Aktenzeichen XY ... ungeloest

Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst (German for "Case number XY … Unsolved") is an interactive German television programme first broadcast on 20 October 1967 on ZDF. Created by Eduard Zimmermann, it aims to combat and solve crimes. The programme is currently presented by Rudi Cerne. It airs monthly, with 12 episodes in a year, on Wednesday at 8:15 PM.

Until 2003 it was produced in co-operation with the Austrian public service broadcaster ORF and Schweizer Fernsehen, a division of the Swiss public broadcaster SRG SSR.

The programme was adapted by the BBC as Crimewatch and for the US market as America's Most Wanted. Other adaptions aired in Canada, Poland, Hungary and New Zealand.

The goal of the programme is to throw light on unsolved offences with the aid of viewers. Each episode contains three to five short films, each lasting about ten minutes, in which a real criminal case is reconstructed. The cases are mostly complex ones in which the criminals and chains of events are still unknown. In addition cases are discussed in the studio in which, for example, the identities of criminals or unknown murder victims are sought with the aid of a photo. Viewers can use the telephone or Internet to give information. According to a study by the programme's editorial department, about forty percent of cases shown on the programme are solved. (Wikipedia)