''La vida de Rita'' is a Spanish comedy television series. Written and directed by Manuel Iborra, it stars

Verónica Forqué Verónica Forqué Vázquez-Vigo (; 1 December 1955 – 13 December 2021) was a Spanish stage, film and television actress. She was a four-time Goya Award winner, the most award-winning actress alongside Carmen Maura. She had a knack for charact ...

, Juan Echanove and Pepón Nieto. It aired on

Televisión Española Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...

( La 1 and La 2) in 2003.

Premise

Rita (

), Samuel ( Juan Echanove) and Cucho ( Pepón Nieto) own a bar where the rest of the characters hang out.

Cast

;Main *

as Rita, a separated woman with two daughters, co-owner of a bar-restaurant-billiard club. * Juan Echanove as Samuel, Rita's business associate, infatuated by Rita, a mediocre cook. * Pepón Nieto as Cucho, Rita's business associate, Samuel's brother, unbearable and chronically aggressive. *

María Vázquez María Vázquez (born 19 March 1979) is a Spanish actress from Galicia. Biography Born in Vigo on 19 March 1979, she was raised however in between the provinces of Ourense and Lugo. She appeared as a child in '' Sempre Xonxa''. Upon completi ...

as Berta, Rita's biological daughter. *

Macarena Gómez Macarena Gómez Traseira (born 2 February 1978) is a Spanish actress. She became known for her many roles in fantasy and horror films. She plays the iconic role of Lola in the television series '' La que se avecina''. Career Born on 2 February ...

as Leonor, Rita's adopted daughter. * Agustín González as Fernando, Samuel and Cucho's father. *

Sandra Blázquez Sandra Blázquez (born 23 January 1987) is a Spanish television actress. Throughout her career, she has starred in several long-running series, including ''Al salir de clase'' (1998), ''Física o Química'' (2009–2011), and ''Acacias 38'' (2016 ...

as Rosarito, Cucho's daughter. ;Guest * Antonio Resines. * Pilar Bardem.

Production and release

Written and directed by Manuel Iborra, the series meant the return of Verónica Forqué to

(TVE) after ''

Pepa y Pepe ''Pepa y Pepe'' is a Spanish sitcom television series with Costumbrismo, ''costumbrista'' themes, starring Tito Valverde, Verónica Forqué, María Adánez and Silvia Abascal. It aired in 1995 on La 1 (Spanish TV channel), TVE1. Premise The se ...

'', also directed by Iborra. The series was produced by Tesauro. It consisted of 13 episodes with a running time of roughly 70 minutes. The series premiered on 7 January 2003 in

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

, earning good viewership figures (4,183,000 viewers and a 23.7% share). However, the interest of the viewers rapidly waned and TVE cancelled the series after the 5th episode, aired on 4 February 2003. 8 episodes were left unaired in the original run. About two hundred of TVE Catalunya workers denounced the replacement of the series for a documentary about bioterrorism as an alleged part of government propaganda efforts in favour of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, voicing their "rejection of the policy of intoxication and manipulation of information that RTVE is carrying out with regard to the Iraq conflict". The full series aired in the northern hemisphere summer of 2003 on La 2. As of 2021, the series was not available in the RTVE's online catalogue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vida de Rita, La 2003 Spanish television series debuts 2003 Spanish television series endings La 1 (Spanish TV channel) network series La 2 (Spanish TV channel) network series 2000s Spanish comedy television series Spanish television sitcoms Television series set in restaurants Spanish-language television shows