Flikken Maastricht (Belgian Dutch for "Maastricht Cops") is a Dutch police drama. The series is set in Maastricht, Limburg, a city in the south of the Netherlands, and began broadcasting on Dutch channel NPO 1 on 3 September 2007. The series is a spin-off of the Flemish show Flikken set in Ghent, Belgium.
Premise On 24 November 2006, it was published that Victor Reinier and Angela Schijf who formerly starred on long-running soap opera Goede tijden, slechte tijden would play a main role on the show. On the same day, the contracts with the city of Maastricht and the police of Limburg-Zuid were signed.Angela Schijf hoofdrolspeelster , TROS, 24 November 2006 On 18 March 2007, the complete cast was announced.Cast Flikken Maastricht bekend , TROS, 18 March 2007
The first episode of the series aired on 3 September 2007 at 10:00pm by the Dutch broadcast organisation TROS on channel Nederland 1. 13 weeks later, on 26 November, the last episode of the first season was aired. The first season had an average of 1,314,000 viewers per episode, and on 20 March 2008 it was released on DVD.
Since 2 September 2008, the series has also aired in Belgium, on Channel 1. On average, 737,000 Belgian viewers watched the first season. The second season aired in Belgium in autumn 2010. The show is also aired in Italy, under the title Flikken - Coppia in Giallo, with Italian voice-overs. The first season was viewed by 1,100,000 on average in Italy.
In 2009, the third and fourth seasons were recorded. The third season started on 30 October 2009 and had 10 episodes. The fourth season was aired directly after the third season. The reason for this is unknown.
In the beginning of 2010, TROS announced that they had ordered to produce the fifth season. This season also had 10 episodes. The recordings started at the end of May 2010. The first episode aired on 7 January 2011. In the fifth season, Will van Kralingen (hoofdinspecteur Ellis Flammand) came back after she had to leave earlier for medical reasons.
The popularity of the show was proven at the 'Flikkendag Maastricht 2010' on 25 September 2010. That day included demos of emergency services in Maastricht with special visits of the four leading actors from the show. Previously there was a Flikkendag in Ghent.
In the series, the city of Maastricht and the police station of that city are often portrayed. Many of the stories play on or around the Sint Pieters Mountain. What lacks making the image of Limburg complete is the use of the Limburgian dialect. One of the main characters, Eva van Dongen, was born in Maastricht in the series. However, she speaks pure Dutch.
Every once in a while the shooting of the show in Maastricht and its surroundings proves be a slight nuisance. For example, the municipality of Roermond was not very glad when the tunnel on Rijksweg 73 was blocked.Zomersluiting A73 goed voor opnames Flikken, Dagblad De Limburger, 22 September 2008
The sixth season starting airing on 27 January 2012 with the TV film De Overloper, in which storylines from previous seasons were resolved. The following week, on 3 February, the first episode of season 6 aired, with Ria Eimers playing the role of the new hoofdinspecteur Frieda Mechels.
TROS ordered ten new episodes for the seventh season even before the sixth season started airing. The shooting started on 5 June 2012. The seventh season was scheduled to air on 22 February 2013. It was also announced that the character Esmee van Rooy (played by Jamie Grant) would return. It is clear that the series was to be continued: in fall 2012 preparations for the eighth season commenced.
Producers The producers of the series are: Name No of episodes Rolf Koot 94 Hans de Weers 41 Maarten Swart 31 Reinout Oerlemans 26 Erwin Provoost 7 Stephan Warnik 6
Direction Up until now the show has been directed by: Name No of episodes Martin Schwab 46 Pieter van Rijn 28 Vincent Schuurman 14 Victor Reinier 4 Pieter Walther Boer 3
De Overloper De Overloper is the TV film of Flikken Maastricht from 2012. This movie continues from the last episode of season 5 and contains important developments in the storyline.
Cast Cast Character Occupation Seasons First episode Last episode No. ofepisodes (credited) Notes Regular Recurring Guest Victor Reinier Floris Wolfs Detective(Agent 5th Grade) 1– "Een Valse noot" (1.01) 138 Angela Schijf Eva van Dongen Detective(Agent 4th Grade) 1– 138 Oda Spelbos Marion Dreesen Police officer(5th Grade) 1– 130 Sergio IJssel Romeo Sanders Police officer(4th Grade) 1– 138 Will van Kralingen Ellis Flamand Chief Inspector 1, 5 "Schuld" (5.10) 23 Helmert Woudenberg Eugène Hoeben Chief Inspector 2–4 "Afgemaakt" (2.01) "Hangen" (4.10) 30 Thomas Acda Daan de Vos Police officer(4th Grade) 4–5 7 6 "Vuil spel" (4.04) "Hawala" (7.08) 16 Ria Eimers Frieda Mechels Chief Inspector 6–13 "Een nieuw begin" (6.01) "Marion" (13.02) 74 Jamie Grant Esmee van Rooy Police officer(3rd Grade) 7–9 5 "Begraven" (5.01) "De trappen" (9.02) 28 Vivienne van den Assem Tonja Lacroix Informer 7 "De spin" (7.03) "Shock" (7.10) 6 Antoinette Jelgersma Marlies Kamphuis Chief Inspector 13–15 11 "Ontsnapt" (11.02) "Hoop sterft het laatst: Part 2" (15.11) 37 Joy Wielkens Donna Martina Chief Inspector 16 15 "De fantast" (15.03) "Resurrectie" (16.01) 10 Irma Hartog Thea Zitman Chief Inspector 16– 15 "Gebrek aan bewijs" (15.07) 26
Angela Schijf who plays the role of Eva van Dongen got the nickname "Schietschijf" on set, which is a Dutch pun on her name because she can shoot quite well.Angela Schijf in tranen na schietpartij, NU.nl, 9 August 2007
Since the third season, Dutch actors have guest starred in Flikken Maastricht, including Piet Römer, Melody Klaver, Daniël Boissevain, Theo Maassen, Tygo Gernandt, Rick Engelkes, Mimoun Oaïssa and Melissa Drost.
Three people have played themselves on Flikken Maastricht: Gerd Leers, mayor of Maastricht at the time, popular singer Frans Bauer, and the famous violinist André Rieu.André Rieu speelt gastrol in Flikken Maastricht, Mediacourant, 8 July 2009
Andrea Croonenberghs guest-starred in the last two episodes of the first season (episode 12 and 13) as Britt Michiels, who used to play a main role on the original Flikken. It wasn't very clear as to what happened to Britt after her departure out of Ghent, even though she told Wolfs that she had no relationship and presently worked in Antwerp.Andrea Croonenberghs speelt weer flik Britt , Het Nieuwsblad, 22 August 2007
Thomas Acda played an important supporting role in season 4 and the first episode of season 5. He later returned in season 6.
In the fifth season, a new supporting actor joined the cast: Jamie Grant. Grant is not in the opening credits, but her name is credited after the title of the episode is displayed. She was not part of the cast in the sixth season because her character likely was still in a coma. It was announced that she would return in the seventh season.
In the sixth season there were two more supporting actors: Lee M. Ross and Bill Zielinski. Will van Kralingen quit again after the fifth season with her role as Ellis Flamand following her earlier hiatus of season 2–4. In season 2-4 Helmert Woudenberg played Eugène Hoeben as the hoofdinspecteur. Her successor is Frieda Mechels, played by Ria Eimers.Ellis Flamand gaat opnieuw uit Flikken Maastricht, Flikken Maastricht - flikkenmaastrichtnl.blogspot.com, 29 September 2011
In the 7th season Jamie Grant returned as officer Esmee van Rooy and TROS-presenter Vivienne van den Assem had a recurring role as informant/infiltrator Tonja. Also, Thomas Acda returned as ex-detective Daan de Vos.
Episodes
Season Timeslot Episodes Première Final Ratings(in mln.) Date Ratingspremière(in mln.) Date Ratingsfinal(in mln.) 1 Monday 21:05 133 September 2007 1,2926 November 2007 1,391,31 2 101 September 2008 0,997 November 2008 1,331,20 3 Friday 20:30 1030 October 2009 1,8722 January 2010 1,421,43 4 1029 January 2010 1,6323 April 2010 1,701,60 5 107 January 2011 1,8911 March 2011 2,201,82 6 103 February 2012 1,736 April 2012 1,931,70 7 1022 February 2013 2,0326 April 2013 1,681,95 8 1014 March 2014 2,3516 May 2014 2,14 2,14 9 115 September 2014 2,1314 November 2014 2,13 2,22 10 1128 August 2015 2,006 November 2015 1,76 2,06 11 1016 December 2016 1,7117 February 2017 1,99 2,30 12 102 March 2018 1,6427 April 2018 1,42 1,79 13 137 December 2018 1,361 March 2019 1,37 1,74 14 133 January 2020 1,3327 March 2020 1,70 1,40
References
External links Website AVROTROS (in Dutch)