Movies + Shows About Spain

Hi travel friends,

Sandra, one of the incredible Spanish guides we work with at Bold Spirit Travel, has some great movie and show recommendations for you. All of them feature Spain.

  1. Cable Girls: Four seasons in the lives of 5 women who worked at Telefonica, set in 1930s Madrid. All about women’s rights, love, hate, betrayal, power and politics. Plenty of action.

  2. Grand Hotel: Juicy period soap, Spanish answer to Downton Abbey

  3. Velvet: Steamy love story set in the glamorous fashion world of 1950s Madrid, inspired by the creation of the first “shopping mall” (El Corte Ingles)

  4. Velvet Collection: Spin off of Velvet, this time set in Barcelona in the 1960s

  5. Cocaine Coast: How some fishermen went from fish to tobacco to hash to cocaine—almost without realizing it. This is a true story and it has nothing to do with Narcos. Set in Galicia in the 80s.

  6. Unauthorized Living: An influential Galician drug cartel leader must seek out his successor while keeping his degenerative disease a secret.

  7. Ministry of Time: Secret agents go undercover in different times in Spanish history

  8. Vis a Vis (Locked Up): Spanish answer to Orange is the New Black. Here they dress in yellow.

  9. Paquita Salas: A movie star PR in Madrid. Almodovar could have done this in his youth.

  10. Money Heist: Very popular among Spanish audiences. Addictive entertaining thriller.

  11. Morocco: Love in Times of War: 1920s nurses from Madrid’s upper class open a hospital.

  12. Cathedral of the Sea (series) or (novel): Based on an historical fiction novel about medieval Barcelona

  13. Elite: For your teenage grandchildren—they will love you for the recommendation

  14. High Seas: The story of a murder on a cruise from Spain to Brazil in the 1940s. Sexy captain.

  15. Mar de Plástico: Great insight into ethnic tension in the south of Spain. Great photography.

  16. Merli: Catalan high school show, where a philosophy teacher named Merli engages with students in a particular manner. Popular among adults and teenagers. Very real. No sexy people here.

  17. Caronte: Galician police investigating crimes on the coast.

  18. Six Dreams: All about La Liga, the football league (not “soccer” 😉)

  19. Lo Que Escondían tus Ojos: The story of a clandestine romance of Franco’s brother

  20. Infidels: Catalonian version of Sex in the City

  21. Patria: Based on the novel by Fernando Aramburu. So real it hurts—a MUST.

  22. Vote for Juan: Comedy about Spanish Politics. Juan wants to be the mayor.

  23. 30 Coins: Thriller in deep Spain involving the church

  24. Veneno: The story of Cristina Ortiz, first trans person on TV. A necessary watch.

  25. La Unidad: Follows a unit of policemen in Madrid specializing in terrorism

  26. Perfect Life: What Maria and her friends want. Great script comedy.

  27. Isabel: The biography of our most famous and charismatic queen

  28. El Cid: The biography of our most famous and charismatic nnight

Caroline Hinchliff