Flikken (Flemish slang for "Cops") was a popular Flemish-Belgian TV series about a police-department located in Ghent. The show started in 1999 and ended on 19 April 2009. In the series, a team of six police officers solved various crimes, petty crimes as well as organised crime. The series always aimed at showing the policework in a realistic way - though a little personal drama was never far off. Of all the actors that came along during the ten seasons, only Mark Tijsmans (playing Wilfried Pasmans) and Ludo Hellinx (playing Raymond Jacobs) appeared throughout the entire series.
Flikken was produced by the VRT and broadcast on Belgian public channel Eén and TROS in the Netherlands. Flikken is very popular in Belgium and the Netherlands. The show has had very high ratings of up to 1.8 million viewers during the last (10th) season.
Every year the VRT organises the Flikkendag, a family day where the public can meet the actors of the show. There are many games, demonstrations of the real police and other safety organisations and performances of singers (including some of the actors on the show). On 18 April 2009, a special farewell party was organised in Ghent, in which the actors and crew said goodbye to their fans - thousands had assembled to watch the show on stage.
Come on in, sweetie-pie! Have an apple, have some lye...
Leave your friends, righteous and pathetic, standing at the door.
On the books, all your bets favor head-bands and cassettes,
Cigarettes, suffragettes, and bores.
What to do?
Sweetheart, you'll find mediocre people do exceptional things all
The time.
Oh, the ruin will do in your talented mind...
Could've been a genius if you'd had an axe to grind.
When we moved to the city, it seemed the competition got so much
Less pretty
But the mirror's never failed you like this before.
So your revenge on the world will be pencils through your curls
And if wanting ever taught you anything, it's wanting more.
(and more and more and more...)
What to do?
Sweetheart, you'll find mediocre people do exceptional things all
The time.
Oh, the ruin will do in your talented mind...
Could've been a genius if you'd had an axe to grind.
What to do?
When that day finally nears, you'll at least have made it clear
That compassion's just a nicer way of looking down your nose.
It seems that all the people want to do is crowd the streets of
Amsterdam (Pamplona, too),
But the bulls have already come and gone and bellowed all their
Lows.
Now nobody knows
What to do.
Sweetheart, you'll find mediocre people do exceptional things all
The time.
Oh, the ruin will do in your talented mind...
Could've been a genius if you'd had an axe to grind.