Twenty years of 'Ventdelplà', the serial that took TV3's prime time by storm
The series, set in Breda, was a huge audience success.
BarcelonaThis Friday marks twenty years since one of the most iconic – and at the same time, most unique – TV3 series premiered. Ventdelplà arrived on February 14, 2005 with a risky bet: to take a fiction in the style of the afternoon serials that had worked so well, like Poblenou, Nice of Power and The heart of the city, and take it to the prime time television. To make matters worse, it was not broadcast every day, but it was not broadcast weekly either: the episodes of that first season were broadcast on Monday and Tuesday.
The story was written by Josep Maria Benet i Jornet and had an unmistakably dramatic start: Teresa was a doctor who was psychologically abused by her husband. Until one day she received a slap in the face and decided to flee Barcelona with her two children to try to rebuild her life in a village. It was one of the first times that television fiction in Catalonia addressed this subject, as recalled by Jaume Banacolocha, producer of Diagonal, responsible for the series: "Furthermore, she was not a helpless woman, as was the stereotype of the time, but a professional with education and money."
Behind the plots was the genius of Josep Maria Benet i Jornet, who interviewed several psychologists and psychiatrists to learn about how abusive relationships worked. Ventdelplà had a luxury team in front of the cameras: Emma Vilarasau, Jordi Boixaderas, Marc Cartes, Eduard Farelo, Ramón Madaula, Anna Barrachina, Georgina Latre, Mar Ulldemolins, Jordi Banacolocha, Imma Colomer, Pablo Derqui... and a long etcetera that combined thestar system Catalan television with new names that would soon make a fortune, such as Carlos Cuevas and Úrsula Corberó, who were still teenagers at the time.
The fact of having to do only The fact that the two episodes per week, albeit one hour each, allowed for less hectic shooting than the midday serial and, above all, more filming outside. The Selva municipality of Breda was the natural setting for the series and the film crew still has fond memories of the relationship that was established. Ventdelplà After seven seasons, the actor Pep Cruz had an idea: he had noticed that the town bell sounded steep and dull. As a farewell gift, at the final closing party of filming, the production company offered a new bell at the Town Hall. It was called Ventdelplà and it still plays. "I remember that there were two restaurants in the village," explains Banacolocha, "and we always tried to share the meals of the week, to make sure that both had work."
The audiences of the series were spectacular. It should be remembered that DTT was just beginning to take off in Spain, so the audiences had not been fragmented as much as they are today (and the platforms were still to come). TV3 maintained a dominant position and the first season of the series climbed up to 25.4% of the screen share, since each episode was followed by an average of 742,000 viewers. In the second season it reached 26.7% of the share and, from there, it did experience a slow decline that, however, kept it above 20% that any television programmer would sign today. However, the seventh season was the one with a slump: 16.3% was still a good figure, but the network considered that it was time to give a chance to new titles.
Without continuity
There has never been any attempt to revive the series, in these times of reboots and remakes, But at the time there was a Galician derivative: the regional television TVG commissioned Diagonal Valderrei, a series that followed the same approach, adapted to the reality there. And a curiosity: Ventdelplà
When asked if a TV3-like series could be conceived today, Banacolocha explains that fiction on the channel follows the cycle of certain fashions. "Now, for example, they show more interest in youth series, to capture this audience. Or they make thrillers, or series like Quotes: Barcelona, which is very good. Perhaps the costumbrismo has gone out of fashion, but in the end everything comes back," says the producer, who was commissioned by Disney+ to create the daily series Return to the Sabines, released in October.
