Why Apple TV+’s ‘hysterical’ new Spanish series is perfect for Fleabag fans

Apple’s ‘hysterical’ Spanish series is perfect for Fleabag fans (Image: APPLE)

A brand new Spanish series, one of Apple TV+’s first, is streaming this week and could be a surprise hit for viewers with a taste for boundary-pushing comedy.

It follows two people from wildly different worlds dealing with seismic changes in their lives whose relationship seems doomed from the start after they meet at a funeral.

Created by Dani de la Orden, well-known in Spain for films like Casa en flames (A House on Fire) and Loco por ella (Crazy About Her) as well as writing episodes of ’s Elite, the seven-part series premieres this week on Wednesday, 5th February.

Straight-laced Raúl’s (played by Joan Amargós) world is thrown off its axis when he’s diagnosed with life-threatening brain cancer, while party girl and marketing whiz Marta (Verónica Echegui) discovers she’s pregnant.

Despite Raúl’s painfully recent break-up and Marta’s chronically single lifestyle, the pair share an undeniable connection. But can they make a relationship work?

Verónica Echegui and Joan Amargós

Marta and Raul share an undeniable connection (Image: APPLE)

This hysterical series features some of the best comedy writing in recent years and is guaranteed to be a hit with rom-com fans, even for English viewers watching with subtitles.

Teasing the series in an exclusive interview with Express Online, creator de la Orden said: “I decided to make a romantic-comedy but the producers said ‘Okay, but it has to have something special’.

“We came up with the idea of a couple who are born to be away from each other because they’re from two opposite worlds.

“They have met in the worst time of their life. She has to decide if she wants to be a mother or not, and he is afraid of an operation to get better from cancer.”

He mentioned influences from other comedies that will definitely be familiar to UK and US audiences, though Love You To Death also delivers plenty of heart along with its laughs.

Verónica Echegui as Marta

Marta has just discovered she’s pregnant (Image: APPLE)

“That mix of characters makes the comedy so funny and so special,” de la Orden continued.

“All of us have seen Fleabag, Bridesmaids, that kind of humour. A little bit irreverent, satirical, but it also mixes with the drama.

“The magic of the comedy is, if it comes with a big drama at the beginning, the comedy is going to work better.

“For us, the script was the first point of reference, which was brilliant, it was written by Oriol Capel and Natalia Durán, but then [director] Oriol would say all the time, ‘Okay, it must be funnier!’”

Lead stars Amargós and Echegui were also incredibly impressed – and somewhat surprised – by the direction of the show.

“We’re used to getting scripts that are a little bit predictable, or obvious, where things happen and develop as they should,” Amargós said.

“But this is a little bit more chaotic and sometimes laughter appears in a cemetery or something!”

And Echegui said: “It was such a gift, it’s not that common to find these kinds of scripts in which you have everything there all together.

“Dani is very well-known here in Spain, so it was such a great challenge but also a gift.”

Don’t let this hilarious new gem from Spain fly under the radar this week.

Love You to Death continues Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

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