This series, retitled 'Locked Up' in the UK, follows Macarena Ferreiro, a young woman who finds herself in prison after she is arrested for embezzling a large sum of money. She claims she was merely doing what her boss told her but he denies any involvement. Life in prison is not easy and Macarena gets off to a particularly unpleasant start when one of her cellmates is murdered. Then she discovers a phone SIM card that belonged to the dead girl
it gives the location to where she hid nine million Euros; naturally everybody wants it. She passes the information to her father hoping he can use it to pay her bail but things soon go from bad to worse when Zulema, the woman who dominates her cell block, finds the location and passes it to her boyfriend 'The Egyptian'. This puts her family in danger from him and on the wrong side of the law and Macarena at risk from Zulema inside the prison. If that weren't enough she has to deal with the prison doctor's unwanted advances and the consequences of rebuffing him.
If anybody thought this series would be easy viewing the first episode will dispel those beliefs; it can be quite gruelling at times. Thankfully it isn't all depressing though; we see that not everybody there is unpleasant. Maggie Civantos does a great job as Macarena; she makes the viewer feel for this vulnerable character while also believing in her as she gradually toughens up as the result of what happens to her in prison. Najwa Nimri also impresses as Zulema; a believably unpleasant character who we believe will carry out her threats and sometimes does in fairly shocking ways. The rest of the cast, both prisoners, prison staff and Macarena's family are also pretty good. The design of the show is great; most notably the yellow and green prison design which extends to the inmates' bright yellow uniforms. So far I've only seen the first season but based on that I'd recommend this series and hope that season two becomes available in the UK soon.
These comments are based on watching the first season in Spanish with English subtitles.
If anybody thought this series would be easy viewing the first episode will dispel those beliefs; it can be quite gruelling at times. Thankfully it isn't all depressing though; we see that not everybody there is unpleasant. Maggie Civantos does a great job as Macarena; she makes the viewer feel for this vulnerable character while also believing in her as she gradually toughens up as the result of what happens to her in prison. Najwa Nimri also impresses as Zulema; a believably unpleasant character who we believe will carry out her threats and sometimes does in fairly shocking ways. The rest of the cast, both prisoners, prison staff and Macarena's family are also pretty good. The design of the show is great; most notably the yellow and green prison design which extends to the inmates' bright yellow uniforms. So far I've only seen the first season but based on that I'd recommend this series and hope that season two becomes available in the UK soon.
These comments are based on watching the first season in Spanish with English subtitles.