A pleasant surprise awaited the television audience in Germany on Saturday night: in the prime time zone, the first channel of German television (ARD) broadcast the thriller “Spurlos in Athens” (“Without a trace in Athens”). It is the story of a German woman who goes to Athens to meet her son, an Erasmus student, who mysteriously disappears. Looking for him, the protagonist comes into contact with groups of Exarchies and with people who offer service, but serve the same interests, even as agents of the Turkish secret services. The film stands out for its edgy direction and cinematography, offering perhaps the most authentic images of Athens seen on German television in recent years. Starring Zilke Bodenbender and the excellent young Greek actress Joy Mata Giannatou. Other Greek actors also appear, such as Costas Andalopoulos, Irini Stamatiou and Romanos Katsaris.

Television audiences reward good work. As the magazine Stern states on its website “ARD’s thriller is more popular than the shallow entertainment shows (of other channels)”. In particular, Stern notes that “the thriller ‘Without a Trace in Athens’ reserved for ARD a clear lead in television viewing on Saturday night, at 20:15.” Six million, fifty thousand viewers watched the detective film, with Zilke Bodenbender in the role of a desperate mother searching for her missing son in the Greek capital. The market share reached 22.5%. (…) The music reality show “Germany is looking for a superstar” led by the jury Dieter Bohlen on RTL attracted two million viewers, a share of 7.7%. The fantasy adventure ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ on Sat1 was watched by 1.1 million viewers, a rate of 4.4%).