The leading national public German TV station ZDF launched the third season of its extremely popular prime time detective series Ihr Auftrag, Pater Castell (Your mission, Father Castell), based on novels written by famous author Dan Brown.

The new season was launched on 13 May with an episode entitled ‘Die Jesustafel’ (‘the INRI tablet’), which was filmed in November 2009 in Malta, mainly in the picturesque Valletta and Cottonera areas. The leading part of Father Simon Castell is played by popular German-British actor Francis Fulton-Smith. Father Castell is commissioned by the Vatican to unravel particularly difficult, thrilling mysteries and criminal cases related to the Church and its valuable sanctuaries.

The previous seasons of Ihr Auftrag, Pater Castell attracted an average of more than four million viewers per episode.