Shooting on the six-part primetime series "Mein Freund, das Ekel" got under way two weeks ago. Dieter Hallervorden is free to be thoroughly obnoxious once more, and he keeps it up — bar a short Christmas break — until mid-February 2021. It is the sequel to the ZDF comedy of the same name, with Alwara Höfels as his co-star. The story of the tyrannical retired teacher and the single mother from humble means proved a huge success in 2019, drawing more than eight million viewers.
The forced household of Hintz (Dieter Hallervorden) and Trixie (Alwara Höfels) and her three children still shares the old Charlottenburg flat. By now they have settled into a comfortable routine, and the grumbling wheelchair user Hintz has grown positively mellow with age. That changes the moment Hintz's sister Elfie (Ursela Monn) turns up on his doorstep with a new boyfriend in tow. Elfie's companion, a peace-loving spiritualist, has Hintz seething within minutes. The flat is plainly overcrowded. After a furious row with Hintz, Trixie packs up and leaves with her children. Her last resort: the flat of a friend who is away travelling, in the prefab housing estate where she grew up and, for good reason, never wanted to return to. When Hintz, left alone in the flat with the lovestruck couple, lets his anger drive him into a fateful mistake, his very livelihood is suddenly on the line. He has no choice but to stand at Trixie's door and beg for asylum. The tables have well and truly turned.
Wolfgang Groos directs the first three episodes. Rat Pack Filmproduktion in collaboration with An der Gassen Film for ZDF