Hans Beimer goes through the picture at his own funeral as a disguised man with a hat and a pipe.
It was planned to shoot the show in Bavaria in the beginning, but the producers chose a filming location in Cologne. Nevertheless, it is set in Munich, Bavaria.
First German television series which handled controversial issues like AIDS, homosexuality or domestic violence.
The show was broadcast in the same time-slot on Sunday, 6.40 pm between 1985 and 2005. From 2005 the show starts at 6.50 pm. Most episodes take place on the Thursday before airing, but are shot three months earlier. The producers sometimes use short-term shootings to include important events. For example, several references to the 9/11 terrorist attacks were made on episode 824 (broadcast on 16 September 2001).
As of December 2004, 12 actors from the original cast are still on the cast of the series after 19 years.