''Stromberg'' () is a German

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series which is produced by Brainpool and broadcast on the

commercial television Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (a ...

channel

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

. The series stars

Christoph Maria Herbst Christoph Maria Herbst (born 9 February 1966) is a German actor and comedian. Early life Herbst was born in Wuppertal. After passing the Abitur, he became a trainee banker and was active at the free theatre scene in Wuppertal at the same time ...

as Bernd Stromberg and is written mainly by

Ralf Husmann Ralf Husmann (born 24 September 1964 in Dortmund) is a German TV producer, screenwriter and author. He is the creator of '' Stromberg'', the German adaption of ''The Office''. Life and work In the 1980s Ralf Husmann had a cabaret-Duo named ''Burg ...

. It has become one of the most popular comedy shows in German-speaking countries and was honored with many awards such as the

Deutscher Fernsehpreis The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (''German Television Award'') is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999 by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalent to the Emmy Awards, t ...

. Its success also spawned other media such as a book and a feature film. ''Stromberg'' marks one of the first international adaptations of the British TV series ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original ser ...

'', preceding the American counterpart by a year while at the same time sparking a copyright dispute with the BBC. Furthermore, the German equivalent is a more loose adaptation than most other international versions of the show (e.g. it takes places at an insurance company).

Synopsis

The show takes place at the office of the fictional

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

company "Capitol Versicherung AG", (''Capitol Insurance PLC'') where the trivial day-to-day events take place in an eerie atmosphere oscillating between

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an ...

and sycophancy.

Cast

as Bernd Stromberg *

Bjarne Mädel Bjarne Mädel (born 12 March 1968) is a German actor based in Berlin. Biography Born in Hamburg, Mädel graduated from the Burggymnasium in Friedberg in der Wetterau. He studied theater studies and literature at the University of Erlangen an ...

as Berthold "Ernie" Heisterkamp * Oliver Wnuk as Ulf Steinke * Diana Staehly as Tanja Steinke (* Seifert) * Martina Eitner-Acheampong as Erika Burstedt * Lars Gärtner as Timo Becker *

Tatjana Alexander Tatjana Katharina Alexander (born 1969) is an Australian-born German-Austrian actress. She was born in 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. Her family relocated to Austria, where Alexander graduated from the Academy of Business and Economics in 1989. A ...

as Tatjana Berkel *

Sinan Akkus Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from ...

as Sinan Turculu * Maja Beckmann as Sabine "Sabbel" Buhrer * Simon Licht as Hans-Jürgen Wehmeyer * Peter Rütten as Mr. Pötsch * Milena Dreißig as Jennifer Schirrmann * Laurens Walter as Lars Lehnhoff * Angelika Richter as Nicole Rückert * Walter Gontermann as Dr. Heinemann * Frank Montenbruck as Frank Montenbruck * Joe Henselewski as Josef Müller * Rita Winkelmann as Rita Klüver *

Prashant Prabhakar Prashant Prabhakar Jaiswal (born October 13, 1974) is a German actor of Indian origin. He has acted in several films, short films and TV-series. He has earned a lot of fame with his work in the award-winning TV series '' Stromberg''. His role of ...

as Prashant Kumabandhu * Stefan Lampadius as Steffen Lambert *

Nadja Becker Nadja Becker (born 25 October 1978) is a German actress. Filmography *2004–2007: '' Stromberg'' as Maja *2007: ''Warum Männer nicht zuhören und Frauen schlecht einparken'' as Angie Luschmund *2008: '' SOKO: Wismar'' as Cindy Poguntke *20 ...

as Maja Decker * Dorothea Förtsch as Dorothea Förtsch * Andreas Hermann as Andreas Hermann * Suzanne Landsfried as Mrs. Landsfried *

as Hans Schmelzer *

Michaela Caspar Michaela Caspar (born 1960) is a German actress. Selected filmography * '' Last Stop Toyland'' (2009) as Rektorin * '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' (2014) as Marguerite * '' Hitman: Agent 47'' (2015) as the Hall of Records Clerk Selected televis ...

as Frau Papenacker

Episodes

Broadcast

The first season, which appeared in 2004, was made up of eight episodes. A second season of ten episodes, although not initially planned, was launched on 11 September 2005. A third season of eight episodes was launched on 5 March 2007. A fourth season was launched on 3 November 2009, with the entire season being available on DVD on 6 November. In 2011, a fifth season of ''Stromberg'' was aired and concluded in January 2012. In 2021 small TV spots were produced to support the German vaccination campaign against COVID-19, with Stromberg as sceptical towards the vaccination who has to be convinced.

Copyright controversy

The series was proclaimed to be a copy of the BBC series ''

'', although initially the producers claimed it was based on a character from a past ProSieben comedy, despite many elements resembling ''The Office''. An "inspired by" credit was given to the creators of ''The Office'',

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and ''An Idiot Abroad'' ...

and

Stephen Merchant Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer. Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...

, after the BBC threatened ProSieben with legal action.

Book

In 2007, the success of the show spawned the mock ''Chef - Deutsch / Deutsch - Chef. Klartext am Arbeitsplatz'' ("Boss-German/German-Boss: Straight Talk at Work"). It was published under the advertising pseudonym of "Bernd Stromberg" by German dictionary publishing company

Langenscheidt Langenscheidt () is a German publishing company that specializes in language reference works. In addition to publishing monolingual dictionaries, Langenscheidt also publishes bilingual dictionaries and travel phrase-books. Langenscheidt has la ...

shortly before the third season. The book became a

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, co ...

in Germany and topped the

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

charts of ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

''.

Film

In December 2011, €1 million was collected by

crowd funding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

to create a ''Stromberg'' feature film . Production started in early 2013 according to producer Ralf Husmann. ''Stromberg – Der Film'' ("Stromberg – The Movie") was released in cinemas in Germany on 20 February 2014,. The film was the highest-grossing film in Germany in the first two weeks after its release.