Brother-Sister Incest/Live-Action TV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Brother-Sister Incest in Live-Action TV include:

  • The Children of Dune miniseries. Specifically between Leto II and Ghanima.
    • In the book, they actually end up getting married, but Ghanima is very firm on the subject: "I will not bear your children, brother." to which Leto replies; "I love you, my sister, but that is not the way my thought tends." Leto, actually, at least claims to be unable to reproduce after forming a bond with sandtrouts. Thus he marries his sister (it helps that he has a committee of ancestor advisors presided over by an Egyptian pharaoh in his head, and that nobles in Dune have a system with both spouses and concubines), but her children (important to Leto's Golden Path) are fathered by a Corinno who also authors the entries of Encyclopedia Exposita. All this said, Stilgar is not amused.
    • Paul and Alia have incestuous overtones in Dune Messiah. At one point, Alia engages a sparring robot nude, before Paul stops her from killing herself (one wonders how long he was standing there). Its certainly not helped by the Bene Gesserit's clear intention to find a way of bargaining for a way to get Paul and his sister to produce an heir.
  • The British Soap Opera Brookside had a storyline about a brother and sister who engaged in consensual incest and later split up without any direct or karmic punishment. They later got back together and were written out of the show by establishing that they'd moved to where no-one knew them and were living as a married couple.
  • On Lost, Boone and Shannon are stepsiblings who have slept together. Boone was also in love with Shannon.
  • One episode of House had a young married couple whose similar illnesses were thought to be from exposure to the same environmental factor but turned out to be genetic; they were half-siblings through the husband's (white) father's affair with the wife's (black) mother, and had become attracted to each other as teenagers. The father's determined attempts to keep them apart were misinterpreted as disapproval of interracial romance, and the young couple ran away together before finding out they were related. It is intimated their relationship did not survive the revelation.
  • In the fourth season finale of Lewis, a young married couple who have suffered three miscarriages discover through testing that they are fraternal twin siblings who were given up for adoption to separate families at birth and who happened to cross paths later in life. As they also discover that they have inherited a rare, incurable, fatal genetic neurological disorder from their father (who committed suicide rather than face a slow, painful death from the condition), they begin a series of murders intended to culminate with the woman they believe is their birth mother. (Except that their birth mother registered under a false name at the hospital where they were born, and she ended up being their first victim rather than the last one.)
  • A major plot thread in Carnivale involves the obsessive, sadomasochism-tinged relationship between preacher-slash-Antichrist Justin Crowe and his sister Iris.
  • In Wizards of Waverly Place, Justin and Alex's mother unknowingly advises Alex to date Justin, because they look 'cute' together, which Alex finds quite disgusting. Her mother then tells her that she had the same opinion about the relationship with her husband at first, but he eventually became her 'big cuddly bug', which Alex finds even grosser, implying that she believes having a romantic relationship with her brother is more acceptable than the idea of her parents having sex.
    • Also, Harper, Alex's best friend who has a crush on Justin, gets mad at Alex at one point because she thinks Alex tries to become Justin's girlfriend.
  • Somehow played with on Hannah Montana. Miley, in her alter ego as pop star Hannah Montana, is caught going in her own back door by a photographer. To keep her Secret Identity under wraps, she claims to be "visiting a friend"... just as her brother comes out of the house, leading the paparazzi to assume that they're dating. It Gets Worse when the brother realizes that being Hannah's assumed boyfriend has its perks, so he kept the pretense going even after Miley (who is naturally mortified by the whole thing) repeatedly asked him to stop. He eventually felt guilty and backed down, but not before proclaiming his love for her while jumping on the couch.
    • Something like this occurred again after Miley's brother had amnesia, and thought Miley was his girlfriend. She's rightly disgusted.
  • A series of Saturday Night Live skits during the Eddie Murphy era intimated that this was the case with Donny and Marie Osmond. The impressions weren't really that good, and they were really kind of more disturbing than funny.
    • And one of them was Elaine Benes. And the other one's career brought even less success.
  • In the second season of Prison Break, this is the other secret President Reynolds can't allow to become public. The first secret, of course, being faking her brother's death.
    • Theodore Bagwell "T-Bag's" origin story contains this. More specifically, Bagwell Sr. raped his disabled sister, Theodore was the result, and the rest is history.
  • In Scrubs, Keith gets mad at Elliott for telling Carla that he made out with his sister in the fifth grade. Elliott says he has nothing to be ashamed about because his sister is gorgeous.
  • In the HBO series Rome, Octavia, at the behest of her manipulative lesbian lover Servilla, seduces her younger brother Octavian (the future emperor Augustus). There is no evidence for any such affair happening in real life. Made even squickier when it turns out he knew all along that she was only seducing him in order to get something in return, and he was curious as to what it would be. He could have just asked, but...
  • Semi-averted in Veronica Mars: Duncan slept with Veronica shortly after (but not, let it be said, because of) finding out she might be his half-sister, which caused him to break off their long-standing relationship without explanation (she wasn't). Veronica didn't find out about her possible parentage - or the fact that they'd slept together (she'd been accidentally dosed with GHB, as had he, which fueled the loss of inhibition) - until much later. They got back together once the whole incest thing was cleared up. (It should be noted that Veronica's taste in men could be charitably described as "quirky".)
    • To clarify, the order of events is Duncan thinks Veronica is his half-sister, Duncan breaks up with Veronica, Duncan and Veronica have sex while drugged.
  • Happens not once but twice in Nip Tuck.
  • Tony and Effy Stonem from the British teen soap Skins would be, um, a little bit fixated on each other even if one ignored the episode in which Tony hallucinates a beautiful girl asking him outright if he wants to ****** his sister. (Oh, and the first-season episode in which () a sociopathic thug Tony'd competed with over another girl kidnapped Effy, shot her full of heroin, and attempted to force Tony to have sex with her—y'know, as one does—leading to much angst and a really quite stunning shot of shirtless Tony carrying his unconscious little sister out into the night.) There's even a deleted scene from the second series where Tony has a nightmare about his best friend kind of becoming him by wearing his clothes... and kissing Effy.
  • Averted in Dirty Sexy Money. Nick's father works as a lawyer for the Darling family, has an affair with his client's wife and even fathers a child which is passed off as a Darling. Nick has an affair with one of the Darling daughters in his teens. The show might have ended up fitting this trope - if the showrunner hadn't written INCEST on a board in the writer's room and firmly crossed it out.
  • Throughout Six Feet Under, bipolar Billy Chenowith is shown to have an unhealthy obsession with his genius sister Brenda, which she shares to a certain degree (they have tattoos of each other's childhood nicknames on their backs, for example). Whenever Billy goes off his medication, things start to get a bit crazy, such as when he tries to carve the tattoo off her back after taking his own off in an effort to "cleanse" himself or when he and Brenda get into an argument and she reveals that their mother showed her "what you wrote about me" several years previously. The audience is never told what it was that she read, but the subtext is pretty obvious. As the show progressed, said subtext rapidly became text, to paraphrase Buffy, when Billy tries to kiss Brenda while she comforts him and in season five, after Brenda's husband Nate dies, she begins imagining seeing him telling her that every man she's ever been with has only been a substitute for Billy, and has a dream in which she and Billy begin to have sex.
  • Arrested Development turns out to have this in the finale, when pretty much immediately on learning that they've Not Blood Siblings, Lindsay tries to get Michael to marry her. Michael is naturally freaked out. Immediately after finding out about this, Gob hits on Lindsay because he always wants to steal girls from Michael.
    • In the episode "Family Ties", Michael hires Nellie, a woman whom he believes to be his long-lost sister but who is actually a prostitute. When Gob is told that she might be his sister, his first reaction is that he should have gotten a family discount.
      • Made even funnier by the fact that Jason Bateman (Michael) and Justine Bateman (Nellie) are brother and sister in Real Life. This is given a nod when Michael blurts out a request to marry him after learning how much money Nellie makes, then says "That's weird on so many levels."
  • Firefly. In an amusing scene deleted from "Our Mrs. Reynolds", Simon is thrown for a loop by his sister's latest bit of loopiness.

River: (to Shepherd Book) We want you to marry us.
Simon: What? We... no! (pause) What?
River: Two by two... Everyone has a match, a mate, a dopple. I love you.
Simon: No, River... mei-mei... of course, I love you too, but we can't be married. (to Book) She's really crazy! (River kicks Simon in the shin) Ow! Ah, no, I -- I don't mean crazy... that's just -- you know that's not something brothers and sisters do. I mean, on some planets but only pretty bad ones.

    • For added squickiness, River then takes a pillow and puts in under her dress and claims "Now we have to be married. I'm in the family way" Puts a whole new spin on that term, doesn't it.
    • In the fandom, the shipping of Simon and River is called Crazy Space Incest.
  • When Charlie from Two and A Half Men finds out the girl he's currently bedding might be his half-sister, he immediately stops, saying, "Turns out I draw the line at incest." Since the episode takes place during the holidays, supporting characters call it "a Christmas miracle."
  • Cold Case: A rising young senator's aide/girlfriend is killed when she learns that her boyfriend's childhood wasn't just "rough", it was "make your sister look and act like your wife-rough". To the senator's credit, it was an accident and the coverup was his sister's idea.
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Similar to the House example, the children of two unequally wealthy families mistake their parents' disapproval of their relationship as having to do with their respective social status. In fact, they're half-siblings through the father's infidelity. The SVU is called in when the girl is accidentally killed by her father after she learned the truth. When the boy learns of it later, he immediately throws up, crying, "I had sex with my sister?!" Stabler assures him that it's not his fault (since he had no idea) and encourages him to keep it together for the sake of the girl's younger brother, who is his half-brother, as both the mothers involved were going to jail for separate incidents in the case and their father is dead. Poor guy.
    • There is another episode with a Con Couple turn out to be brother and sister. Worse of all they are even twins who justify their relationship by stating "they share the same soul".
  • CSI: Miami: Trailers indicate that an upcoming episode is going to play like the Law and Order episode above mixed with Marmalade Boy: a man has two families and his son and daughter fall in love. The Squick comes in after they learn they're half-siblings and stay in the relationship anyway.
    • Half-siblings/couple kill dad when he wanted the unborn baby aborted.
  • In Angel, Gunn once was accused of letting his sister be turned into a vampire due to incestuous feelings for her. (It Makes Sense in Context.) Seeing the scene where she tries to turn him, and most of that episode, one understands where people got the idea there was something more there.
  • In the Friends episode "The One with the Inappropriate Sister" it's heavily hinted that a man that Rachel is dating has a "special relationship" with his sister. They even take baths together. Rachel eventually breaks up with the guy because of this. In "The One Where The Stripper Cries" it is revealed that Ross accidentally kissed his sister, Monica, (thinking she was Rachel) while he was in college.

Monica: You were my Midnight Mystery Kisser?!
Ross: You were my first kiss with Rachel?!
Monica: You were my first kiss ever?!
Chandler: What did I marry into?!

    • There was also an episode where Monica brought it up solely for Squick purposes.

Monica: Here's a few things you can discuss: mucus, fungus, and the idea of me and Ross doing it.

  • One episode of ER had a brother and sister go too far when comforting each other after their mother's death and they end up having sex once. She ended up pregnant.
  • Wiseguy. International arms/drug dealers Mel and Susan Profitt. This causes problems when Susan becomes attracted to the protagonist Vinnie Terranova.
  • An episode of Private Practice had a married couple who found out they were half-brother and sister (same sperm donor as a father), and then wanted to stay together and have the sister's tubes tied. The writers then pulled a Debate and Switch when it turned out the brother knew before the couple got married.
  • The founding and series naming story arc of 1980s Australian prime-time soap, Sons and Daughters, had two non-identical twins, separated at birth and moved to different cities, fall in love. It's only revealed that they are siblings after the engagement. Squicked a generation of Australian soapie viewers as it had been implied their relationship was not platonic by any means.
  • On Passions, sisters Whitney and Simone were both in love with Chad, who viewers were led to suspect was their half-brother, as the girls' mother, Eve, had a child with Julian Crane, but the child was kidnapped. Eventually, Chad and Whitney started a relationship (and Simone became a lesbian) and Whitney got pregnant. Immediately thereafter, she and Chad learned that they were, in fact, brother and sister because Chad was Eve and Julian's missing child. After about two years of angst, they found out that Chad was actually the child of Julian's father and Eve's adopted sister, meaning that Chad and Whitney were Not Blood Siblings after all. As if to show that the trope had been averted only because the writers thought they could push the envelope further, they then brought on Eve and Julian's actual child, a psychopathic hermaphrodite named Vincent (who had been living in Harmony as the established character Valerie for several years), who proceeded to have an affair with his uncle Chad (both as Valerie and as Vincent, at separate times), rape his half-sister Fancy, and seduce and become pregnant by his own father.
  • In the BBC series of Robin Hood...it's complicated. Technically no actual incest actually occurs, but with the introduction of two long lost siblings, things get rather awkward. Robin starts a relationship with Isabella, and although the two of them aren't related by blood, it's later revealed they share a half-brother, and that Robin's father planned to marry Isabella's mother, meaning they were almost step-siblings. Furthermore, when the time comes for this long lost brother to introduce himself to his half-sister, the writers instantly make the relationship explicit in the hopes of sinking any incestual vibes. It doesn't work. Also, at one stage (during a heat wave) Isabella bathes Prince John's head with a cold pack, cooing the words "hot, hot, hot." whilst smirking at Guy, her full brother, over John's head. In a later episode, Isabella drugs and gags Guy before tying him to her bed, and even later, Guy strokes her hair in a surprisingly intimate gesture.
  • In "The Killings at Badger's Drift", an episode of the British television series Midsomer Murders, an old woman discovers a brother and sister in an incestuous relationship and they murder her to keep her quiet. Later, a busybody and her son, who likes to know everyone's secrets and is not averse to a spot of blackmail, end up dying as well. In the end, the brother and sister end up committing a double suicide.
  • The Brady Bunch: Let's talk about context. Three boys living with three girls, and no blood relation between the sexes. At least four of them are in puberty when they meet. Truly, when you're a Brady, you always have a date.
  • One of the main plots on Kinderen Geen Bezwaar ("No Objections from the Kids"). It's of the step-sibling variety, which isn't too clear if you didn't see the first few episodes...
  • The whole Xanatos Roulette that Harper's Island calls a plot turns out to just be a ploy for this.
    • To elaborate, Abby's mother is also Henry's mother. His father is her ex-boyfriend John Wakefield, who later becomes Ax Crazy and kills her after a 17 year prison stretch for something he didn't do. Henry and Abby were introduced as children but never told they were half-siblings. Henry fell for Abby, later found out his true parentage and decided the only way to be together would be to live alone on the titular island and be believed dead. He kinda ruins things by murdering 30 people in the process. Of course, Abby isn't happy with the arrangement and stabs him to death with his own knife. Ouch.
  • On Casualty, nurse Anna falls for someone only to discover that he's actually her long lost half-brother (given up for adoption). She tries to break up with him, but they eventually end up back together, leading to a pregnancy which they suspect is a very bad idea... Then she dies horribly, neatly getting rid of both the abortion and incest moral dilemmas.
  • In an episode of The Bill, a sergeant and a constable (who is struggling with his own sexual repression) happen upon an apparent couple while searching for a kidnapped child. Turns out that the nervous couple have nothing to do with the missing girl, but are skittish for an entirely different reason. The constable is disgusted and wants to bring the two in, but the sergeant points out that they should be left in peace, as the siblings are miserable enough as they are- hiding from the world and taking care of their senile mother, who berates them and their relationship every chance she gets - and they're not doing any harm to anyone else.
  • Very strongly hinted by Tubbs and Edward in The League of Gentlemen, to the point where Edward mentioned "their mother".
  • The soap opera Brookside had a controversial storyline in which brother and sister Nat and Georgia were revealed to have been lovers for years. They eventually moved to start a set up life together where no one knew they were related
  • Steph Stokes was sexually abused as a child by her brother in Emmerdale.
  • The soap opera Hollyoaks featured a storyline where Rhys met and started dating new-in-town girl Beth, only to find out after the death of his 'uncle' Noel (who was actually his father) that they were half-siblings. They stopped the relationship for a while, and Beth even became engaged to Rhys' best friend, Gilly. However, during this time it is strongly implied that the two still have feelings for one another and they eventually restarted their relationship in secret. After the relationship was discovered, Rhys and Beth ran away, but they were in a car accident and Beth was killed, neatly dealing with that storyline.
  • Declan and Fiona on Degrassi the Next Generation are twins with an oddly high level of sexual tension, to the point where in a jealous rage Fiona makes out with him.
  • This Italian series is... uh, "proud" to give you an example from his country: the live-action series I Cesaroni. Made somewhat less squicky by the fact the siblings are actually step-siblings.
  • Narrowly avoided on All My Children when Erica Kane was engaged to Mark. Her mother stepped in Just in Time to prevent them from going any farther, and dropped the bomb that they were half-siblings through one of Erica's father's many liaisons.
    • This also happened with Erica's eldest daughter, Kendall Hart-Slater, not once, but twice! First with her half-brother Trey Kenyon whom she felt an instant connection and attraction to but didn't know why, and who came to town specifically looking for his family, fell in lust with her and almost slept with her before it was revealed that she was his sister. The second time was with her other half-brother Joshua Madden, who looked exactly like her but male, and who spent the majority of his time shamelessly flirting with her. His adopted father knew he was her brother, was keeping it a secret because Josh's adoption was far from legal as he was literally stolen from Erica's womb and implanted by Dr. Madden into his barren wife, and became increasingly concerned and unhinged as he realized that Kendall and Josh were becoming closer and closer and heading from friend territory into sexual partner land.
  • One of Masterpiece Mystery!‍'‍s excellent dramas based on the stories of Miss Marple had her helping a young woman who was starting to believe she was either being haunted or being tormented by memories of a previous life. Her mother died when she was very young and her family history was convaluted at best, but she was trying to move ahead and had even reconnected with her long-lost uncle, her mother's brother. Turns out that the young woman's mother had moved to India to get away from her brother because he had an unhealthy obsession with her. When she returned to England under an assumed name to be with her husband and daughter, he found her, and when she spurned him again he murdered her.
  • The Finale of Smallville averts any chance of it having happened between Tess Mercer and her half-brother Lex Luthor. Given her line a few seasons back, "I loved you, you son of a bitch" one wondered just what sort of relationship they had. However Lex reveals in the finale that he knew all along that Lionel was her father.
  • Kingdom Hospital. Hinted with Abel and Christa. ("We're all brothers." "We're all sisters.")
  • An early episode of Heartbeat saw the police investigating a schoolgirl who had had an illegal abortion. They assumed the father was a boy from her class, even though it was obvious to the viewers that he was just a harmless loser with a crush on her. In the last five minutes, as she left town, the girl told the lead policeman's doctor wife in confidence that the actual father was her brother. Most viewers probably guessed this, since he was the only other person in the episode. (If the episode wasn't disturbing enough already, the schoolgirl was played by series star Nick Berry's real-life wife. The conversations at home during filming must have been interesting to say the least.)
  • Pretty Little Liars has this between step siblings Toby and Jenna Cavanaugh. Oddly, Jenna was the one pressuring Toby into sleeping with her, and he wanted it to stop. Unfortunately, nobody is willing to listen to his side of the story, and everyone assumes that he is the abusive one.
  • In It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the McPoyles are an entire family that participates in incest. The brothers "bang each other", and both are seen making out with their sister passionately in public.
    • In the episode "Who got Dee pregnant?", Dennis is squicked by the possibility that he might have accidentally had sex with Dee through a convoluted series of events at a Halloween party. His concerns turn out to be unfounded, however.
  • A bizarre example in Merlin: The show started out heavily hinting at a Morgana/Arthur pairing in series 1. Then as series 2 started, all of the build-up was dropped and the pairing was completely ignored. Then in series 3, Arthur and Morgana were revealed to be half-brother and sister. Which makes all their interaction in series 1 look rather strange in retrospect.
  • In an episode of Criminal Minds, a town's mysterious arsonist turns out to have been beaten and driven out by the townsfolk years prior because a rumor was spread that he was romantically involved with his sister. The twist ending, though, is that the rumors are completely true.
    • In a more recent episode, a couple of brother and sister are poisoning women they think to be the Devil's wives. The brother is extremely protective of her, not letting her go out or live a normal life… When the brother ends up thinking his little sister is one of the Devil's wives as well, he poisons her… but not before giving her a kiss on her lips. Prior to that, he'd also danced with her to a romantic song in a prom ball he threw exclusively for her, since he wouldn't allow her to go out to her actual prom.
  • In The Borgias, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia are prime examples of this trope. Though neither have "gone there" physically and it's more Incest Subtext at the moment, it's fairly obvious that they do not have a typical sibling relationship. He's threatened to murder her husband, compared themselves to the star-crossed lovers Abelard and Heloise, stated that he would die if anything happened to her, and when asked by Lucrezia if he loves God, replied, "More than I love you?". She's stated that she could never love a husband as much as she loves him, once said that she, um, missed his hands spies on him having sex, and, like him, cannot keep to her personal space. They often spend time bumping noses and cuddling and dancing while discussing terms of romantic endearment. According to Word of God, it's pretty much canon, but unintentionally so on their parts—they're "ideal spouses" and are emotionally in love, but not physically together.
    • Of course, this is almost Foregone Conclusion, because in real life, it's hard to know whether they had this kind of relationship — let's just say that the Borgias' enemies claim they had.
  • Almost happened with a story arc in Ugly Betty. When Amanda finds out that her biological mother was Feye Sommers who had a long standing affair with Daniel's father, both she and Daniel are squicked out by the fact that they could be half-siblings because they had previously had a sexual relationship.
  • On the Dexter TV series, Debra kisses her brother Dexter, although it turns out to be a dream. Partially justified by the fact that he's an adopted brother. Then it turns out Deb loves him romantically.
    • The Trinity Killer's Start of Darkness was his sister slipping and bleeding to death in the shower after she spotted him watching her.
    • Incest was also a major theme in the sixth season , with the season's Big Bad having a very strange relationship with his sister.
  • The Lannisters in Game of Thrones. Hoo-boy. The twins Jaime and Cersei have been in a relationship since their childhood, and all of Cersei's children were fathered by Jaime, not her husband Robert. She also sleeps with their cousin Lancel when Jaime is away fighting the Starks. Finally, Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion's parents were first cousins.. It's a wonder that the only genetic problem in the offspring is Tyrion's dwarfism.
    • Viserys was uncomfortably possessive of Dany's body, going so far as to strip her and fondle her. House Targaryen, to which they both belong, has practiced incest (mainly of the brother-sister variety) for generations "to keep bloodlines pure", similar to the royal family of ancient Egypt. In the novels it is implied that Viserys and Daenerys would have been married when they reached the appropriate age.
    • A bit of unintentional (on one side) occurs when Theon Greyjoy returns home to the Iron islands and meets a young woman on the docks who says she'll take him to his ancestral castle of Pyke. On the way there, he flirts endlessly with her and starts fingering her on the horseback ride. Once he got to the castle, however, Theon gets a rude slap in the face when he learns that the young lass is his sister, Yara Greyjoy, and she was trying to see what kind of man he was, and is less than impressed by what she saw.
  • In an episode of Mongrels, Nelson falls for his sister while she's in heat, going as far as to marry her, and spend the wedding night as you'd expect him to. Of course, once his sister comes out of heat, Nelson immediately regrets his decision.
  • Covering this up provides a major part of the motivations for the murders in the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries episode "Death & Hysteria".
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