Television: From the Netflix basement into the spotlight: Kim Riedle becomes ARD cop

Anyone who hears Kim Riedle’s adorable laugh forgets for a moment what millions of people know this actress for.

In the dark Netflix series “Dear Child” she played a woman who is held prisoner in an underground dungeon by a kidnapper. Her character Lena, whose true identity is only revealed over the course of the series, is emotionally and sexually brutally abused by the criminal in the basement.

“A lot of things are happening now,” he says.

“Liebes Kind” was a German global success. The series won an International Emmy a few weeks ago. And Berliner Kim Riedle’s next leading role is already coming up: On December 26th, she will join the ARD series “Kommissar Van der Valk” as an investigator.

“A lot of things are happening now,” says the 42-year-old in the dpa interview, almost a bit incredulous. “The series “Dear Child” came out over a year ago. Now suddenly, because of the Emmy Awards ceremony, there are a lot of pictures of me everywhere in the world: pictures from the series and of course the pictures from the awards ceremony. Suddenly there is attention aimed at me.”

This probably also has something to do with Netflix’s PR strategy. The streaming service aggressively marketed the thriller series in 2023, but kept Riedle in the background. Apparently this was done so that her character’s identity wouldn’t be revealed too quickly. Riedle: “It’s very unusual, but it’s somehow really nice that such a wave is coming again. And that your own work is somehow recognized is a nice feeling.”

She doesn’t necessarily want to be known, she just wants to be good

Kim Riedle has been in the TV business for almost 20 years and has worked her way up the ranks. After drama school, she played Emilia Galotti at the theater in Castrop-Rauxel, performed Shakespeare in Munich and gained filming experience on the ARD soap “Verbotene Liebe”. “I think that gave me good work discipline and a familiarity with the camera. And I believe that you can get better that way. And that was always more important to me than being known: I want to be good at my job. “

Over time, their roles became a little bigger and more important to the plot. Most recently, she was often cast as a woman who has to go through a lot in life and is rather lonely – characters like the sex worker Camilla in the Berlin “Tatort” crime thriller “The Victim”. In the ZDF crime drama “The Silence at the End of the Night” in February 2025, she will play a mother who has obviously been innocently sitting in prison for manslaughter for years.

Your characters have a lot to survive

Have you been offered victim roles too often? Riedle prefers to talk about people who survive something: “The characters I play have in common that they all somehow have great strength and at the same time great fragility, which are two poles that certainly rest within me anyway.”

She wants to play as different roles as possible and wants variety. “I jump so deeply into my characters. If I only play roles like the one in “Dear Child”, someone who has to survive so much and fight through something like that, I think I can get myself admitted at some point. That it does not work.” Riedle did a lot of martial arts during the Netflix filming to drain negative energy from her character.

The policewoman Kalie Tenkers, who she plays on December 26th (9:45 p.m.) in the ARD crime thriller “Kommissar Van der Valk: Lost in Amsterdam,” is completely different. The title character’s ex-girlfriend (Marc Warren), who appears for the first time, is constantly arguing with him. Riedle hopes for further appearances in the series.

“Kalie is someone who is very confident and quick-witted,” says the Berliner. A very physical role. “Someone who can protect people, has police training and can really fight. It feels very empowering, I have to say, to play someone like that. And a lot of fun.” In the first episode with her, the Amsterdam crime thriller is about the murder of a key witness.

Amsterdam crime thriller was a vacation for her soul

Her filming of the “Commissioner Van der Valk” crime thriller was almost a kind of vacation after she recently “had to carry a lot emotionally” in other roles, as she says. “Nevertheless, Kalie Tenkers is a very complex, melancholic figure who is mysterious. Van der Valk is reflected in her: she is also a lone wolf who is very self-sufficient and can act, both physically and verbally.” Riedle would have liked to show a lot more martial arts. “I really want some real action scenes for the new season.”

Speaking of wishes: “I would like to try out more different genres. I would really like to make a romantic film in the style of “The Taste of Rust and Bone”. I’m very much at home in drama and I like it too At home, of course, I would love a really good black comedy. A science fiction film would be fun at some point.