Niedetzy takes over

“Soko Linz”: A new cast for the start of the series

From the left: Alexander Pschill (Richie), Katharina Stemberger (Joe), Anna Hausburg (Nele), Daniel Gawlowski (Ben)(Bild: Thomas Ramstorfer)

From Tuesday, "Soko Linz" will once again be investigating on ORF's main evening program. For the last time, the team of investigators with Katharina Stemberger as Joe and Daniel Gawlowski as Ben will be on the road together, solving a total of 13 cases. From the fourth season onwards, Linz cabaret artist Angelika Niedetzky will join Stemberger in the hunt for evil.

A dead man in a parking lot: while the investigative duo Katharina Stemberger (Joe) and Daniel Gawlowski (Ben) from "Soko Linz" initially find no motives for the death of the call center operator, the trail then gets really hot. 

On Tuesday, March 12, the third season of the crime series, produced jointly by ORF and ZDF, starts with a double episode: "Unter Schock" (20:15, ORF 1) is dedicated to a case in the fraud milieu and also takes viewers to Almtal; "Die blinde Zeugin" (21:05, ORF 1) begins with a corpse from the Danube. A total of 13 episodes are on the program.

Reinforcement with charm and purring
To shake up the series, which has been struggling with poor ratings, there are new facets with whispers of love and a velvet paw in the team. Ben and new colleague Vicky Müller, who plays Lisa Schützenberger, have a proper fling.

Whispers of love on "Soko Linz": Vicky Müller (Lisa Schützenberger) and Ben (Daniel Gawlowsk)(Bild: ORF/Gebhardt Productions/Stefanie Leo)

More female power from the fourth season
For Gawlowski, it is the "farewell season", as we reported, because ZDF and ORF are ending their collaboration on "Soko Linz". The German actor has to go. 

Replacement cast now confirmed
The future will be female, as actress and cabaret artist Angelika Niedetzky, a native of Linz, will be Stemberger's successor. Shooting for the fourth season will start in June and the show will be broadcast again in the first quarter of 2025.

Angelika Niedetzky from Linz, previously an actress, cabaret artist and presenter, will take on one of the main roles in "Soko Linz".(Bild: Monika Löff)

Ratings remain a problem
Will the current episodes, which can be seen from today, boost the sagging ratings? Last season, the sound quality and "mumbling" were criticized, and there was also a lot of room for improvement in the cases - according to viewers. Around 450,000 tuned in on average.

"SOKO Linz" airs from March 12 at 8.15 pm on ORF 1 as well as in advance on ORF ON and in the TV-Thek app. There are 13 episodes.