Finale – the farewell to “Neues aus Büttenwarder”

In the photo: Adsche (Peter Heinrich Brix) finds the whole election campaign hype too much.

A North German success story ends with a unique finale: In this year’s Christmas program, NDR television is showing the last four episodes of “Neues aus Büttenwarder”.

For the first time in the 24-year history, these episodes, with farmer Arthur “Adsche” Tönnsen (Peter Heinrich Brix) as the main character, build on each other and tell a coherent story.

In addition, NDR television is saying goodbye to the cult series with the new documentary “Last Place in Büttenwarder”. And there is a premiere for the ears: NDR has developed three “Büttenwarder” episodes in a special audio version.

The podcast with actress Saskia Fischer is based on original TV episodes with Jan Fedder and Peter Heinrich Brix. The three episodes are now available in the ARD audio library and can also be heard everywhere else where podcasts are available.

24 years of “News from Büttenwarder” – that means 2.500 minutes of broadcast time, 4.000 pages of scripts and 98 episodes. The reason for the series ending was the decision of lead actor Peter Heinrich Brix not to shoot any more episodes.

The last four episodes on NDR television: Saturday, 25th and Tuesday, 28th December – farewell documentary: Tuesday, 28th December.

He appeared in all episodes as "Adsche" Tönnsen, up until episode 92 together with Jan Fedder as farmer Kurt Brakelmann. From the very beginning, viewers were able to watch them and the rest of the ensemble - including Jürgen Uter, the recently deceased Hans Kahlert, Axel Olsson and Sven Walser - fail, searching for the perfect business idea, the big money, the beloved face value.

The “Büttenwarder” residents (female residents were the great exception) cooked, posed naked, went on holiday, sang and danced and enjoyed their small, tranquil life.

The last four episodes, which were again filmed this summer in Granderheide and Grönwohld (Stormarn district), are once again about home and its loss. Adsche has lived a secluded life for quite a while and has not left his farmhouse.

Then suddenly he feels new energy and a plan takes shape that excites him. He wants to build an adventure park on the "Terräng". But when he presents the idea to Mayor Griem (Jürgen Uter), a nasty surprise awaits him.

All episodes and documentaries are available in the ARD Mediathek 24 hours before broadcast.

Griem, who is also his landlord, gave Adsche notice a long time ago. And Adsche also finds out who his new tenants will be: a bunch of militiamen who apparently want to turn the venerable Brakelmann property into a military training ground.

Adsche is determined to do anything to defend his "Terräng" against the enemy troops. The fragile coalition of Adsche, his sister Ylvie (Suzanne von Borsody) and cousin Jürgen Seute (Dirk Martens) is put to a final, relentless test of character...

In addition, further documentaries from the series' history and a total of more than 20 episodes in standard German will be broadcast on NDR television over Christmas.

In the Low German “Büttenwarder” night, “Adsche” and Co. also ask in ten episodes what that sounds like…

© Photo: NDR, Nicolas Maack