10 good series that you can watch for free and legally

BarcelonaThe emergence of platforms has made users accustomed to paying for the series and films they want to watch. This, which has a positive side – the work of artists must also be valued economically – has made us forget that there are also free and legal windows that allow us to access good content. Platforms such as 3Cat, RTVE Play or Pluto TV are some of the free streaming services with an attractive catalogue (it should be noted, however, that many of these services only offer dubbed versions of the content and therefore cannot be viewed in the original version).

Irish writer Sally Rooney is almost a rockstar of current literature, so it is not very surprising that the adaptation of the book that launched her to fame, Normal people, was received with great anticipation. The stars aligned and fans, and non-fans alike, were treated to an exquisite television version. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, who saw their careers take off after the series, play Marianne and Connell, two young Irish people who meet at school and live a love story that spans a long time and experiences many ups and downs. Normal people It premiered in mid-February on RTVE Play and has been a success: during its first week available, it had almost a million views and became the best premiere of an international fiction on the platform.

The comedy that won the most Emmy awards in 2020 is still a series that is relatively unknown to viewers outside the United States (where it made a fortune, especially during the lockdown, because it responds to what is expected of a fiction series). feel good). Overnight, the wealthy Rose family loses all their fortune and must get used to living like mere mortals. The only alternative left to them is to move to a seedy town called Schitt's Creek –named after words that mean "creek of shit"– that the family patriarch, Johnny, bought as a joke for his son, David. Penniless, the four of them move into the town's only motel. Despite their delusions of grandeur, the family must adjust to a more discreet life and, above all, learn to be better people, a task in which they will receive help from the town's inhabitants. Created by Eugene Levy and Dan Levy, who are also its protagonists, Schitt's Creek, which can now be seen in Catalan thanks to 3Cat, is a comedy full of flawed and strange characters who end up winning the hearts of viewers.

It is a sin, Russell T. Davies's The Last of Us series falls into the category of essential miniseries. Taking the title of one of the Pet Shop Boys' hymns –written to exorcise the feeling of guilt that was transmitted in Catholic schools–, the fiction delves into the outbreak of AIDS in the United Kingdom. The four homosexual protagonists ofIt is a sin They find in London the place where they can live in freedom while in the world news begins to emerge about a strange disease that, supposedly, only affects gays and that no one gives much credit to at first. The miniseries, originally released in 2021, not only thrilled viewers, but it became an essential tool to revive awareness about the importance of virus detection., quadrupling the number of HIV tests in the UK. Beyond its social impact, it is a fiction made with great tact and a cast in a state of grace, especially Olly Alexander and Keeley Hawes.

The great emblem of cosy series. If there is still someone who does not know the Durrells, RTVE Play offers the possibility of doing so without having to subscribe to any platform. The British production follows the adventures of the family that gives its name to the series on the island of Corfu, the paradise where the youngest of the family, Gerald Durrell, the future naturalist, was able to broaden his fascination with animals. Funny, tender and a real treat for the eyes, The Durrells It has a cast headed by two heavyweights of British acting, Keeley Hawes and Josh O'Connor, one of the young English actors with the greatest potential today.

Another of the British productions that can be enjoyed for free through RTVE Play is Somewhere boy, an eight-episode miniseries. Danny was a baby when his mother died in a car accident. His father, overcome by grief, decided to lock him up at home as a way of saving him from any misfortune. In this way, the boy grows up soaked in fears and terrors. When his father dies unexpectedly, Danny is taken in by his aunt Sue and this forces him to open up to an outside world that, until now, was completely foreign to him. "The performance of the actor Lewis Gribben in the leading role is extraordinary. Diagnosed in real life with Asperger's syndrome, he has an exquisite control of the character that keeps him away from histrionics and behavioral clichés around traumatic events. The conflicts between characters, the emotional nuances and the games A Mònica Planas in the article she wrote about the series.

One genre in which the British excel is true crimeThere are many series based on real crimes that have taken place in England, but The White House Farm Murders The story tells of a particularly gruesome case. The events took place in 1985, when five members of the same family, the Bambers, were found dead on a farm in Essex. The five people who were shot dead were Nevill and June Bamber; their daughter Sheila, aged 28, and her twin sons, aged six. When the police arrived at the scene of the crime, they found a gruesome scene: the children were dead in their beds, while the body of Nevill Bamber was in the kitchen. The two women of the family were located in the main room of the house and Sheila was holding what appeared to be the murder weapon. This fact, added to the young woman's mental health history, led the police to consider her the main suspect in the murders. After an investigation based heavily on stereotypes about people with mental health problems, the case took a turn: the person responsible for the crime was not Sheila, but another member of the family.

One of the great references of science fiction, and a true icon in England (and not only). Pluto TV, an advertising-funded platform that is part of the Paramount group and that allows access to on-demand content for free, offers nine seasons – from the 2005 reinvention to the 2014 season – of the long-running series about a mysterious doctor who travels through time via a curious machine that is shaped like a cabin. In these nine episodes, the legendary character has been played by David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.

The BBC is the queen of literary adaptations, especially of classics. The onePride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth is surely the most popular of all (the scene of Mr. Darcy emerging from the lake with his wet shirt was considered by the Guardian (as "one of the most unforgettable moments in British television history"). In case anyone still doesn't know what the story is about: in Regency England, the Bennett family, made up of five sisters of marriageable age, experiences a real revolution when the young and single Mr. Bingley moves into the town where they live. The man arrives accompanied by one of his best friends, Mr. Darcy, who ends up establishing a tense relationship with Elizabeth Bennett full of pride and prejudice.

Freaks and geeks is a true cult series of the youth genre. It only had a single season, but it is essential to understand fictions set in high schools. Set in the 1980-1981 school year in a high school in a suburb of Michigan, the series follows Lindsay (Linda Cardellini), who goes from being a good student to interacting with the slightly strange and permanently smoked kids at the school, the so-called freaks. Meanwhile, Lindsay's little brother, Sam, is part of the groups of the geeks, the brainiacs from school.

Nowadays, it is quite common to have series that talk about mental health problems, but United States of Tara, originally released in 2009, was a pioneer in this regard. Written by Diablo Cody, screenwriter of Juno, produced by Steven Spielberg, focused on a typical American family dealing with the dissociative identity disorder of the mother, Tara Gregson, played by Toni Collette. Tired of the side effects of the medication, Tara decides, supported by her therapist, to stop taking the medication for a while. This break means that Tara's multiple personalities can emerge. When stressed and under pressure, she can transition into the personality of a 1950s housewife or that of a Vietnam veteran. Another of her personalities is that of a teenager who continually flirts with the people around her.