The programme concerns the lives of a fictional neighborhood in Germany's capital city Berlin.

It not only won its time slot but became also one of the highest-rated programmes, normally ranking in the Top 10 ratings of the day.

Frank-Thomas Mende and Lisa Riecken were the last original cast members when leaving the show in 2010.

[2] Other long-serving actors are Daniel Fehlow, who joined the show in 1996 but has since taken several breaks, and Felix von Jascheroff, who's part of the programme since 2001.

The most successful ones were Jeanette Biedermann and Yvonne Catterfeld, who both left the soap opera at the peak of their careers.

The writing is controlled by a team of writers who are known to shift between the other Grundy UFA soaps Alles was zählt, Verbotene Liebe and Unter uns.

In 2000, at the peak of the programmes success, RTL wanted to launch a spin-off, called Großstadtträume (City Dreams), of the highest-rated soap opera.

Actress Sandra Keller who vacated her popular role as Tina Zimmermann four years earlier was set to return to star in the new format.

Ulrike Frank, who just starred in the canceled Mallorca – Suche nach dem Paradies, was cast.

Next to Ulrike Frank as Tina, the show saw the return of Victoria Sturm as Milla Engel.