54 Hours Season 1

Based on the 1988 Gladbeck hostage crisis, one of the biggest crimes in postwar German history, "54 Hours" begins with a simple bank robbery. While fleeing from the police, the two gangsters take an entire busload hostage, and the ensuing manhunt turns into a disaster. The police make fools of themselves with their amateurish operations and, above all, are obstructed by the nation's media who swoop down on the events in their rat race for the juiciest pictures and live interviews with the kidnappers. As Rosner (Gersak), the driving force of the duo, orchestrates their 54 hours of fame in cold blood, his accomplice Degowski (Scheer) derives sinister pleasure from manipulating the media. But Degowski is also unpredictable and violent. When he kills a teenage passenger in the bus, the two men choose two young women as their hostages while leaping into another getaway vehicle. Thus, begins a 54-hour odyssey that goes completely out of control.