More specifically, it dealt with the story of Jan Brandner and Julia von Anstetten, two strangers whose fascination for each other leads them to fall in love, neither of them cognizant that they are twins separated by their parents.

[citation needed] The series tackled controversial issues such as drug addiction, murder, rape, suicide, adultery, homophobia, incest, alcoholism, schizophrenia, HIV, miscarriage, kidnapping, and sexual confusion.

[1] Based on the Australian soap opera Sons and Daughters, Verbotene Liebe premiered on 2 January 1995 on the German television channel Das Erste ("The First").

[3] The remake was initially planned for RTL Television, another German channel, but executives there were skeptical that the concept of a love story between a brother and a sister could prove successful.

[4] Verbotene Liebe began with the story of Jan Brandner (Andreas Brucker) and Julia von Anstetten (Valerie Niehaus), a working class guy and a rich girl who meet randomly at an airport and are instantly attracted to each other.

[3][5] Centered on the fictional high society in and around Düsseldorf and Cologne, Verbotene Liebe initially focuses on two contrasting families: the working class Brandners and the wealthy and aristocratic Von Anstettens.

Tanja murders her first two husbands, Ben von Anstetten (Andreas Jung) and his illegitimate son Rajan Rai (Sascha Zaglauer), and then kidnaps Clarissa.

Even with her family gone, the focus remains on Clarissa as she is sent to war against her ex-husband Christoph von Anstetten (Jürgen Zartmann) and his new wife Barbara (Manuela Alphons).

[3] Introduced in 1997, young Ulrich "Ulli" Prozeski (Andreas Stenschke) is eventually featured in a coming-out story when he becomes romantically involved with medical student Tom Seifert (Kay Böger) in 1999.

"[8] Verbotene Liebe received international attention in 2008 with the love story of Oliver Sabel and Christian Mann (Thore Schölermann).

[3][5][9][10][11] Weil and Schölermann were lauded internationally for their cliché-free portrayal of a same-sex couple,[12] and Olli and Christian's 2010 marriage was the first church wedding between two men ever dramatized on German television.

[13] The final same-sex love story Verbotene Liebe created was the relationship between former music star Marlene Wolf (Melanie Kogler) and fashion designer Rebecca von Lahnstein (Tatjana Kästel).

[21] The reports suggest that Verbotene Liebe is finishing its last year and airing into January 2015; long enough to let the show live through its 20th anniversary.

[22] Director of Program Volker Herres said: "20 years ago, the siblings Jan and Julia made Verbotene Liebe a German series hit.

The statement also confirmed that the soap opera would be replaced by the game show Quizduell [de], which had been tested for four weeks in May 2014, and that Verbotene Liebe would air its series finale most likely in the beginning of 2015.

I regret this decision very much, especially because it is a series with a strong brand, with a large fan base that is also very popular on the Internet and achieves high polling numbers.

"[23] Only hours after rumors of the cancellation started, Verbotene Liebe fans opened a Facebook page and a petition to fight for the survival of the soap opera.

[24][25] The remaining original cast member Gabriele Metzger (Charlie Schneider) and the show's matriarch Martina Servatius (Elisabeth von Lahnstein) opened up about the cancellation in a statement to Bild.

After over a month since the show was officially canceled, the Bild newspaper reports on 3 September 2014 that ARD might move ahead with a concept from the production company UFA to bring Verbotene Liebe back as a weekly series.

The media-devoted websites Quotenmeter and DWDL.de agreed on the Bild report and suggested that official news about the future of Verbotene Liebe would be made in the upcoming days.

[28][29] On 4 September 2014, official word broke that Verbotene Liebe would return as a weekly series in 2015 as soon as airing on the daily format has stopped.

And yet the new look will still deliver intrigue, passion and great feelings - like many fans of Verbotene Liebe wished", said ARD coordinator of access primetime Frank Beckmann about the renewal.

Jan and Julia turn out to be twins, the illegitimate offspring of Arno Brandner (Konrad Klauss) and Clarissa von Anstetten (Isa Jank).

Conniving Clarissa soon finds a lifelong enemy in the murderous Tanja Wittkamp (Miriam Lahnstein), who first tries to marry into the Anstetten family, and then to destroy them.

Sebastian's siblings Rebecca (Jasmin Lord, later Tatjana Kästel), the twins Tristan (Jens Hartwig) and Helena (Renée Weibel), and later Hagen (Tom Viehöfer, Christoph Mory) are introduced, with their father Ludwig von Lahnstein (Krystian Martinek) revealed to be alive in 2009.

However, the original airings of Verbotene Liebe and Marienhof continued to lose viewers and in late 2010 cancellation rumors started to surround fan bases.

Das Erste eventually canceled Marienhof after over 18 years on the air and continued Verbotene Liebe, extending their episodes to 50 minutes with commercial breaks.

Gottschalk Live premiered in January 2012, causing Verbotene Liebe to lose about six minutes per episode and being a rival to Unter uns again.

In 2008, Grundy UFA worked out a contract with the video-sharing website Sevenload to make the first season of Verbotene Liebe, consisting the first 250 episodes, available online.

Viewing figures were favourable and the RTL Group decided in June 2020 to order new episodes from UFA Serial Drama for the streaming service.