Zoo Doctor: My Mom the Vet (Tierärztin Dr. Mertens) is a German television series, broadcast by ARD, based on the 2002 television film of the same name. The series is co-produced by Saxonia Media and Bavaria Film. Leipzig Zoo serves as the backdrop, and the series is filmed in Leipzig and the surrounding area.
Synopsis
Season 1 Prof. Georg Baumgart works as director at Leipzig Zoo, Dr. Martin Vogel as veterinarian, Conrad "Conny" Weidner as head animal keeper and Annett Melzer as animal keeper. At the beginning of the series, Prof. Baumgart is forced into retirement and is succeeded by Dr. Reinhard Fährmann, while his daughter, Dr. Susanne Mertens starts working as Dr. Vogel's assistant. Dr. Vogel quickly resigns and Susanne is offered the new position as the Zoo veterinarian. At the end of the season, Annett, who wants to study veterinary medicine, becomes Susanne's assistant.
Susanne's private life is stormy. She is married to Klaus, a businessman, and they have a son, Jonas. Klaus is having an affair with his assistant Alexandra. When Susanne finds out, she moves in with her parents, taking Jonas with her. Jonas is best friends with Rebecca Lentz. Her father Dr. Christoph Lentz and Susanne get to know each other through their children. Christoph immediately falls in love with Susanne, which is mutual, but Jonas is overwhelmed by the separation and his parents' new partners. After a trip with Klaus, Alexandra and Jonas, Alexandra is less than enthusiastic and demands that Klaus choose between her and Jonas. Klaus and Alexandra separate. Klaus wants to save his marriage, but Susanne wants a divorce. Klaus, Alexandra and Jonas try to reconcile during a visit to the circus. Klaus and Susanne divorce, Klaus gets back together with Alexandra, and Susanne, Christoph and the children move in together.
Season 2 With Ms Wittig, Dr Fährmann's secretary, there is a new addition to the zoo's staff. Dr. Fährmann plans to expand the zoo with a tropical hall the size of three football fields. However, Leipzig's mayor, Günter Herrenbrück, is not in favour of the project because it is too expensive. Dr. Fährmann is promoting his project through the state secretary, Dr. Lena Weingarten, and their collaboration eventually blossoms into a romance, which the two want to keep secret at all costs. Mayor Herrenbrück confronts Dr. Fährmann with the fact that the relationship between Dr. Fährmann and Dr. Weingarten is not purely professional. Dr. Weingarten then feels compelled to end the relationship in order to maintain her professional status. Mayor Herrenbrück tries to get rid of Dr. Fährmann as zoo director and sets an auditor on the zoo. However, the auditor finds that the budget is not only balanced but that a profit has been made. Dr. Fährmann is finally able to push through his model.
As for Susanne's private life, Christoph's daughter Rebecca returns from the United States accompanied by her mother. Viola Lentz temporarily moves in with the Mertens/Lentz patchwork family and causes quite a stir, as she wants to win back her daughter and ex-husband. Later, Viola moves into her own flat. When Rebecca is seriously injured in a car accident with Viola and Jonas, Viola decides to withdraw and fly back to the USA. She persuades Rebecca to come with her, but at the last moment the girl decides against it. Her mother flies back to the United States alone.
Klaus wants to move his company headquarters to Berlin and also move there. Jonas eventually goes to Berlin with Klaus, but visits his mother, Rebecca and Christoph frequently. Susanne becomes pregnant but loses the baby in an accident at the zoo. This almost causes Susanne and Christoph's relationship to break down again.
Susanne's parents find new things to do. Georg devotes himself to a project to reintroduce wolves and therefore spends a lot of time in the forest and attending lectures. Charlotte pursues her passion for painting more intensively. Things take a dramatic turn when Charlotte is diagnosed with breast cancer and refuses to have surgery. In the end, however, her family convinces her that her life does not have to be over yet. After a successful operation, followed by radiation and rehabilitation, Charlotte is completely healthy again.
Season 3 Annett quits for vet school; her seat goes to over-qualified Nicole Sommer, who wins Dr Fährmann's mentorship and love but schemes to oust Susanne. After mishandling a sick camel, Nicole is fired and dumped, letting Annett reclaim her old post. Ms Wittig, sidelined by a slipped disc, is covered by Ms Weber.
Susanne's life spins too. Jonas now boards at a Berlin sports school; a miscarriage and uterine growths end her hopes of pregnancy, so she and Christoph plan to adopt and get engaged - only to be rejected because of her age. Hidden letters reveal Christoph's long-estranged father, ex-pediatrician Dr Matthias Lentz. Susanne tracks him to Magdeburg, where they meet and Christoph saves him from a heart attack; Matthias moves to a care home but often visits his son. At the hospital Christoph meets six-year-old Luisa, an asthmatic girl abused by her alcoholic parents. He and Susanna become her foster parents, Christoph repairs a heart defect, and after Luisa's mother testifies against her violent husband, Susanne and Christoph can adopt Luisa. Christoph is promoted to Chief physician. Their wedding, arranged by Charlotte, Georg and Viola, collapses when Susanne faints from an infection. The wedding is cancelled.
Meanwhile, Charlotte starts art school and studies in Italy; Georg accepts a half-time zoo-curator post in China. For their 40th anniversary, they renew their vows.
Season 4 Mayor Herrenbrück approves a full-time curator for the zoo and suggests Dr. Tom Berkhoff for the position, asking him to become his informant on the zoo cost savings and help dismiss Dr. Fährmann. Berkhoff refuses, and while Dr. Fährmann wants Georg Baumgart to stay, the board still chooses Berkhoff. Annett falls for Tom, but he's interested in Susanne. Dr. Fährmann pushes for a therapy zoo project, but the board denies the funding. An association is formed for donations, but an embezzlement investigation leads to Dr. Fährmann's suspension. Dr. Berkhoff becomes the acting director, and soon the correct receipt clears Fährmann. Berkhoff leaves for Africa, and Fährmann convinces the board to appoint Georg as curator.
Susanne returns from a clinic, Jonas moves to London, and Klaus follows him there with his girlfriend. Rebecca falls in love with Theo, but Christoph thinks their relations is moving too fast. Christopher's father Matthias moves in with Susanne and Christoph instead of his retirement home. Christoph almost loses his job when a boy falls into a coma after an appendectomy, but avoid the crisis with Mathias' help. Susanne is looking for new challenges and begins postgraduate studies in ornithology with Tom Berkhoff. Christoph notices that Susanne has feelings for Tom, which leads to a serious relationship crisis. Although she tries not to give in to her feelings, she and Tom end up kissing and later spending the night together. However, Susanne decides to fight for her relationship with Christoph, and they reconcile. Christopher then gets a research offer in Brazil, which causes more uncertainty in their couple, but eventually he accepts the offer insisting on the option to work remotely.
Rebecca and Luisa try to set up Matthias, who eventually falls for Ursula. Charlotte and Georg struggle to finance an art gallery but face financial ruin. Christoph helps, and with Matthias' help, Charlotte's paintings are exhibited. Georg becomes curator, and they pay off the mortgage. Matthias proposes to Ursula, and she accepts.
Season 5 Dr Reinhard Fährmann dies in an accident in Africa and Dr Susanne Mertens becomes the acting zoo director. Mayor Herrenbrück is looking for a successor and eventually hires Dr Roman Blum, who causes a stir at the Leipzig Zoo. He is strict, quick-tempered and sometimes unfair. Dr Blum also has multiple sclerosis, but is determined to keep this a secret. At the end of the season, he decides to be open about his illness and confesses the truth to Mayor Herrenbrück. However, contrary to expectations, the mayor does not fire him, but stands behind him and his work. Annett begins further training to become a master animal keeper, but fails the final exam due to an anxiety.
Christoph returns from one of his trips to Brazil and confesses that he has fallen in love with a colleague. Susanne kicks Christoph out and moves into a new flat with Luisa and Jonas. The separation is particularly difficult for Luisa, her grades are getting worse. She decides to search for her biological parents, but hides their visit from Susanne. Susanne eventually finds out and supports Luisa when the girl realises that her parents do not know what to do with her. Jonas is expelled from his boarding school for doping and returns to Leipzig from London. He takes part in an illegal car race, has an accident and is sentenced by the court to 80 hours of community service at Leipzig Zoo. He eventually grows up from his troubles and decides to train as a police officer with the aim of working for the special forces later on. His girlfriend Maja, on the other hand, wants to move to London to study, which causes them to break up. Christoph wants to marry his new girlfriend on his next trip to Brazil but after the trip he confesses to Susanne that he did not get married because he still has feelings for her. But Susanne is not ready for a reconciliation.
In the end, Susanne and Christoph meet Luisa and Jonas at Charlotte and Georg's house for a barbecue to celebrate Luisa's good report card and Jonas' acceptance into the police academy. After Georg quits his job as a curator, he devotes himself to a project to protect local wolves. Charlotte finds a new occupation leading a support group for cancer patients.
Season 6 Dr. Susanne Mertens is acting zoo director for the second time, as Dr. Roman Blum has resigned . Annett Melzer is on maternity leave. Rebecca has moved back to Leipzig from Dresden and Susanne offers her the opportunity to continue her veterenary training in Leipzig. However, Rebecca does not stay long, as she is drawn to Zurich Zoo. Dr Amal Bekele becomes a new zoo director and brings her assistant, Robert Jansen, with her. Susanne hires Karoline Schneider as her assistant. Dr Bekele wants to expand the zoo to include a South American enclosure on a vacant adjacent site. Mayor Günter Herrenbrück also wants to build a hotel on the same site. Dr Bekele manages to prevent both of the mayor's projects and breaks ground for her South American enclosure.
Susanne has the house to herself, as Luisa is at boarding school in England for four weeks and Jonas is doing his police training in Chemnitz. At a charity concert at Leipzig Zoo, she meets pianist Hannes Zoller, and their casual affair quickly develops between the two. Susanne receives a job offer from Vienna, and she seriously considers moving to Vienna., while Hannes wants to move to Berlin with her. Jonas comes with big news - he has a girlfriend, Marie, in Chemnitz and they are expecting twins. Marie has fallen out with her parents and the couple thinks about moving Leipzig, so Susanne decides to choose her family over her career and breaks up with Hannes. After the birth, Marie and Jonas' relationship falls apart, Marie moves back to her parents' and Jonas decides to follow her nevertheless. Susanne and Christoph grow closer again and spend a night together. In the end, the two fly to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago together.
Season 7