On Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, April 5 and 6, at 8:15 p.m., Nemec and Wachtveitl will bid farewell after 35 years and exactly 100 cases with the two-part episode "Unvergänglich" on ARD. The festival’s Honorary Award is sponsored by SV SparkassenVersicherung.

"Kindness and composure—rare qualities. And rare for modern investigators in the crime genre. And yet there is a place and two people who were able to embody these qualities—Ivo and Franz, two detectives in the Bavarian Tatort. For 35 years, Miroslav Nemec and Udo Wachtveitl have played their roles magnificently, always passionately committed to their cases,” reads the jury statement by film journalist Knut Elstermann, producer Liane Jessen, and festival director Cathrin Ehrlich. The jury was convinced: “You believed these worldly-wise men when they said they wanted to make the world a better place, even though they knew it would never quite succeed. Perfect in their finely balanced interplay, which left room for a humanity that didn’t push itself forward in a showy way. It was always part of their essence, self-evident and natural.”

Wiesbaden’s Head of Cultural Affairs, Dr. Hendrik Schmehl, says: “Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr have long been cult figures of German television. Over many years, Miroslav Nemec and Udo Wachtveitl have demonstrated just how much narrative power lies in the television crime drama. With great precision, humanity, and a keen sense for their characters, they have shaped generations of viewers. We are delighted to honor this extraordinary investigative duo in Wiesbaden with the Honorary Award of the German Television Crime Drama Festival."