Hey, Macarena
As the final season of Spanish drama Vis a Vis (Locked Up) arrives in the UK, star Maggie Civantos looks back on playing prison inmate Macarena Ferreira and how the show changed the landscape of Spanish television. When Spanish prison drama Vis a Vis (Locked Up) arrived on UK television, it was a landmark moment. A year after the series debuted on Antenna 3 in 2015, it became the first Spanish-language series to air on the UK’s foreign-language streaming service Walter Presents. Since then, Spain has become a hotspot for acclaimed drama series – a trend that has been fuelled by the arrival of global streamers such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video that not only distribute local Spanish series but make their own too. The Vis a Vis effect has also catapulted the show’s star, Maggie Civantos, from supporting to leading roles, with the actor having since taken headline parts in shows such as Malaka, Netflix period drama Las Chicas del Cable (Cable Girls) and the upcoming Express, the first Spanish-language production for another streaming platform, Starzplay. “I remember when I started filming Vis a Vis, it was very hard for me to be the main character because I was not famous,” Civantos tells DQ. “I had support roles [on television] and had been working in theatre, but the producer wanted to take the risk and said, ‘We want her.’ Finally the broadcaster accepted me and said, ‘Let’s try with this actress.’” The apparent gamble paid off, with Vis … Continue reading Hey, Macarena
