''Lo que escondían sus ojos'' is a Spanish romance television miniseries directed by

Salvador Calvo Salvador Calvo (born 1970) is a Spanish film and television director. Biography Calvo was born 1970 in Madrid. He earned a licentiate degree in Information Sciences (Journalism) from the Complutense University of Madrid. Instead of focusing on ...

adapting the novel of the same name by Nieves Herrero, which focuses on the adulterous love story between Sonsoles Icaza and

Ramón Serrano Suñer Ramón Serrano Suñer (12 September 1901 – 1 September 2003), was a Spanish politician during the first stages of the Francoist dictatorship, between 1938 and 1942, when he held the posts of President of the FET y de las JONS caucus (1936) ...

. It stars

Blanca Suárez Blanca Martínez Suárez (born 21 October 1988) is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her performances on television series '' The Boarding School'' (2007–10), '' The Boat'' (2011–13), and the Spanish Language Netflix series' ''Las ch ...

and

Rubén Cortada Jorge Rubén Cortada Soto (born 6 October 1984 in Isla de la Juventud, Cuba) is a Cuban actor and model. He is 190 cm (6 ft 3in) tall. Biography He was born in Isla de la Juventud, Cuba, on 6 October 1984. He graduated of High Schoo ...

. While successful in terms of audience, the miniseries, with limited historical rigor, was decried as a banalization of the

Francoist regime Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

and the figure of Serrano Suñer in particular. It aired in 2016 on

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...

Premise

Set in between

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

and San Sebastián, the plot concerns the adulterous love story between

(

) —Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Francoist regime, married to Zita Polo ( Loreto Mauleón), and co-brother-in law of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 19 ...

( Javier Gutiérrez)— and Sonsoles de Icaza (

) —the Marquise of Llanzol, married to the older Francisco de Paula Díez de Rivera (

Emilio Gutiérrez Caba Emilio Gutiérrez Caba (born 26 September 1942) is a Spanish film and television actor. Personal Caba is the son of actors and Irene Caba Alba and brother of and Julia, both dedicated to acting too. From his mother side, he is the grandson of ...

)—, after they meet in 1942 in a gala at the Hotel Ritz.

Cast

;Main *

as , Marquise of Llanzol. *

's co-brother-in-law and Minister of Foreign Affairs. *

as Francisco de Paula Díez de Rivera, Marquis of Llanzol, Sonsoles' husband. *

Charlotte Vega Charlotte Elizabeth Vega (born 10 February 1994 in Madrid) is a Spanish-British actress and model, known for her role in the 2014 Spanish film ''The Misfits Club'', the lead role in the 2017 Irish film '' The Lodgers'', and main roles in two te ...

as , Sonsoles de Icaza's daughter. * Javier Gutiérrez as

. * as

Carmen Polo María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés, 1st Lady of Meirás, Grandee of Spain (11 June 1900 – 6 February 1988) was the wife of the dictator, General and "'' caudillo"'' Francisco Franco and is considered the most influential woman in Franc ...

, Francisco Franco's wife. * Loreto Mauleón as Zita Polo, Serrano Suñer's wife and Carmen Polo's sister. *

Javier Rey Javier Rey (born 25 February 1980) is a Spanish actor. He is popular for his performance in the television series ''Fariña''. Biography Born in Noia, Galicia on 25 February 1980. He was an avid comic book collector before starting his acting ...

Cristóbal Balenciaga Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre (; 21 January 1895 – 23 March 1972) was a Spanish fashion designer, and the founder of the Balenciaga clothing brand. He had a reputation as a couturier of uncompromising standards and was referred to as "the mast ...

. *

Antonio Pagudo Antonio Pérez Agudo (born 2 February 1977) known professionally as Antonio Pagudo is a Spanish actor. Career He made appearances in theater, television and films. He played in the spectacles''Spingo'' or ''Star Trip'', in which he did a tour ...

Dionisio Ridruejo Dionisio Ridruejo Jiménez (12 October 1912 – 29 June 1975) was a Spanish poet and political figure associated with the Generation of '36 movement and a member of the Falange political party. He was co-author of the words to the Falangist anth ...

. *

Víctor Clavijo Víctor Clavijo Cobos (born 28 September 1973) is a Spanish actor. He earned early public recognition in Spain for his performance in the serial '' Al salir de clase''. Biography Víctor Clavijo Cobos was born in Algeciras on 28 September 1973 ...

Antonio Tovar Antonio Tovar Llorente (17 May 1911 – 13 December 1985) was a Spanish philologist, linguist and historian. Biography Born in Valladolid, the son of a notary, he grew up in Elorrio (Vizcaya), Morella (Castellón) and Villena (Alicante) where as ...

. *

Verónika Moral Veronika Moral (born Verónica Moral; 30 August 1978) is a Spanish actress known for appearing in the long-running telenovela ''Amar en tiempos revueltos'' and also for her acting in ''Compañeros'', ''Física o Química'', ''Qué vida más tri ...

Carmen de Icaza María Carmen de Icaza y de León, 8th Baroness of Claret (17 May 1899 – 16 March 1979) was a Spanish people, Spanish journalist and novelist from 1935–60.Maureen Ihrie & Salvador Oropesa. ''World Literature in Spanish: An Encyclopedia: An E ...

, Sonsoles de Icaza's sister. *

David Solans David Solans Cortés (born 3 August 1996) is a Spanish film and television actor. Biography Solans' film debut was with Jesús Monllaó, who gave him the opportunity to participate in the film '' Son of Cain'', where he played Nico, a psychopat ...

as Ramón Serrano Polo. * as Beatriz de León y Loynaz, Sonsoles de Icaza's mother. * Pepa Rus as Matilde, Sonsoles de Icaza's

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom ...

. * Carlos Santos as Emilio, Matilde's best friend. * as Juan, the

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some al ...

at Llanzol's mansion. * Aïda Ballmann as Hilde, a

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

. * Carolina Meijer as Olivia, a governess. *

Belinda Washington Belinda Washington Baca (born 29 August 1963, in Altrincham, Cheshire) is a British-Spanish actress, former television presenter and singer. Biography After studying law, Media and Drama she started her television career in 1991 with Jesús Hermi ...

as Pura Huétor, sister-in-law of the Marquises of Lanzol. *

Ben Temple Ben Temple (born 1969) is an American-born actor who has developed his career in Spain. Biography Ben Temple was born in 1969 in New York. After moving to Spain in 1991, he installed permanently in the country in 1999. In 2003, he married actress ...

as Samuel Hoare, British Ambassador in Spain.

Production

''Lo que escondían sus ojos'' was based on the novel of the same name by Nieves Herrero. Produced by MOD Producciones (a subsidiary of

Mediaset España Mediaset España (), full name Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A., is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian company MFE - MediaForEurope. Its divisions include the generalist free-to-air TV channels Telecinco and Cuatro, thematic c ...

) and scripted by Helena Medina, the miniseries was directed by

. Felipe Alba was charged with the cinematography direction whereas Marcelo Pacheco worked in the art direction. With key settings in the fiction consisting of

and San Sebastián, production worked both in the Spanish capital and San Sebastián as well as in

El Espinar El Espinar is a Spanish town located 65 kilometres away from Madrid city centre, more precisely heading northwest, in the northern slope of the Sistema Central mountain range. It belongs to the province of Segovia and to the autonomous Communi ...

(

province of Segovia Segovia () is a province of central/northern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the province of Burgos in the north, Soria in the northeast, Guadalajara in the east, Madrid in the south ...

). Shooting locations in Madrid included the ,

San Jerónimo el Real Saint Jerome the Royal (in Spanish ''San Jerónimo el Real'') is a Roman Catholic church from the early 16th-century in central Madrid (Spain). The church, which has undergone numerous remodelings and restorations over the centuries is the remain ...

, the

Basilica of San Francisco el Grande The Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great ( es, Real Basílica de San Francisco el Grande) is a Roman Catholic church in central Madrid, Spain, located in the neighborhood of Palacio. The main façade faces the Plaza of San Francisco, at the ...

, the

Centro Cultural de los Ejércitos The Centro Cultural de los Ejércitos (in English, Cultural Centre of the Armed Forces) is an educational military society currently located at Gran Vía 13 in Madrid. The building is also commonly known as the Casino Militar. History of the ...

, the and the Palace of Santoña. Shooting locations in San Sebastián included the

Beach of La Concha The Beach of La Concha ( eu, Kontxa Hondartza ; es, Playa de La Concha , "cone shell beach") is a crescent shaped urban seaboard of the city of San Sebastián located at the ''Bay of La Concha'' in the Basque Country, in northern Spain. Its name ...

and the Palace of Miramar.

Release and reception

The 4-part miniseries premiered on 22 November 2016, earning a 19.3% audience share. The broadcasting run ended on 20 December 2016. It commanded "great" viewership ratings, averaging 3.2 million viewers and a 18.9% share. ''Lo que escondían sus ojos'' was decried as a banalization of the

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...

and the figure of Serrano Suñer in particular, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco's right-hand (he was known at the height of his power as ''Ministro Presidente'', "Minister-President") and a prominent Philo-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

figure within the regime: his actions include the elaboration of the legislation enabling the seizure of information that allowed for the imprisonment and killing of thousands of former members of parties, trade unions and Republican associations and a deal reached with

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

–Spanish police collaboration to repatriate Republican exiles, none of which is palpably dealt with in the fiction. According to the analysis of , "the result is highly complacent with one of the most repressive dictatorships of the 20th century in Europe, as well as with one of its most important representatives in its darkest period".

Mediaset Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by forme ...

(Italy) purchased the rights for the broadcasting in Italy. The miniseries aired for the first time on

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

under the title ''Quello che nascondono i tuoi occhi'' from 3 January 2017 to 15 January 2017.

Awards and nominations

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "3" , 2017 , , 64th

Ondas Awards The Premios Ondas ( Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in the fields of ra ...

, , Best Actress , ,

, , , , , - , 19th

Iris Awards The NATPE Iris Awards are an honor for local television programming excellence presented annually in the United States by the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE). The awards were introduced in 1968 and were initially tit ...

, , Best Actress , , Blanca Suárez , , , , , - , 5th , , colspan = "2" , Best Miniseries or TV Movie , , , ,

References

;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography * {{authority control Spanish television miniseries Television series based on Spanish novels Television series set in 1942 2010s romantic drama television series 2010s Spanish drama television series 2016 Spanish television series debuts 2016 Spanish television series endings Cultural depictions of Francisco Franco Television shows set in Madrid Television shows filmed in Spain Spanish-language television shows Telecinco network series Television shows about adultery Television shows set in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Television series by MOD Producciones