Butler Parker is a fictitious British character who was, despite his ostentatious Britishness, created by a German pulp fiction author and became eventually the protagonist of a German television series.
Author Butler Parker was the brainchild of the author Günther Dönges (1923–August 2001), who often used Anglo-Saxon aliases, due to the widespread opinion that only Anglo-Saxons could write entertaining good crime stories in West Germany.
Protagonist Butler Joshua Parker worked for different employers who would leave him a lot of freedom. However, Butler Parker would always be the main character who cracked the cases and sometimes protected or even rescued his employers. He had a steel-strengthened bowler hat and his umbrella could be used to shoot arrows. Moreover, he drove a classic London taxi which was equipped with a variety of gadgets.
Novels Like Jerry Cotton, Joshua Parker had an obviously English name and drove an English car. (Although Parker had a traditional London taxi, jam-packed with amazing gadgets instead of a Jaguar E-Type) Both heroes had their first appearances in publications of the publishing house Bastei. But eventually, Günter Dönges changed the publisher, and took "Butler Parker" with him. Between 1953 and 1992, more than 600 novels were released by Bastei, Pabel and later on by Zauberkreis. In the beginning, Butler Parker was in the service of an old lady, but later on, he had an American boss called Mike Rander. The television shows him working for Mike Rander (Eckart Dux).
Television show Since the novels about Butler Parker were very successful and another fictitious British pulp fiction hero (Percy Stuart) had already been adapted for the television screen with success, the idea of a television series about Butler Parker seemed to suggest itself. But it lasted only for twenty-six shows. Still the short life of his television presence didn't diminish the ongoing success of the novels.
№ TitleAir date1 "Hallo Taxi" (Taxi!) 4 July 1972 Guest stars: Arthur Brauss, Klaus Abramowsky2 "Besuch in Schottland" (Visiting Scotland) 11 July 1972 Guest stars: Frederick Jäger, Gerard Heinz, Klaus Dahlen3 "Geschäft mit der Angst" (Fear is their business) 18 July 1972 Guest stars: Victor Beaumont, Benno Hoffmann4 "Zwischenfall in Brighton" (Incident in Brighton) 25 July 1972 Guest stars: Til Erwig, Josef Fröhlich5 "Der Kredithai" (The loan shark) 1 August 1972 Guest stars: Hans Schellbach, Hubert Mittendorf6 "Patientin gesucht" (Wanted: Patient, female) 8 August 1972 Guest stars: Verena Buss, Else Brückner7 "Besuch im Starclub" (Visiting the Starclub) 15 August 1972 Guest stars: Betty Dorsey, Rainer Basedow8 "Die Überfahrt" (The voyage) 22 August 1972 Guest stars: Monica Peitsch, Inge Schmidt9 "Ein klarer Fall" (An easy case) 12 September 1972 Guest stars: Hans-Werner Bussinger, Michael Gempart10 "Katz und Maus" (Cat and mouse) 19 September 1972 Guest star: Robert Nägele11 "Galgenfrist" (Last respite)26 September 1972 Guest stars: Hans-Michael Rehberg, Heinz-Leo Fischer12 "Madonnen lassen bitten" (Madonnas ask you in) 3 October 1972 Guest stars: Claus Eberth, Valentin Jäger13 "Made in Italy" 10 October 1972 Guest stars: Karl Walter Diess, Ingrid Resch14 "Der Doppelgänger" (The look-alike) 17 October 1972 Guest stars: Peter Fricke, Horst Naumann15 "Treffpunkt Via Mala" (Meetining place Via Mala) 24 October 1972 Guest star: Rotraud Rieger16 "Diamantenraub" (Diamonds are robbed) 31 October 1972 Guest stars: Gundy Grand, Kurt Klopsch17 "Blondinen für Rio" (Blondes for Rio) 7 November 1972 Guest stars: Lia Pahl, Horst Sommer18 "Achtung Kurve" (Beware of the bend) 14 November 1972 Guest stars: Horst-Werner Loos, Peter Herzog, Werner Zerlett19 "Der Spezialist" 21 November 1972 Guest star: Alexander Allerson20 "Das Partygirl" 28 November 1972 Guest star: Barbara Valentin21 "Die Kidnapper" 5 December 1972 Guest stars: Otto Bolesch, Ulrike Blome22 "Container gesucht" (Wanted: A container) 12 December 1972 Guest stars: Ilse Neubauer, Johannes Grossmann, Traugott Buhre23 "Der Heckenschütze" (The sniper) 19 December 1972 Guest stars: Harry Kalenberg, Nora Minor, Michael Hinz24 "Das Sanatorium" (The hospital) 2 January 1973 Guest stars: Margot Trooger, Harald Dietl25 "Schottischer Whisky" (Scotch) 9 January 1973 Guest stars: Dieter Kirchlechner, Richard Bohne26 "Die Hellseherin" (The clairvoyant) 16 January 1973 Guest star: Hilde Ziegler
Home media The television series was digitally remastered and released on DVD in 2010, and some of Butler Parker's adventures have been released as audiobooks.
External links
Website dedicated to Butler Parker (German only) (German only)