In “Tod und Spiele” (Death and Games), Dortmund-based police detectives Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann), Martina Bönisch (Anna Schudt), Nora Dalay (Aylin Tezel) and newcomer Jan Pawlak (Rick Okon) investigate the world of modern-day gladiator fights.

On the outskirts of Dortmund, the burnt body parts of several men are found in abandoned industrial ruins. Their injuries suggest that they were victims of modern-day gladiator fights. In these illegal “games”, the death of the defeated fighters is not only accepted, but desired and high bets are placed on the winners.

The clues found at the crime scene lead the detectives to a hotel, where a little boy is hiding. He seems to be the son of one of the dead men. As the hotel is one where Martina Bönisch has stayed multiple times during a marital crisis, always under a false name, she investigates there undercover and comes across the Russian billionaire and oligarch Oleg Kombarow (Samuel Finzi), who seems to have something to do with the illegal fights.

When more develops between the two than the police investigation requires, Bönisch comes under emotional but also professional pressure and Faber is more than a little jealous. At the same time, detective Pawlak – also undercover – investigates one of the fight clubs involved.

Nora Dalay, meanwhile, takes care of the little boy who is hidden in the police station, and attempts to get to those pulling the strings in the illegal fights through him.

When Bönisch, as Kombarow’s companion, finds herself in mortal danger during one of the fights, Faber has to do everything in his power to save her life.

A production commissioned by WDR for ARD.