 136 meter spire and discovered a true botanical and zoological garden: wild animals, exotic butterflies, kestrels, moss, lichen and even trees.

Much has changed for Simon Polt, a retired gendarmerie inspector. He's embarking on new career paths, and his future with his long-time girlfriend, Karin Walter, suddenly took on a completely new perspective. Polt has little contact with the police, who now watch over the small villages in the Wiesbach Valley—his only friend is Norbert Sailer, a law enforcement officer who's just his style. But the discovery of a stranger's body completely disrupts Simon Polt's quiet world: No one claims to have known the dead man, but some seem to know more about him than they're willing to admit to the police.

Gendarmerie inspector Simon Polt in the Weinviertel region finds it too much of a coincidence when crook Riebel is killed in a motorcycle accident and his friend Willi is found dead on the same day. But the residents of the otherwise peaceful Lower Austrian wine village make Polt's investigation anything but easy.

Daniel Käfer's time out in Ausseerland is coming to an end. He has to focus on his new career. But his journey ends in Hallstatt. His acquaintance with the young Gerd Gamsjäger and his mother leads to dramatic events. In his exuberance, Käfer causes a serious accident that almost costs his young friend his life. In an effort to make amends, he gets himself into even more trouble: with a dubious treasure map, he initiates excavations in search of a man in the salt. A huge embarrassment or the start of a new future?