If you don’t have any plans for this weekend, have you considered binge-watching a Spanish series? I bet you haven’t! In the last couple of years, Spain became one of the most expressive countries in terms of production and exportation of its contents around the world thanks to the streaming platforms. I am a big fan of Spanish audiovisual since I discovery Pedro Almodóvar, in the 90s. I love the way Spanish directors and writers tell their stories unabashedly, the common colourful and extravagant aesthetics. It’s easy to detect Spanish culture and essence through their movies and fictional series. For that reason, I selected 3 of my favourite Spanish series.
See my tips below!
Elite
“Elite” is a thriller teen drama streaming television series created for Netflix by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona. The series is set in Las Encinas, a fictional elite secondary school and revolves around the relationships between three working-class teenage students Samuel, Nadia and Christian, enrolled at the school through a scholarship and their wealthy classmates.
The series explores common adolescent dramas such as diverse sexual themes, drugs, HIV, unemployment, family conflicts, betrayals, love, religious and cultural issues, but also, the narrative discusses the social inequality, cultural isolation, and corruption in Spain.
Structurally, the series employs a flash-forward plot that involves a mystery element, with each season taking place in two timelines. Even the series uses old teenager’s clichés, the writers and directors reached the goal of creating 3 seasons where the story keeps intriguing, surprising and exciting.
There are two couples in the TV show everyone would probably fall in love: Nadia (Mina El Hammani) and Guzmán (Miguel Bernardeau ) and Omar (Omar Ayuso) and Ander (Arón Piper).
Streaming: Netflix
Money Heist (La casa de Papel)
“Money Heist” is a Spanish heist crime drama television series created by Álex Pina that depicts two long-prepared heists led by the Professor (Álvaro Morte), one on the Royal Mint of Spain, and one on the Bank of Spain. The narrative is told in a real-time-like fashion and relies on flashbacks, time-jumps, hidden character motivations, and an unreliable narrator for complexity.
The series subverts the heist genre by being told from the perspective of a woman, Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó), and having a strong Spanish identity, where emotional dynamics offset the perfect strategic crime.
It had its original run of 15 episodes on Spanish network Antena 3 in 2017, divided into 2 parts, however, it became a phenomenon worldwide when Netflix acquired global streaming rights in late 2017 and invested a lot of money for the production of more 3 seasons. This series played a fundamental role to make Spanish audiovisual gain visibility and fans in and out of Spain.
Streaming: Netflix
Veneno (La Veneno)
“Veneno” which means poison in Spanish is a biographical television limited series, created by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo that aired on Atresplayer Premium in Spain and premiered internationally on HBO Max, in 2020. The series unfolds the life of Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez, better known by the nickname “La Veneno“, a Spanish transgender – from her childhood in a rural area, her drama with her traditional and bigotry family to a television celebrity in Spain.
Cristina was the first transwoman to be part of a cast on the TV show in prime time. Despite being known for her charisma, and fun personality, La Veneno’s life and death remains an enigma. This story tells the experiences of a struggling transgender woman, who achieved fame with television appearances in the 90s and conquered the audience with a unique vision of the world, enlightened themes related to the LGBTQIA community such as transphobia, homophobia, marginalisation, prostitution, and other taboos. She is one of the most important and beloved LGBT icons in Spain.
The series is based on the biography “¡Digo! Ni puta ni santa. Las memorias de La Veneno” by Valeria Vegas.
Streaming: HBO Max
