Episode
Scene of the Crime: Desire
Overview
During a performance of Chekhov's play The Seagull at a Munich theater, the up-and-coming actress Nora Nielsen collapses on stage and dies. Detectives Batic, Leitmayr, and Hammermann investigate behind the scenes, amidst jealousy, affairs, and casting dramas. The team soon uncovers a dark secret from the recent past, which provides new leads.
Details
- Series
- Scene of the Crime
- Season
- Season 56
- Episode
- Episode 35
- Air date
- 2025-12-26
- Runtime
- 90 min
Episode context
Desire is Episode 35 in Season 56 of Scene of the Crime. It aired on 2025-12-26. The runtime is 90 min.
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Episode 34: Black Snow
The episode "Black Snow" picks up directly where the episode "A Good Day" left off.
Episode 36: Murot and the elephant in the room
Commissioner Murot suffers from the psychological strain of his job and undergoes a novel therapy: with the help of a machine, he can experience his own psyche as a walkable landscape. Meanwhile, single mother Eva Hütter flees with her son Benjamin after facing the loss of custody in court. She hides with the child in a cabin in the woods, but falls into a coma after an accident. Benjamin remains missing. With all leads gone, Murot embarks on a risky experiment: he connects with Eva's consciousness to find clues to the child's whereabouts while she is in a coma. The search becomes a journey through Eva's mind—and to the limits of Murot's own psyche. Ultimately, his colleague Wächter must also intervene in the case to save them both.
More episodes from this season
Episode 33: A good day
At a campsite in the German-Dutch border region near Emden, car dealer Joe Glauning vanishes without a trace. Since he left behind personal belongings such as his ID, keys, and cell phone, and traces of blood are found, investigators suspect a serious crime. Federal Police Chief Inspector Thorsten Falke takes on the case, which leads him to the Netherlands and confronts him with involvement in the illegal drug trade. He is assisted by cybercrime expert Mario Schmitt and Dutch police commissioner Lynn de Baer.
Episode 32: The electrician
A caregiver in a nursing home lifts the mobility-impaired resident Danijel Filipovic into the bathtub, but leaves him alone briefly—upon his return, he finds Filipovic drowned. Detectives Moritz Eisner and Bibi Fellner investigate in an environment of overwork, understaffing, and interpersonal tensions. Motives are not immediately obvious, but family conflicts and a strained relationship with the nursing staff come into focus.
Episode 31: The invention of the wheel
At the presentation of a new bicycle model, instead of the innovation, a freezer containing a frozen corpse is unveiled.
Episode 30: Light
Six years ago, three-year-old Viktoria Reiter and her father, Julian, vanished without a trace. When the investigation yielded no results after a year, the case was closed as a cold case with suspicion of murder-suicide. But Viktoria's mother, Anna Reiter, doubts this theory – and years later, she is still tirelessly searching for her child. Maryam Azadi, who investigated the case as a detective with the missing persons unit at the time, is also haunted by the mysterious case. When Anna, in her desperation, launches an appeal on social media, offering a reward for any information, no matter how small, leading to Viktoria's whereabouts, events take a dramatic turn: A homeless man claims Viktoria is still alive and asks Anna to meet him. Shortly afterward, Anna also disappears – and becomes the prime suspect in a murder case. Together with her colleague Hamza Kulina, who is simultaneously conducting an internal investigation, Maryam takes up the case.
Episode 29: At least survive until tomorrow
The body of a young woman had apparently lain in her apartment for weeks when it was discovered, prompting Stuttgart detectives Thorsten Lannert and Sebastian Bootz to begin their investigation. Why hadn't anyone missed Nelly Schlüter? Neither her parents nor her brother, and certainly not her best friend, Fine Slowinski? Everyone described Nelly as outgoing and cheerful, but none of them were interested in getting closer to her. Thorsten Lannert and Sebastian Bootz wondered whether Nelly Schlüter was really as lonely as she seemed and searched for the person Nelly would have been better off not letting into her life.
Episode 28: Reini
When Friedemann Berg learns of his brother Reinhard's escape from the psychiatric hospital, he suspects the worst. Reinhard does indeed arrive at the Berg family's isolated farm, accompanied by the taciturn Mika Novak and the violent Luke Badrow. They also arrive in a car and carry a pistol, clearly connected to the murder that Friedemann Berg and Franziska Tobler were supposed to be investigating. It's definitely not a friendly visit, even though Reinhard acts as if he's just spending the night with the family. Held at gunpoint by Luke Badrow on the farm, the detective is trapped. He's paralyzed by Luke Badrow's increasingly aggressive behavior and by his sense of responsibility for his younger brother. And he has no way to contact Franziska Tobler, whose anger at her unreliable colleague is growing. Finally, she drives onto the farm, putting herself right in front of the unpredictable Luke Badrow's gun.
Episode 27: Mike und Nisha
Mike, in his mid-twenties, introduces his girlfriend Nisha to his parents. The meeting is awkward, becomes increasingly hostile, and escalates when the young couple mentions wedding plans and a pregnancy. Suddenly, Mike and Nisha find themselves standing in the living room of the parents' house, confronted by two dead bodies. Panicked, they decide to cover up the crime.
Episode 26: Erika Mustermann
A young delivery cyclist is run over by a car on a side street in Berlin. The traffic accident quickly turns out to be a murder. Susanne Bonard and Robert Karow search for clues among the victim's acquaintances. Little by little, Bonard and Karow uncover a larger plan. But who are the masterminds, and is the deceased's grieving lover involved?
Episode 25: Last harvest
In the Altes Land region, Romanian farmer Victor, a temporary farmer, was beheaded. Local police officer Olaf Gerke assumes it was a fatal accident involving agricultural machinery. But Charlotte Lindholm doesn't quite believe this. Following her instinct, she rents a vacant room on the organic farm where the victim last worked. Little by little, she delves into the complex psychological profile of the farming family and uncovers toxic relationships between them.
Episode 24: Seven Sleepers
After running away from the youth home “Seven Sleepers”, 16-year-old Lilly is found dead in a lake. Her boyfriend Pascal is missing. Investigators Winkler and Schnabel are encountering conflicting statements in the home – and another crime is about to happen soon.