11 HOT SERIES FROM SPAIN

BY: Ines Valencia

Due to the current state of the world, people have been relying on streaming platforms such as Netflix for entertainment more than ever and it is no secret that shows from Spain seem to be having a moment. It could partly be because Spanish television and film tend to be overly graphic and provocative, as many may have seen in the top-rated shows Élite and Money Heist. 

Whether you are interested in seeing what all the hype is about, want to practice your Spanish, or have seen one of these shows and are hungry for more steamy content, here is a list of 11 Spanish series on Netflix.

MONEY HEIST (LA CASA DE PAPEL)

If you haven’t watched it yet, Money Heist is a show you may have heard your friends discuss. The show is by Álex Pina. It’s about a group of people recruited by a mysterious man known as “The Professor” to carry out a perfect robbery and steal 2.4 billion euros from The Royal Mint of Spain. This mission involves masks, code-names and a great deal of careful planning and strategy. It is perfect for anyone who enjoys fast-paced action and crime shows and this thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat from the moment you start watching it.

ÉLITE

Élite is a Netflix original teen drama created by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona, and is perfect for fans of Gossip Girl or Pretty Little Liars.  The plot revolves around a group of teenagers at an elite secondary school, specifically three working-class students and their wealthy classmates. This series has sex, drama, murder, and explores themes of race and identity. Ever intriguing, provocative and sexually explicit, the amount of success this show has had is not surprising.

CABLE GIRLS (LAS CHICAS DEL CABLE)

If you like period dramas and are a fan of the twenties, this one’s for you. Cable Girls follows a group of women in late 1920s Madrid, who begin working at a new telecommunications company, one of the few jobs available to women at the time. They all have extremely distinct personalities and different reasons for joining the company, and the show follows these protagonists as they become friends, explore their relationships and identities, and endure the hardships of being a working woman in a society completely dominated by men. The show has five seasons and ended in 2020.

LOCKED UP (VIS A VIS)

Calling all fans of Orange Is the New Black. Vis A Vis may be more intense, violent and a graphic interpretation of OITNB. The acting and character development in this show are outstanding and keep getting better as the show progresses.

VALERIA

The only show on this list that may be classified as a comedy. Valeria is based on the novels by Elísabet Benavent about a woman named Valeria, who is feeling lost in her career as a writer and marriage. She finds help and comfort in her three best friends, who accompany her on an emotional journey navigating themes of love, infidelity and self-fulfillment (while meeting some hot men).

HIGH SEAS (ALTA MAR)

High Seas is a mystery that takes place in the 1940s and follows sisters Eva and Carolina Villanueva as they board a ship traveling from Spain to Brazil. A series of mysterious deaths begin to occur.

UNAUTHORIZED LIVING (VIVIR SIN PERMISO)

Created by Aitor Gabilondo and starring Jose Coronado, Álex González and Claudia Traisac, Unauthorized Living follows a businessman in the Spanish region of Galicia, who is secretly a drug lord. When he is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, he begins to evaluate who his successor should be. Great for fans of Breaking Bad or Narcos.

VELVET

This series, starring Paula Echevarría and Miguel Ángel Silvestre (Sense 8), occurs in Madrid in 1958 and explores the love story at Galerías Velvet between a seamstress that works there and the young man set to inherit the fashion house. Great for both romance and fashion enthusiasts.

MAR DE PLÁSTICO

Another crime drama, Mar de Plástico (Plastic Sea), investigates the murder of a young woman in a small town in southern Spain known for the greenhouses in the region. The show is a murder mystery, a study of interracial conflicts among immigrant workers and the villagers.

WHITE LINES

The last mystery drama on this list is the British-Spanish show White Lines, created by Álex Pina (creator of Money Heist). It follows Zoe, who travels to Ibiza to investigate her dead brother’s disappearance twenty years earlier while working there as a DJ.

MOROCCO: LOVE IN TIMES OF WAR (TIEMPOS DE GUERRA)

Finally, the war drama Morocco: Love in Times of War happens mostly in the Spanish city of Melilla (located in northern Africa), where a group of nurses from Madrid is sent to open hospitals during the Rif War in the 1920s. If you want tragedy and romance, this period drama has plenty.