RTL: 7.000 episodes and 28 years of “Unter uns”

In the photo: Lars Steinhöfel, Tabea Heynig and Isabell Hertel.

For 28 years now, the stories in Cologne's most famous series street, Schillerallee, have thrilled viewers: On November 28, 1994, the first episode of "Unter uns" celebrated its TV premiere.

On November 23, 2022 at 17:30 p.m., the 7.000th episode will be broadcast on RTL.

RTL will show the big anniversary week from November 21 to 25, 2022 – on RTL+ the episodes will be broadcast seven days earlier.

“Unter uns” was actually supposed to go on air on January 2, 1995, but since ARD announced its series “Verbotene Liebe” at the same time, “Unter uns” was brought forward to November 28, 1994 – a major challenge for everyone involved.

The well-known series name was initially just a working title, but in the end there was nothing more appropriate and it remained “Unter uns”.

The second oldest daily series in Germany started strong and was a real audience magnet right from the start.

RTL editor Katharina Katzenberger, who has been involved with “Unter uns” since the first episode, remembers the beginning in 1994: “At that time, the production was still in containers in Hürth, and there was a railway line next to the studio, which meant that filming was interrupted from time to time because of passing trains.”

And he continued: “And because there was no real internet yet, a courier driver brought the storylines and scripts to RTL in Cologne twice a week.”

The anniversary week and the 7.000th episode in 2022 will provide goosebumps moments.

Sina (Valea Scalabrino) and Bambi Hirschberger (Benjamin Heinrich) are looking forward to their big, but already their second dream wedding after their divorce a few years ago, which is to be celebrated with the whole of Schillerallee.

The newly arrived law student Stella Richter (Bettine Langehein) is swept away by the euphoria, but is suddenly caught up in her past: her manipulative ex Marcel Geiss (Manuel Klein) also shows up on Schillerallee.

To get away from him, Stella had faked her death. But Marcel has tracked down Stella and is now threatening Sina with a gun in the middle of the wedding preparations. His perfidious plan: Stella must marry him or he will kill Sina.

Lovable neighbors, terribly nice families, pretty best friends, love and drama in all its facets are the recipe for success of “Unter uns”.

Stars like Wayne Carpendale, Svenja Jung, Wolfram Grandezka, Diana Staehly and Marco Girnth and many others started their careers here.

130 employees and over 20 actors produce six new episodes of "Unter uns" every week in two large studios and the several hundred square meter outdoor set of Schillerallee in Cologne-Ossendorf.

Thousands of props, items of clothing, furniture, script pages, liters of Kölsch in the Schiller and many delicious cakes from the Weigel pastry shop have made “Unter uns” unmistakable and a real cult series over the last 28 years.

“Unter uns” is a production of UFA Serial Drama and runs daily from Monday to Friday at 17.30:XNUMX p.m. on RTL and at any time on RTL+.

© Photo: RTL Television GmbH, Bernd Jaworek