Originally an Austrian series aired from 1994 to 2004 on ORF 1, in 2008 it was revived under Austro-Italian production on Rai 1 and, from the next year, was made fully in Italy, with occasional episodes set in Austria.

[1] The series follows the German Shepherd police dog Rex, his partners and the rest of the team at the Vienna Kriminalpolizei homicide unit, as they work together to solve crimes.

A spin-off series, Stockinger, that focuses on Ernst Stockinger, one of the original members of the homicide division, was televised in 1996. International remakes include Polish Komisarz Alex [pl] (English title: Inspector Alex), set in Łódź (2012–present); Russian Muhtar's return (2004–2019, broadcast on Russia-1 and NTV); Portuguese Inspetor Max [pt] (2004–present); Lithuanian Inspektorius Mažylis (2014); Slovak Rex set in Bratislava (2017) and Canadian Hudson & Rex (2019–present).

The original series is set in Vienna[2] and focuses on the three-man staff of an office of the Kriminalpolizei - the Austrian Criminal Police - specifically a Mordkommission (homicide unit).

The final Austrian incarnation of the series featured a male-female duo of the clumsy Marc Hoffmann and a female officer Nikki Herzog working alongside Kunz.

At the end of the season, Rex is apparently mortally wounded when he jumps on Fabbri's head to protect him from a bullet, but is shown in close-up still slightly breathing just before credits roll.

A trained police dog, Rex (revealed in the Pilot to be registered as "Reginald von Ravenhorst") is the star of the show.

[2][dead link‍] Establishing shots frequently show him demonstrating a new trick — unlatching doors, pushing trolleys, pointing to drugs or corpses — which then turn out to be useful in the course of the episode.

With Moser, Rex reacts particularly badly to words like "frau" (woman) and, later, "tierarzt" (vet), as he disapproves of his master's attention to women.

He made several nude appearances, including an episode where Moser and a female colleague frolic naked in the woods to attract a serial killer targeting young couples.

This is noticeable in the general lightening in the tone of the show from the initial episodes ("Diagnosis Murder" being a prime example) to ones with more lighthearted banter among the officers.

On his first appearance in the show, he dives into the Danube to retrieve a vital piece of evidence, and later in his debut episode he parachutes from a light aircraft, along with Rex, in order to apprehend a suspect.

The most skin that Burkhard showed was in an episode where a bank burglar forced Brandtner to strip to prove that he was unarmed before parading him through the street in only his underwear.

In the second episode of season 14 (entitled "Amidst the Wolves"), Fabbri dies in the explosion of a car during a trap prepared by a Mafia boss.

Stockinger is married, and his wife, it seems, is not greatly pleased with her husband's choice of career at times, and Moser often reminds him of this.

Generally found ensconced behind his desk working the phones, his face visibly falls whenever Moser and Stockinger (or, later, Brandtner and Böck) require him to do fieldwork.

Höllerer has a soft spot for Rex as the series progresses, after first voicing concern that Moser did not adopt him through the proper channels.

Böck's undercover skills are largely ignored after the transfer, but his personable manner proves an advantage when it comes to interrogations (particularly contrasting with the somewhat dour Moser).

By the time of Brandtner's arrival, Böck's youth and athleticism have resulted in his frequently being involved in chasing criminals on foot.

Most notable in this is their dialogue when trying to establish the angle from which a witness would have seen a certain event - each man speaks at cross-purposes to the other, and both end up totally confused.

A running gag in his early appearances deals with his obsessive-compulsiveness and fussy attention to the placement of his desk stationery (e.g., pencils arranged from tallest to shortest and paper clips aligned) only to have Rex or one of the others move everything around.

Her physical appearance also serves the team well in relating to suspects, as she is frequently underestimated and sometimes taunted by brash male criminals.

Dr Graf is a sometimes prickly personality, but underneath this exterior, he has a very dry wit - frequently regaling the detectives against their will with the gruesome details of a murder.

One memorable telephone exchange involves Moser agreeing to pay Dr Graf a number of Cuban cigars for working on the weekend.

Eventually, this exterior is broken down, and the new team is invited to call him Leo - a sign of considerable familiarity in German or Austrian society.

It emerges early that Hoffmann had been taught forensic techniques by Graf, and it is clear that some of the awe felt by the considerably younger policeman for his mentor is still present.

Occasionally, when a case hinges on the behaviour of a female witness or suspect, Koch good-humouredly teases Moser about women and gently tells him, "Richard, since your divorce, you've lost your touch with women" As the series progresses, Koch's role alters to that of being a useful spy for Moser in certain situations where his team is too well-known.

Moser also tries to appeal to Koch's sense of adventure which, as Max famously explains, is satisfied by eating goulash and not knowing if he will suffer from "Rinderwahnsinn" (mad cow disease).

Martelli takes this opportunity to enter his house and seduce him, and creates an RPG profile for him so he can befriend the suspects online—the figure she chooses for him is a model of Fabbri wearing only a towel.

Also included is an interview with producer/writer Peter Hajek and an hour-long dog-training segment featuring Rex and his trainer Teresa Ann Miller.