Everything to Remember Ahead of 'Professor T' Season 4
The original Flemish language Professor T starred Koen De Bouw as Jasper Teerlinck, the titular Professor T, a criminology lecturer at the University of Antwerp. A Sherlock Holmes-type figure, Professor T suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and is neuroatypical. However, former student Annelies Donckers, now an inspector of the Federal Judicial Police, comes to see him when she hits a wall in a rape case, and soon he's her regular consultant. The series proved so popular that it was remade multiple times: in German in 2017, in French and Czech in 2018, and finally in English in 2020, where it has become the most popular version.
Every Professor T starts the same way. He's a Professor at a high-end academic institution — the German Jasper Thalheim is at the University of Cologne, the French Julien Tardieu is Professeur émérite à l'université de Nantes, and the British Jasper Tempest is at Cambridge. His former student, whose name ranges from Anneliese Deckert in German to Lisa Donckers in the U.K. version, turns to her professor for help on a rape case. In each case, she is dinged by her superior, who Professor T secretly harbors a longstanding crush on, for bringing outside help on board. In all cases, her bagman stands up for her, despite not liking the Professor, and keeps him around to become a valued member of the team.
All three seasons of the Belgian version are available for members on PBS Passport and have been since 2019. However, the U.K. version is the one that airs on most local stations and debuts its Season 4 in August 2025. Starring Ben Miller in the role of Jasper Tempest, it begins precisely like all the others in the premiere episode, with Emma Naomi as DS Lisa Donckers, Barney White as DS Dan Winters (who, like in the Belgian version, would like to date Lisa, but she is not interested), Juliet Aubrey as DCI Christina Brand (Jasper's longtime crush), Frances de la Tour as Adelaide Tempest (Jasper's mother), and Douglas Reith as The Dean (Jasper's boss).
