The Last Cop (2010 TV series)

The show is set in Essen, in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, located in North Rhine West-Phalia. A large part of the 5th season also takes place in Cologne. Mick Brisgau is a homicide detective who was shot in the head on duty in the late 1980s leading to a 20 year long coma. The show starts when he awakes suddenly from the coma and is allowed to return to his old job at the homicide department. As an old-school macho cop, he doesn't know about modern technology such as cellphones or computers, or modern investigation methods. The likes of the Domain Network System, CDs, the Internet, search engines and GPS are turnoffs for Mick, as is the realization that women now partake in soccer and men in wellness. He tries to deal with the modern world in general, and homicide cases in particular, as if it was still the 1980s.

The rough style of the main character (played by Henning Baum) is complemented by the prudence, professionalism and dullness of his new partner, Andreas Kringge (played by Maximilian Grill). Throughout the show's run, Mick and Andreas ultimately go from (very) reluctant partners to best friends. Other characters include

• Brisgau's former partner, Martin Ferchert, who is now head of the homicide department;
• Brisgau's wife Lisa, who divorces him during the first season;
• the medical examiner Roland Meisner, who has been living with Brisgau's wife for years, predictably leading to a somewhat fierce rivalry between the two men;
• Isabelle, Brisgau's adult daughter, whom he had only ever known as a baby;
• the police psychologist Tanja Haffner, who constantly expresses concern for Mick's wellbeing

The series uses songs from the 1980s, sometimes to comment on the plot, and features other items from the decade such as Brisgau's Opel Diplomat V8.^[1] which he continues to use as his service vehicle.

Seasons 1-3 and 6 are primarily episodic, while seasons 4 and 5 take a more serialized approach, focusing on Mick's past, both before and after he wound up in a coma. Following the show's 5th season, Mick goes on vacation, but a plane crash leads to him being stranded on an island in the Pacific for several years. The show's 6th season has him return to Essen, where he reluctantly joins the police force once more.

The series ran first on 12 April 2010 on Sat.1 Television with 2.99 million viewers (or 9.2 percent) somewhat below the average of the TV channel. Of the target demographic (people ages 14 to 49), 1.68 million people watched the premiere, translating to a market share of 13.2% for Sat.1, better than average. Beginning with the airing of the second episode, "The Last Cop" managed to continuously increase its audience count all the way until the season finale. The twelfth episode brought in the show's best numbers yet, having been viewed by 3.41 million people (with 1.77 million in the 14 to 49 demographic). Overall, the season's 13 episodes were viewed by an average of 3.03 million people, of which 1.58 million belonged to the target demographic. This view count translated to a market share of 10.1 and 13.7%, respectively.^[2]

With the start of the second season on March 14th, 2011, the viewer share almost doubled to 4.09 million viewers (2.11 million were part of the target demographic)^[3] and Sat.1 ordered a third season^[4], which premiered on February 6th, 2012. The fourth season aired in Germany beginning 21 January 2013.

The show has been aired in combination with the Sat.1 production Danni Lowinski from the start, but while the latter scored better in the beginning it is now The Last Cop that shows better results.^[5] With a viewer share of 15% for The Last Cop and with the two series being the best-running productions of Sat.1, it was announced on 9 April 2013 that a fifth season was being planned for both shows.^[5] The fifth season of The Last Cop aired on April 24th, 2014, but it ran on Sat.1 emotions instead of Sat.1. On October 31st, 2025, more than ten years after the fifth season had concluded, a sixth season was released on Prime Video. The new season was then aired on Sat.1 about a month later.

The series has been sold to neighbouring countries; it has run on Austrian ÖRF since 31 May 2011^[6]. The French Direct 8 has run a dubbed version since March 2012 under the title of Mick Brisgau, le come-back d’un super flic.^[7] It is also dubbed for Italian Rai 1 where it runs under the title of Last Cop - L'ultimo sbirro during the summer.^[8] In Bulgaria, the series runs as Ченге от миналото on Diema in a dubbed version. In Brazil the show is being aired on cable channel Globosat+ under the name O Último Policial, in German language with Portuguese subtitles. In Spain the series is dubbed and runs as El último poli duro on Canal+ Spain and Cuatro.

Timeline

● Main cast, (S) supporting cast, (G) guest star

Main Cast

Supporting Cast

• In episode 4 "Nightshift", a DJ working a party at the Vesuvio restaurant lists off several excellent (in his opinion) old TV shows during an argument with the host. One of these is "The Clown" from the late 90s, with the DJ's actor, Sven Martinek, having played the main character of that very show.
• In episode 19 "The Naked Tankers from Huttrop", Peter Fieseler portrays the murder victim Adam Ritter. In the show "The Savior - We are Attorneys" he portrayed the defense attorney Ben Ritter.
• In episode 26 "The Missed Chance", Brisgau and Kringge's current homicide case takes them to a steel mill. The man they are looking for works in Sector 7G, according to works council member Ziller. This is a reference to the Simpsons, where Homer Simpson also works in Sector 7G as a safety inspector at a nuclear power plant.
• In episode 31 "Nymphs and Don Juans", Andreas teasingly refers to Mick as "Mister Undercover Love", due to the latter's undercover investigation into a sex therapy group. In the 2010 movie "Undercover Love", Henning Baum played the main character Johannes Mueller.
• At the end of episode 41 "Nail in the Heart", Mick and Andreas go into a cabin in the middle of the woods where the former had previously hidden out in the prior episode. In an ironic twist, the song "Our House (in the middle of the street) by Madness plays as this scene occurs.
• In episode 44 "Our little street", the song "We belong together" by Randy Newman can be heard playing. Newman's song is part of the Toy Story 3 soundtrack.
• In episode 47 "Those Who Fly Too High", a young recruit at the police academy is murdered. When Brisgau and Kringge investigate the academy, the main theme of the film series "Police Academy", composed by Robert Folk, can be heard in the background. Later in the episode, Mick attempts to hit a small porcelain figurine with a bullwhip, as he does this, John Williams' Raiders March from Indiana Jones is briefly played.
• In episode 51 "Romeo and Juliet", "The Last Cop" has a crossover with the show "Danni Lowinski". Danni rides her bike through a residential area of Essen and happens to come across Mick and Andreas. Mick introduces her to Andreas as his attorney.
• As the fourth season aired on television, animated shorts were released concurrently on Sat.1's website. These shorts depict Mick's life in the 80s, beginning with his first few months on the job up until he wound up in a coma. Henning Baum acts as the narrator.
• In February of 2013, the first book based on the series, titled "Blood Sausage Blues" was published. It was written by Stefan Scheich, who would go on to write other books based on "The Last Cop" and was also a writer for the show in its early years.

All in all, "The Last Cop" is a halfway entertaining, yet also a consistently charming crime drama, thanks to Henning Baum's performance. Audiences can easily give this show a chance. However, it likely won't gain a major following, it's simply too formulaic.

- Meedia.de^[15]

"The rough macho man and the soft-spoken guy make for an excellent pairing, even if the cases they solve are a bit uninteresting. As a counterbalance to this, the series features plenty of 80s music."

- Kino.de^[16]  

In partnership with Sony Music and Merchandising Media, Sat.1 released a DVD box set of the entire first season on July 23rd, 2010, notably before the final two episodes of the season had even aired. The box includes three DVDs and has a total runtime of about 570 minutes.

The second season has been available on DVD since June 17th, 2011. Just as before, the DVD set was released before the entire season had aired on television. The third season has been on DVD since May 25th, 2012. The first three seasons were compiled into one box collection with nine DVDs on November 23rd, 2012. The fourth season came out on DVD on May 24th, 2013. The fifth season released on DVD on May 30th, 2014.

On November 7th, 2019, a feature film with the same name was released in German cinemas, with Henning Baum reprising his role as Mick Brisgau.  ^[17]

• 2010: nominated for the Golden Camera award for best investigator duo
• 2011: Henning Baum was awarded the Bavarian TV Prize for best lead actor. The award also went to authors Stefan Scheich and Robert Dannenberg
• 2011: nominated for the German TV Prize for best show
• 2012: awarded the German TV Prize for best show
• 2014: awarded the Jupiter for best German TV show
• 2015: Honored with the GdP star from the Hesse police union, for the show's humanistic portrayal of Mick Brisgau