"Aktenzeichen XY...ungelöst" celebrates its 40th anniversary. First reality format on German television.

Munich. A large number of celebrities - including Eduard Zimmermann -
celebrated between the historic BMW 501 "Barockengel" police
car and an ultramodern BMW police utility vehicle the 40th anniversary
of the series "Aktenzeichen XY ... ungelöst" (German
equivalent of BBC's "Crimewatch"). The ZDF televised a piece
of television history for the 400th time. Founder of this first
reality format on German television is Eduard Zimmermann. The
programme, which goes on air in collaboration with the German Criminal
Investigation Department and focuses on unsolved crime cases using
filmed reconstructions and viewer involvement in the manhunt, was at
first rather controversial, but nevertheless always very successful.
For this achievement, Eduard Zimmermann was awarded the Federal Cross
of Merit. Commencing 1967 and thereafter over a period of 30 years,
during which 300 programmes were televised, he himself hosted the
programme, which was also shown in Austria and Switzerland, later
handing over to Butz Peters and his adopted daughter, Sabine Zimmermann
and, finally, former ice skating star Rudi Cerne. In a BMW in pursuit
of criminals. The BMW 501, also known as the "Barockengel",
became legendary as a BMW car used on set very early in the history of
television for the series "Funkstreife Isar 12", which went
on air during the early sixties. Television police officers and plain
clothes detectives alike love chasing after criminals in a BMW.
Inspector Wolff in "Wolffs Revier", Ottfried Fischer as
"Der Bulle von Tölz", police superintendents, both male
and female, featured in the "Tatort" series, their colleagues
from "Doppelter Einsatz", Hannelore Elsner in "Die
Kommissarin", "Balko", special task forces featured in
"Soko Leipzig" or "Soko Wien", the autobahn police
in the action series "Alarm für Cobra 11" or the police
officers portrayed in "Großstadtrevier", to name just a
few from the many TV series. BMW Group utility vehicles. Television
programmes reflect reality, after all, BMWs are also employed in real
life as police cars, emergency ambulances or fire brigade utility
vehicles. Ergonomic conversions such as a locked weapon holder for an
MP5 and three magazines in the rear armrest for example, or the
integration of state-of-the-art technology such as an in-car pc with
access to data pertaining to wanted persons and vehicles from Schengen
countries make police work much easier. In the event of enquiries
please contact: Corporate Communications Jörg E. Schweizer,
Public Relations, Film. Placement. Entertainment. Telephone: +49 89 382
23250, Fax: +49 89 382 20697 Holger Lapp, Vice President PR
Communications Telephone: +49 89 382 17700, Fax: +49 89 382 25454
Internet: www.press.bmwgroup.com, e-mail: presse@bmw.de