Alexandra Becker

Someone is killing people related to a South American expedition. The means of murder are poison darts with rubber spiders attached to them. A writer and some police detectives investigate.

Das Kriminalmuseum was a German television series. It ran from 1963 to 1970 on ZDF and was one of its first programs. Each episode began with a tracking shot through an unspecified crime museum, stopping at one of the displays, whose story was then told. Each episode was between 60 and 75 minutes long and featured different actors as the criminal commissioner. The best known was Erik Ode, who in 1969 moved to Der Kommissar, appearing in 97 episodes. The theme music of the series was written by German composer Martin Böttcher, who also composed the complete scores for five episodes.

Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre [French title: Le comte Yoster a bien l'honneur] is a TV series which followed the adventures of the title’s amateur gentleman detective. It was a success in particular in Germany and in France. Originally the show was a German production in black-and-white but it evolved into a European co-production in colour.

Arsène Lupin is a French TV show which was co-produced with German, Canadian, Belgian, Dutch, Swiss, Italian and Austrian TV stations. It was only loosely based on Maurice Leblancs novels. Georges Descrières' portrayal of Arsène Lupin showed more similarity to Graf Yoster than to Maurice Leblanc's original. He behaved in the first place as a perfect gentleman who never got angry. He was always relaxed, because whatever could possibly had bothered him in daily life was taken care of by his butler. It wasn't questioned how he had come to his financial independence although the series sometimes discreetly implied that he was a professional criminal. Besides rescuing damsels in distress Lupin took on criminals, competing with their wit and intelligence. Either he stole paintings from rich people who had to be considered white-collar criminals or he acted as a detective who derailed criminal schemes. However, when he was attacked, he could defend himself effortlessly by using elegant jujutsu methods. Among the guest stars were German actors such as Günter Strack and Sky du Mont. Jean-Paul Salomé said in his commentary on the DVD version of his film Arsène Lupin he had like this series as a child. German TV, one the investors, would broadcast the show eventually between 18:00-20:00 o'clock because it was only allowed to show commercials within that very timeslot. For them to get a financial return on investment the show had to be appropriate for families and also for children who would watch it alone. Subsequently it was nearby to ask to defuse and flatten some of Leblanc's plots in order to avoid possible complaints that could force the station to broadcast the show beyond the "Vorabendprogramm".