Forbidden Love

The series is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, published in 1899, and is the second series adaptation following the first adaptation directed by Halit Refiğ on TRT in 1975. The novel has been adapted to take place in the present day rather than in the past; the characters, settings, and dialogues have been adapted to the contemporary period.

Before Aşk-ı Memnu, the production company Ay Yapım had produced adaptations of novels such as Yaprak Dökümü and Dudaktan Kalbe; the screenwriters of these two series, Ece Yörenç and Melek Gençoğlu, also wrote the screenplay for Aşk-ı Memnu.

At a press conference, Beren Saat, who played Bihter, stated that her character, unlike the classical 'wronged woman' character type, was a dangerous character whose ambitions negatively affected the lives of many people.

The house of the Ziyagil family was a three-story, ten-room mansion located in Sarıyer, owned by the Koç family, and this mansion was used in almost every episode of the series.

For the scenes where Behlül and Bihter were together, the historic stone house in Beykoz Riva, which was built as a boathouse by the British in 1855 and is currently used as a hotel, was chosen. Nihal's school scenes were filmed at the Saint Benoît French High School in Karaköy, and Behlül's university scenes were filmed at Galatasaray University in Beşiktaş.

The instrumental music for the series was composed by Toygar Işıklı, who also composed the music for Yaprak Dökümü and Dudaktan Kalbe during the same period; in some episodes, classical pieces such as Chopin's 'Nocturne in C-sharp Minor' and Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' were also featured.

The final episode was watched by 27.1 million viewers in Turkey (approximately 40% of the population), breaking the record for the most-watched episode in Turkish television history to date.

The series was reported to the RTÜK (Radio and Television Supreme Council) repeatedly on grounds of excessive sexual content and immorality; moreover, the Minister of Culture and Tourism at the time, Ertuğrul Günay, himself reported the series to the RTÜK on the grounds that it deviated from the novel and contained excessive sexual content, and the series became the most-complained-about series of 2009.

The producer Antena 1 was sued by the screenwriters of Aşk-ı Memnu due to the 'Fructul Oprit' adaptation made in Romania, and the court decided that numerous scenes were copied verbatim, leading to the channel losing all its rights.

The final episode of the series was watched at a farewell night held in Kuruçeşme Suada with the participation of 400 people, and the night's revenue of 350,000 TL was donated to the 'Send My Father to School' campaign; the filming work for the final episode lasted 1.5 months.