Barbara Salesch celebrated her big television comeback two years ago. The judge finally gives an insight behind the camera of the popular TV show.
What happens behind the scenes of the popular TV show “Judge Barbara Salesch” and how real are the cases that the audience sees? “Bild” investigated these questions and revealed some interesting facts.
The authenticity of the reported cases is a frequently debated topic. Are these the court hearings that actually took place or is it all just a show? Barbara Salesch, 73, explains: “They are written by editors, screenwriters and my two editorial lawyers based on real cases.” As he continues, he has a crucial role as a TV judge, sees every script before the day of shooting and gets to add his own personality.
Court secretary Monika Schuster, played by Heike Bergermann, also takes part in the series. She has also practiced the job outside of the show and has been a member of the team since the big return of “Judge Barbara Sales” in 2022. He is known to be busy writing on his laptop. One detail that viewers will probably miss: “The laptop is always black. “I just think it looks like that,” Heike told “Bild” with a laugh.
Salesch and Wetzel share a set
Barbara's yard dog Piri is also always there. In the show, the seven-year-old Irish wolfhound can be found in his basket in the judges' room or in the judges' lounge. But Pir has a mind of his own, especially on a long day of shooting, assistant Maurice always checks to see if he is okay and takes daily walks around.
Barbara Salesch not only shares the judge's room with the dog, there is also her colleague Ulrich Wetzel, who films his show “Ulrich Wetzel – The Criminal Court” there on different days. Also good to know: the dish is not real, all episodes were filmed in the big studio in Cologne-Ossendorf.
Barbara Salesch's Spontaneous Decisions
In addition to his work as a referee, Salesch took on a second job and took on the role of prompter for supporting roles and non-professionals. Because names are often mixed up or sentences are forgotten, the 73-year-old woman always secretly has a copy of the script in front of her, from which she can repeat the forgotten text to the people filming. This means that you don't always have to spend time looking for the right cut, and filming goes faster.
While amateurs and supporting actors are often replaced, the same people sit behind each other in the audience from time to time. They always bring two changes of tops and are paid minimum wage for their work.
What's not in the script? Ms. Salesch's decision. A trained judge makes a decision spontaneously based on what he or she would consider an appropriate punishment in real life. “I will present the reasons immediately afterwards, without notes, freely and very personally.”
This article “Behind the fir trees with Judge Barbara Salesch” is originally from BUNTE.de.