Inspector Rex

Inspector Rex (German: Kommissar Rex; Italian: Il commissario Rex) is an Austrian-Italian police procedural television series created by Peter Hajek and Peter Moser. Originally an Austrian series aired from 1994 to 2004 on ORF 1, in 2008 it was revived as an Austro-Italian production on Rai 1 and, from the next year, was made fully in Italy, with occasional episodes set in Austria. Rai 1 eventually cancelled the Austro-Italian production in June 2015, after eight Italian seasons.

The series follows the German Shepherd police dog Rex, his partners and the rest of the team at the Vienna Kriminalpolizei homicide unit, as they work together to solve crimes. From 2008, episodes are set in Rome.

A spin-off series, Stockinger, focuses on Ernst Stockinger, one of the original members of the homicide division, was televised in 1996. International remakes include Polish ' (English title: Inspector Alex), set in Łódź (2012–present); Latvian ' (2002); Russian Muhtar's return (2004–2019, broadcast on Russia-1 and NTV); Portuguese ' (2004–present); Lithuanian Inspektorius Mažylis (2014); Slovak Rex set in Bratislava (2017) and Canadian Hudson & Rex (2019–present).

In October 2024, it was announced that Inspector Rex will return to television in 2026.

Synopsis

The original series is set in Vienna and focuses on the three-man staff of an office of the Kriminalpolizei – the Austrian Criminal Police – specifically a Mordkommission (homicide unit). In addition to the three policemen, the office is staffed by a German Shepherd called Rex, the main star of the show, who functions variously as a cadaver dog, a sniffer dog (for both contraband and narcotics) and as another pair of eyes and ears for his team.

The original team at the office consisted of Richard Moser, Ernst Stockinger and Peter Höllerer. This team was also assisted by forensic expert Dr Leo Graf and retired policeman Max Koch. The show had many changes in characters, including Christian Böck replacing Stockinger, Alexander Brandtner replacing Moser and former statistics officer Fritz Kunz replacing Höllerer. The final Austrian incarnation of the series featured a male-female duo of the clumsy Marc Hoffmann and a female officer Nikki Herzog working alongside Kunz. Dr. Graf is the only character to remain for the entire Austrian production of the series.

In season eleven, the action moves to Rome, with Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri taking charge of the dog. Episodes were produced in both Italian and German. At the end of the season, Rex is apparently mortally wounded when he jumps on Fabbri's head to protect him from a bullet, but is shown in close-up still slightly breathing just before credits roll. The beginning of season 12 shows that Rex survived the bullet, when Fabbri takes Rex to the animal hospital.

Production

For the first ten seasons the show was scripted entirely in German, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Spain.

Following declining ratings during the eighth and ninth seasons, the series was cancelled mid-production in 2004, leaving the tenth and then final season with only four episodes and no finale that concluded the story. As the series was still highly popular abroad, particularly in Italy and Austria, the show remained in syndication for many years.

In 2007, following negotiations, Italian broadcaster RAI secured the rights to revive the series, with production moving to Rome. For the first season of the new series, numbered as season eleven, it was produced in both Austria and Italy, with production moving to Italy full-time for the twelfth season. A total of eighteen seasons were produced, the last airing in 2015, barring repeats. While occasional episodes were set in Austria, the series was scripted and filmed primarily in Italian from 2008 to the concluding 2015 season.

Australian season numbering

For Australian markets, season numbering was altered for airing on SBS, and this numbering was also used on the DVD sets, leaving some viewers confused as to how the European episode lists correspond with the Australian ones. For the DVD sets, seasons 1 to 8 have been re-arranged to seven longer seasons (the chronological episode order remaining unchanged), with the ninth and tenth season being labeled as "season eight". They have since followed the official lists, with season eleven labeled as season nine, season twelve as season ten and so on.

Characters

thumb|[[Kaspar Capparoni with Rex in Rome]]

Rex

A trained police dog, Rex (revealed in the Pilot to be registered as "Reginald von Ravenhorst") is the star of the show.

Rex was stolen by criminals as a pup but managed to escape and befriend a boy, where he helped to solve his first case with the boy.

During his career, Rex has been shot, stabbed, poisoned, drugged and kidnapped. But he always recovers quickly.

Initially, Rex and Moser share an apartment at Marokkanergasse 18, Wien-Landstraße; however the pair go house-hunting at the start of season 2. They quickly find a house (Waldstraße 8, Purkersdorf) owned by a man who does not want dogs there. However, Rex is able to alert him to a gas leak, and in gratitude, he allows Moser and Rex to stay.

Rex is frequently called upon to resolve difficult situations, including helping a young girl in shock, preventing a woman from committing suicide and helping to get Moser's mobile phone when a crime has been committed. One famous episode features Moser using Rex to resolve a hostage situation by telling him to creep up behind the criminal and "frighten him" (following Rex's earlier success at frightening Stockinger by jumping on him from behind).

There is also a considerable element of humour in Rex's activities. Rex has an uncanny penchant for ham rolls or "Wurstsemmln" in the local dialect. He is introduced to them by Moser, who tells him, "I practically live on these." Rex constantly annoys Stockinger by pulling on his coat and stealing his ham rolls. Later, Höllerer keeps a running score of Böck's success against Rex – not a flattering result for the officer. While not chasing criminals, he often plays pranks on the officers or fails to obey orders to help with the housework. Rex is very fond of horses and once fastened a rope to Alex's car so he could take the horse home. Another time, Rex attacked a man who was beating a horse and, later in the same episode, he ran into a burning barn to rescue a horse.

With Moser, Rex reacts particularly badly to words like "frau" (woman) and, later, "tierarzt" (vet), as he disapproves of his master's attention to women. During a scene in which Koch claims that Moser "doesn't understand women at all now," Moser tells Koch, "Don't say that word. Every time you say 'woman', he [Rex] runs off with my laundry. " Koch asks him what Rex does with it, to which Moser replies, "He washes it." Rex was not jealous of Alex and stole a rose for Alex to give to a pretty blonde co-worker.

Once, when Moser is working undercover and needs to ensure Rex won't greet him, he tells Stockinger, "You only need to say 'vet' to him and he'll stop whatever he's doing", a statement which results in a memorable scene involving Stockinger walking after Rex at a crime scene calling out "Vet! Vet!"

Rex was played by four dogs over the years in Europe including Santo vom Haus Zieglmayer, also known as 'Beejay', and his double, Rhett Butler who took the lead role in 2000. For the 2008 revival, Rex was played by a dog named Henry. From 2012 to 2013, Rex was played by Nicky. With Diesel vom Burgimwald, all of the "German Shepherd Dogs" that play Rex in the Canadian series, Hudson & Rex are related to Santo and his great-grandsire, VA5 Elch vom Trienzbachtal.

Rex's partners

Richard Moser (Tobias Moretti, 1994–1998)

thumb|upright|[[Tobias Moretti, January 2007]]

Source:

The first "team leader", Richard "Richie" Moser is a hard-bitten cop who, as the first season begins, is going through a bitter divorce from his wife Gina, who takes all their furniture. Moser is also attempting to quit smoking to improve his blood circulation. An ex-truck driver, Moser credits Max Koch with keeping him from a life of crime, at one point telling Koch that "I'd be on the wrong side of the law too, just like him", referring to a young pickpocket he has just chased through central Vienna.

Moser befriended Rex, whose former police trainer, Michael, was shot and killed by an escaping suspect. To save the dog from being put down, Moser "adopted" him without ever completing any of the official paperwork. He famously declares at one point, "My taxes pay for this dog, so why can't I give him a better home?" Moser, in contrast to his successors, is shown to be quite athletic, often performing acrobatic stunts while chasing suspects. Moretti's looks were also exploited by the producers of the show. He made several nude appearances, including an episode where Moser and a female colleague frolic naked in the woods to attract a serial killer targeting young couples.

As Moser's personal life improves, his sense of humour returns. This is noticeable in the general lightening in the tone of the show from the initial episodes ("Diagnosis Murder" being a prime example) to ones with more lighthearted banter among the officers. Being a bachelor, Moser flirts with many of the attractive women featured in the storylines. Moser begins a relationship with Sonja, his local vet, which Rex thoroughly disapproves of and constantly tries to sabotage. In time, Rex accepts Sonja and even pretends to have an injured paw when he wants her to stay with him. Sonja eventually leaves Moser and Rex when she is offered a job in America.

In the final scenes of the season 4 episode "Moser's Death", Moser is killed in the line of duty by an escaped 'borderline psychopath', played by famous German actor Ulrich Tukur (Das Leben der Anderen) while Moser is rescuing his lover, Patricia Neuhold (a psychologist who has been helping with the case). The escapee commits suicide just after he kills Moser, and there is a heartbreaking scene at the hospital after the doctor tells Moser's friends that he died. Rex takes a squeaky toy that Moser bought at the beginning of the episode to Moser's body and squeaks it until he accepts his master is gone, then he lays his head on Moser's chest and the scene fades to white.

Alexander Brandtner (Gedeon Burkhard, 1998–2001)

Alex Brandtner replaces Moser as team leader. Following Moser's death, Rex has become depressed and refuses to eat, wanting to stay near Moser's house all the time. However, Brandtner succeeds in helping Rex out of his depression. Brandtner had lost his former dog, Arko, in an explosion and does not want to work with dogs again until he meets Rex. The explosion has also robbed him of his hearing in his right ear, a fact he confides only to Rex. Brandtner moves into the house that Moser and Rex used to share, apparently because Rex does not want to leave.

Brandtner is portrayed as very attractive to women and performs various physical stunts throughout the series, such as diving over car bonnets, engaging in fast-paced chases on foot, and dives. On his first appearance in the show, he dives into the Danube to retrieve a vital piece of evidence, and later in his debut episode he parachutes from a light aircraft, along with Rex, in order to apprehend a suspect. His living room is filled with boxing and fitness gear.

He had once gone undercover in a prison and also as a drunken homeless man. He also seems to have an uncanny instinct for sensing if a suspect is guilty or innocent, even without evidence.

During the time Burkhard was on the show, the international ratings for the series increased. Unlike Moretti, Burkhard's looks were not exploited by the producers of the show, and he did not make nude appearances. The most skin that Burkhard showed was in an episode where a bank burglar forced Brandtner to strip to prove that he was unarmed before parading him through the street in only his underwear.

Marc Hoffmann (Alexander Pschill, 2002–2004)

Replacing Brandtner as team leader, Hoffmann is a very eager detective. Hoffmann is portrayed as being very witty, outsmarting murderers. He shares a close relationship with Nikki Herzog, although they sometimes have disagreements.

Apparently Hoffmann had studied forensic science under Graf, and the two men still seem to share a somewhat master-student relationship, with Hoffmann often deferring to Graf's judgment (where Brandtner and Moser had previously not always done so).

Lorenzo Fabbri (Kaspar Capparoni, 2008–2012)

thumb|Kaspar Capparoni with [[Denise Zich and Martin Weinek]]

In season 11, Italian homicide detective, Chief Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri. arrives in Vienna to work on a case, and takes Rex, who is officially 'retired', back to Rome. Rex seems to understand the Italian language quite easily.

In the second episode of season 14 (entitled "Amidst the Wolves"), Fabbri dies in the explosion of a car during a trap prepared by a Mafia boss.

Davide Rivera (Ettore Bassi, 2012–2013)

Davide Rivera replaces Fabbri as team leader in season 14. Rivera becomes friends with Rex after the loss of Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri. He follows his grandfather's advice, and eventually, Rex stops avoiding him.

Rivera appears for the last time on the last episode of season 15, titled "Legami di sangue." It is unknown why he does not appear in season 16.

Marco Terzani (Francesco Arca, 2013–2015)

Chief Inspector (later Deputy Commissioner) Marco Terzani replaces Rivera as team leader in season 16.

Working under Gori, and later under Director Fiori, he forges a very strong bond with Rex. He doesn't hesitate to bend rules to solve a tough case.

Other detectives

Ernst Stockinger (Karl Markovics, 1994–1996)

The "straight man" to Rex — and, increasingly, Moser — Ernst Stockinger ("Stocki" for short) is a character who becomes much more likeable as his part in the series develops. Stockinger is thin and always has a very serious demeanour. In later episodes, this is revealed as a cover for his schemes to outsmart Rex, who loves to tease him. Although Stockinger pretends not to like dogs, he risks his career to help Moser save Rex when the dog is kidnapped to prevent Moser from testifying against an assassin. For all Stockinger's constant irritation with Rex, he genuinely has come to care for this particular dog. This is very obvious in the last two episodes Stocki appears in, when he is upset that Rex jumps from one roof to another to capture a killer. Stocki is also openly affectionate to Rex once his transfer is approved, and he realizes how much he is going to miss the team. He tells Richard and Höllerer they are his only friends and includes Rex as his friend as well.

Stockinger is married, and his wife, it seems, is not greatly pleased with her husband's choice of career at times, and Moser often reminds him of this. Stocki's knowledge of women does not save him and Rex from being thrown out by Stocki's wife when he watches Rex and the dog howls for Moser.

Another of Stockinger's idiosyncrasies is his constant references to surgery, which has been performed on him - most likely for stomach ulcers. He seems to delight in telling stories about this surgery at the most inappropriate moments, such as when the others are about to eat.

Eventually, Stockinger is transferred to Salzburg and leaves the series. In this final episode, Rex saves Stockinger by leaping across a classroom just as a disgruntled divorced man was about to stab Stockinger in the throat during an attempted kidnapping attempt on his child. Moser, in a farewell speech, jokingly tells Stocki, "You have been a bad cop, a bad man, and not at all a good friend." Stockinger later features in a spin-off two season television series, Stockinger, featuring him at his new police department. He is replaced by Christian Böck.

Peter Höllerer (Wolf Bachofner, 1994–1999)

Source:

Broadcasters

Kommissar Rex has been shown in the following countries:

{| class="wikitable"

! Country !! Title !! Translation !! Channel !! Type

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || The Film Zone Magazine TV || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Inspector Rex || Inspector Rex || SBS network || German, English subtitles

| || Kommissar Rex || Inspector Rex || ORF || Original German language

| || Rex, chien flic || Rex, police-dog || VTM RTL-TVI || German + Dutch subtitles, French dubbing

| || Comissário Rex || Inspector Rex || Multishow Band || Brazilian Portuguese dubbing + subtitles

| || Комисар Рекс || Inspector Rex || BNT 1 Diema Nova TV || Bulgarian dubbing

| () || Rex || Rex || Séries+ || Quebec French dubbing

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || Chilevisión The Film Zone TVN || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || Caracol Citytv Bogotá The Film Zone || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Inspektor Rex || Inspector Rex || HRT 2, Nova TV, Doma TV || German, Italian Croatian subtitles

| || Υπαστυνόμος Ρεξ || Police lieutenant Rex || Sigma TV || Greek dubbing

| || Komisař Rex (seasons 1–10) Návrat Komisaře Rexe (seasons 11-...) || Inspector Rex Return of Inspector Rex || Prima Network TV Nova || Czech dubbing

| || Kommissær Rex || Inspector Rex || TV 2 Charlie || German, Danish subtitles

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || The Film Zone || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Komissar Rex || Inspector Rex || Kanal 2 TV1 (Estonia) DUO3 Kanal 12 || German, Estonian subtitles

| || Poliisikoira Rex || Police-dog Rex || Nelonen MTV3 Sub || German, Finnish subtitles

| || Rex, chien flic || Rex, police-dog || France 2 France 3 || French dubbing

| || Kommissar Rex || Inspector Rex || Sat.1 ZDF || Original German language

| || Υπαστυνόμος Ρεξ || Police lieutenant Rex || Alpha Alter Skai TV || Greek dubbing

| || Rex felügyelő || Inspector Rex || TV2 M1 AXN || Hungarian dubbing

| || Lögregluhundurinn Rex || Rex the police-dog || Sjónvarpið || German, Icelandic subtitles

| || Komiser Rex || Inspector Rex || PMC Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Rubix || Persian dubbing

| || המפקח רקס || Commissar Rex || Israel Plus || Russian voice-over

| || Il commissario Rex (seasons 1–10) Rex (seasons 11-...) || Inspector Rex Rex || Rai 1 Rai 2 || Italian dubbing

| || REX～ウィーン警察シ ェパード犬刑事～ || Rex - Vienna Police Shepherd Dog Inspector || Mystery Channel || German, Japanese subtitles

| || Komisārs Reksis || Inspector Rex || LTV1 LNT Fox Crime || Latvian voice-over

| || Komisaras Reksas || Inspector Rex || BTV (Lithuanian TV channel) LTV/LRT televizija TV3 (Lithuanian TV channel)|| Lithuanian voice-over

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || The Film Zone TVC (no longer as of 2009) || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Rex, chien flic || Rex, police-dog ||  || French dubbing

| || || Inspector Rex || RTL 4 Tien RTL Crime ONS || German, Dutch subtitles

| || Inspector Rex || Inspector Rex || TVNZ 1 || German, English subtitles

| || Комесарот Рекс || Inspector Rex || A1 || German, Macedonian subtitles

| || Rex || Rex || TV2 || German, Norwegian subtitles

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || The Film Zone TV Cinema (now Unicanal) Paravisión || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || The Film Zone Latina Televisión Red Global (now NEXT TV) || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || (Polish edition) || Inspector Rex Inspector Alex || TV 4 TVP1 AXN Crime TV6 || Polish voice-over Original Polish language

| || || Rex, Police-dog|| SIC || German Portuguese subtitles European Portuguese dubbing (since 2013)

| || Comisarul Rex || Commissioner Rex || Prima TV TVR1 TVR2 || German, Romanian subtitles

| || Комиссар Рекс || Komissar Rex || Russia-1 STS M1 (First Moscow) Domashny Viasat || Russian voice-over

| || Inspektor Reks || Inspector Rex || AXN || German, Serbian subtitles

| || Rex || Rex || ITN || Sinhala subtitles

| || Komisár Rex (seasons 1–10) Komisár Rex: Opäť v akcii (seasons 11-...)

| Inspector Rex

Inspector Rex: Again in action

| Markíza TV JOJ || Slovak dubbing

| || Komisar Rex || Inspector Rex || Radiotelevizija Slovenija Kanal A POP TV || German, Slovene subtitles

| || || Rex, a different police officer || Antena 3 Telecinco FORTA || Spanish dubbing Galician dubbing Catalan dubbing

| || Kommissarie Rex || Inspector Rex || TV4 Kanal 9 || German, Swedish subtitles

| || Kommissar Rex Rex, chien flic Il commissario Rex || Inspector Rex Rex, police-dog Inspector Rex || DRS TSR RTSI || Original German language French dubbing Italian dubbing

| || Komiser Reks || Inspector Rex || Kanal 1 (Turkey) TRT 1|| Turkish dubbing

| || Комісар Рекс || Inspector Rex || Novyi Kanal STB K1 || Russian voice-over Ukrainian dubbing Ukrainian dubbing

| || Inspector Rex || Inspector Rex || Five || German, English subtitles

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || V-me || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || Teledoce || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Comisario Rex || Inspector Rex || The Film Zone Televen || Latin American Spanish dubbing

| || Rex, chú chó thám tử || Rex, the detective dog|| VTV || Vietnamese voice-over

Home releases

In Italy, the first 6 seasons were released on DVD, with only the Italian dub. The first two seasons were also released in Germany, again only with German audio.

In Australia, Region 4 English-subtitled DVDs of Inspector Rex are currently available for the first sixteen seasons (labeled as fourteen in Australia; see Australian numbering). The Italian seasons of the show were released under the special title "Rex in Rome".

On 10 October 2007, a special DVD, "Rex By Request" was released featuring the five favourite Kommissar Rex episodes as voted by fans. Also included is an interview with producer/writer Peter Hajek and an hour-long dog-training segment featuring Rex and his trainer Teresa Ann Miller.

Australian Releases:

Inspector Rex - Series 1 (4 Disc Box Set) - 20 June 2005
Inspector Rex - Series 2 (4 Disc Box Set) - 22 September 2005
Inspector Rex - Series 3 (4 Disc Box Set) - 24 January 2006
Inspector Rex - Series 4 (5 Disc Box Set) - 31 March 2006
Inspector Rex - Series 5 (4 Disc Box Set) - 16 August 2006
Inspector Rex - Series 6 (4 Disc Box Set) - 10 November 2006
Inspector Rex - Series 7 (4 Disc Box Set) - 7 February 2007
Inspector Rex - Series 8 (4 Disc Box Set) - 7 June 2007
Inspector Rex - Series 9 (2 Disc Set) - 17 November 2008
Inspector Rex - Series 10 (3 Disc Set) - 27 November 2009
Inspector Rex - Series 1 To 5 (21 Disc Box Set) - 1 December 2010
Inspector Rex - Series 6 To 10 (17 Disc Box Set) - 5 October 2011
Inspector Rex - Series 11 (3 Disc Set) - 2 November 2011
Inspector Rex - Series 12 (3 Disc Set) - 20 November 2013
lnspector Rex - Series 13 (3 Disc Set) - 5 November 2014
lnspector Rex - Series 14 (3 Disc Set) - 4 November 2015
Inspector Rex - Series 11 to 14 (12 Disc Set) - 9 September 2017
Rex Special Unit - Season 1 (3 Disc Set) - 9 September 2017
Rex Special Unit - Season 2 (3 Disc Set) - 3 October 2018