Derrick (TV series)

In 1990 Shri Nathji used to watch a foreign Television Serial about a detective named ‘Derrick’. Both, Shri Nathji and Priya Nath, agree that the actor looks just like Maharaja Sarila, the late neighbour of Shri Nathji in Mussoorie.

“Bilkul Maharaja Sarila lagtaa hai!” Shri Nathji used to add, referring to the German actor who played Derrick.

Derrick is a German TV series produced by Telenova Film und Fernsehproduktion in association with ZDF, ORF and SRG between 1974 and 1998 about Detective Chief Inspector (Oberinspektor) Stephan Derrick (Horst Tappert) and his loyal assistant Inspector (Kriminalhauptmeister) Harry Klein (Fritz Wepper), who solve murder cases in Munich and surroundings. All 281 60-minute episodes were written by veteran screenwriter Herbert Reinecker and produced by Helmut Ringelmann. As a rule, new Derrick episodes were broadcast on Friday night at 20:15. The series received enormous popularity and was aired in more than 100 countries worldwide.

 The actor who played Detective Derrick and looked like Maharaja Sarila was German actor, Horst Tappert (26 May 1923 − 13 December 2008) Following high school, Tappert was drafted into the German army in World War II and ended up as a prisoner of war. Following the war, he was hired as a bookkeeper at a theatre in Stendal, Germany, and became interested in acting.

 He took acting classes and gave his stage debut in Stendal, playing Dr. Stribel in Paul Helwig's Die Flitterwochen. In the following years, he changed employers several times and, in 1956, started working at the Kammerspiele, Munich. An independent actor since 1967, he worked as an actor until he died.
On the right is the photograph of Maharaja Sarila. One can see the striking facial resemblance between the two men. Also Maharaja Sarila was tall and well build just like Host Tappert.