Susanne
Susanne is a German-language BBC schools TV series from the 1990s and 2000s, covering German Language for secondary school pupils.
A drama serial entirely in German, about the family and friends of a German teenager working together to restore an old 'folkboat' for a sailing regatta, and getting to know each other better as they do so.
This was the first and only live action, German language drama serial for schools produced by the BBC, despite numerous attempts to use a drama serial to promote the French language starting in the 1960s with La Chasse au Trésor and including the contemporaneous 1990s series Clémentine.
A co-production with the Goethe-Institut in Germany, this series was distributed elsewhere in the world by Goethe-Institut in ten 10-minute episodes rather than the BBC's format of five 20-minute episodes.
The Story
German teenager Thomas discovers that his grandfather Hans has an old 1960s sailing boat 'Susanne', named for his late grandmother but unusued for years. Hans gives the boat to Thomas, but to repair and sail it would cost a lot of money.
Thomas and his school friends Andi and Monika meet Kathrin, another local teenager, and together they seek ways to raise money to restore the boat. They start a bicycle courier service, but this doesn't last when Thomas is distracted by an argument between his crush Kathrin and her rich boyfriend Peter, and writes off his bike in a crash.
The friends come up with more schemes to raise money, selling rare items from the boathouse and organising a 1960s theme party, but there are also setbacks as Andi is told to focus on his school work and getting selected for the football team, and the others start to fall out with each other. Finally Peter challenges Thomas and 'Susanne' to a race against his own expensive sailing boat.
Locations
The story is set between the city of Hamburg
where the main characters go to school, and the nearby town of Zarrentin where Thomas's grandfather lives.
Episode List
| # | Title | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Folge 1 | 21 Apr 1998 |
| 2. | Folge 2 | 28 Apr 1998 |
| 3. | Folge 3 | 5 May 1998 |
| 4. | Folge 4 | 12 May 1998 |
| 5. | Folge 5 | 19 May 1998 |
Broadcasts
| Year | Term | Sat | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Channel | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-98 | Summer 1998 | Tuesday, 9:10am | BBC2 | |||||||
| 1998-99 | Summer 1999 | Thursday, 11:50am | BBC2 | |||||||
| 1999-2000 | Spring 2000 | Wednesday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 | |||||||
| 2000-01 | Spring 2001 | Wednesday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 | |||||||
| 2001-02 | Summer 2002 | Saturday, 3:00am+ | BBC2 | |||||||
| 2002-03 | Autumn 2002 | Wednesday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 | |||||||
| 2003-04 | Autumn 2003 | Wednesday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 | |||||||
| 2004-05 | Autumn 2004 | Friday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 | |||||||
| 2005-06 | Autumn 2005 | Friday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 | |||||||
| 2006-07 | Summer 2007 | Friday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 |
Credits
| Starring | Christian Hockenbrink as Thomas Brendler Eva Kryll as Sonja Brendler |
| With | Carsten Spengemann as Peter David C. Bunners as Herr Hoffmann |
| Written by | Michael Cook |
| Consultants | Steven Fawkes Yolanda Schwager Karl Pfeiffer |
| Music | Sandy Nuttgens |
| Editor | Jake Bernard |
| Design | Peter Findley , Paddy Lea |
| Producers for Goethe-Institut | Volker Hartmann Hans-Ludwig Bauer Roland Dittrich |
| Director | Gareth Davies |
| Producer | Susan Paton |
Resources
There was a teacher's booklet and a video of the series available from the BBC.
Other printed resources were produced by Goethe-Institut for distribution elsewhere in the world but not in the UK.
Links
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(actually a fund-raising party)
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