"Amantes" had its origin in "La Huella del Crimen" ("The Trace of the Crime"), a Spanish television series depicting infamous crimes that happened in Spain, and for which Vicente Aranda had directed the chapter "El Crimen del Capitán Sánchez" "(Captain Sánchez's Crime)" in 1984. The success of this production, made for TVE, compelled producer Pedro Costa to develop a follow-up. In the new installment of the series, there was to be an episode called "Los Amantes de Tetuán" ("The Lovers of Tetuán"), the story of a real life crime committed by a couple living in the district of Tetuán de las Victorias, a working class sector of Madrid. The actual crime took place in 1949 in La Canal, a small village near Burgos, and so it was also dubbed as 'El Crimen de La Canal' ('Crime at La Canal').