Burgenland Murders...

A murder series in our own backyard.

Naturally as locals, we've know in advance that it would be shown on television last night. The first of a series that looks promising, divine and addictive. The Landkrimis, a whole lot of nefarious deeds done in the various parts of Austria, a smorgasbord of entertainment.

A few years ago my mum and I went to a talk given by a tourism fundi, in Oberwart. One thing that stuck in my mind was this sentence.

" Your part of Burgenland is tailor made for shooting movies. "

And how right he was. Within a mere minutes from us, there are undulating hills, green pastures that stretch for miles, romantic villages, forests and blue skies. Ideal to stage a murder series. The British have Midsomer Murders ( Inspector Barnaby in German ), so why can't we have SüdBurgenland Murders?

The first in the series last night, had the required top Austrian actors in it but alongside them, were a few of our local actors. Yes, can you believe it that in our little village, there are three actors who played in this movie? Bob and I were glued to our television and kept on shouting things like:

" Oh, look, it's Gabi. "

" Gosh, there is Tina and isn't that Michael from Deutsch Schützen? "

" This looks like Schachendorf. Remember we drove through there last week."

As you can see, both of us were ecstatic to see our stunning backyard on screen, along with our local acting talent. Just marvelous and we were proud as peacocks that our bit of paradise was shown countrywide. The typical Burgenland buildings, architecture and way of life. Not for everyone, but definitely for us.

Landkrimi-Set 2: Kreuz des Südens / Wenn du wüsstest, wie schön es hier ist / Der Tote am Teich [3 DVDs]

There was a scene in the beginning of the movie, showcasing the often almost foreign sounding dialect of Burgenland- Hianzisch-. The two cops from Vienna stopped in the village, next to two old women sitting on a bench in order to ask them for directions.

Even though they were all Austrians, the Viennese clearly didn't understand the Burgenland twang, and their expressions were priceless...

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