Go retro with this German Teenage Radio Play Mystery series

Meet Justus, Peter and Bob: three teenage boys living in Rocky Beach, California, self- proclaimed investigators, specialised in solving mysterious cases. Die drei Fragezeichen, a classic of German pop culture, is a series of audio plays with the first episodes dating back to the 1970s – the main speakers are still the same.

Their famous business card

Summing it up like this, the whole concept sounds pretty corny. Why would I recommend the series then? First of all, I am a fan of listening to stories. It’s such a nice change from staring at a screen all day. Furthermore, the original theme tune sends me back to family holidays with friends ages ago, when nights were spent listening to an episode or two. While everyone else was fast asleep half-way through, I found myself wide awake, trying to solve the case faster than Justus (the superbrain), hoping Peter (the sporty one) would run fast enough to catch the culprit and Bob (the mysterious one) wouldn’t get buried under a pile of library books. This is probably a good moment to mention that many episodes are on the scary side, especially the ones with an innocent title. Finally, I am also a fan of the evolution of (communication) technology, which can be tracked throughout the series. Today the three investigators even have smartphones! And yet there is a certain timelessness to the stories that can rarely be found elsewhere.

While audio plays offer neither subtitles nor visual aids to support your understanding of what’s going on, a number of sound effects and narrative strategies will ensure that you are not completely lost. So if your eyes are tired from binge-watching Netflix and playing GeoGuessr [see Mathilde Poizat-Amar's post], why not give it go. Despite the occasional cross-reference, you can start pretty much anywhere in the series – I particularly recommend episodes 77 “Pistenteufel”, 99 “Rufmord”, 186 “Insel des Vergessens” and 187 “Das silberne Amulett“. You can do jigsaw puzzles, knit or doodle at the same time – or just lie on your bed, allowing your eyes to rest.

All episodes (apart from the latest one) are available on Spotify and AppleMusic.

If you fancy a game of bingo, here are 16+1 words and phrases to fill a 4x4 matrix: