Screenwriter Herbert Reinecker, who wrote all 281 episodes, started writing for Derrick while still simultaneously writing his previous hit series Der Kommissar, which only ended in early 1976 after 97 episodes.
Reinecker's artistic model was Maigret author Georges Simenon, who put the psychology of characters in the foreground; many actors from the Simenon-based ZDF series Der kleine Doktor later also appeared in Derrick.
The name 'Derrick' had already been used by Reinecker in 1973 in the Der Kommissar episode 'Rudek', where Sky du Mont played a pimp named Manuel Derrick.
Fritz Wepper already played a character named Harry Klein from 1969 to 1974 in the crime series Der Kommissar; in that show's final season his character was officially transferred and replaced on screen (and in real life) by his own brother Elmar Wepper, playing Klein's brother Erwin.
Horst Tappert and Fritz Wepper had already worked together in 1969 in the Edgar Wallace film Der Mann mit dem Glasauge, where Tappert also played a police inspector and Wepper played the son of a murderess.
Two supporting actors, Hermann Lenschau (as superior Harder) and Günther Stoll (as colleague Schröder), both died shortly after filming their final episodes were broadcast in 1977, within about a month of airing.
The recurring character of policeman Berger, played by Willy Schäfer, was eventually addressed on-screen by his real first name 'Willy' in later episodes, even though no first name was ever given in the credits, leading fans to refer to him as 'Willy Berger'.
The first episode 'Waldweg' aired on 20 October 1974 on ZDF and drew 31 million viewers, but initial critical reaction was harsh, with Der Spiegel running a piece titled 'Mieser Eindruck' ('Poor impression') criticizing the show's reversed whodunit structure inspired by Columbo.
After it became known in April 2013 that lead actor Horst Tappert had been a member of the Waffen-SS during World War II, German broadcaster ZDF and stations in the Netherlands, Belgium and France immediately stopped further reruns of the series.
Following criticism over excessive violence—such as episode 19, 'Tote Vögel singen nicht', which featured five deaths including a victim doused in acid—the production limited future episodes to a maximum of three victims per show.
The famous catchphrase 'Harry, hol schon mal den Wagen' ('Harry, bring the car around'), widely associated with the series in German and Chinese pop culture, was never actually spoken in any of the 281 episodes; a similar line, 'Harry, wir brauchen den Wagen sofort!', was said in episode 2, 'Johanna'.
Horst Tappert did eventually speak the invented catchphrase in character in the 2004 animated film Derrick – die Pflicht ruft, where he voiced an animated version of himself.
Derrick drove a series of BMW luxury models as product placement, starting with the BMW E12 5-series, then switching to the 7-series (E23, then E32 from episode 153, then E38 from episode 246), despite this being unrealistic for a police officer's official vehicle.
Derrick's pronounced under-eye bags inspired an automotive magazine editor to nickname the 1998 BMW 3-series (E46) the 'Model Derrick' because of its headlight shape, a nickname that was even informally adopted by some BMW employees.
Filming for the series began in the summer of 1973, over a year before the first episode aired in October 1974.
The series was one of the first Western TV shows broadcast in China after it opened up in the 1980s, becoming a smash hit there under the title 'Detective Derek', and was reportedly even used to help train Chinese police officers in criminal investigation procedure.
