10 miniseries for the Easter mini-break

BarcelonaThe Easter holidays are rather short, but they're enough days to enjoy a television drama with a beginning and an end, the very definition of a miniseries. Beyond the very popularAdolescence, which has already been recommended by land, sea, and air, we at ARA have made a selection of ten miniseries that you can discover during the Easter break. You can complement these recommendations with the lists of recent British fictions, where there are also some interesting miniseries, such as Mr. Bates v. Post Office, or short series like We are Lady Parts.

Many people are allergic to superhero series or comic book adaptations, and it's understandable because we've had a flood of them in recent years. Not all of them are bad, and The Penguin, which revives one of Batman's iconic villains, would be in the good guy's corner. Here, the masked vigilante is nowhere to be seen, because the miniseries' glory lies with the Penguin and a rival equal to him, Sofia Falcone, the daughter of a mafia boss who claims his place in the criminal underworld. The Penguin It has overtones of a mafia drama And, although Colin Farrell has a firm grasp on the character of the clumsy criminal, the real standout in the miniseries is Cristin Milioti, who won the Critics' Choice Award for her portrayal of Falcone.

Tech gurus with messianic aspirations are prime material for miniseries. The story of Elizabeth Holmes, who went from Silicon Valley icon to imprisoned criminal, seems too incredible to be true, but it is. Obsessed with being the new Steve Jobs—she copied his black turtleneck sweaters and way of speaking—Holmes dropped out of Stanford University before finishing her degree to start a company that was supposed to revolutionize healthcare technology. Theranos offered a portable diagnostic platform that promised comprehensive analyses using just a drop of blood, a very tempting idea for those who are afraid of blood draws. Holmes managed to convince many investors with false promises: the device didn't work, and the technological revolution didn't exist. Amanda Seyfried gives an absolutely brilliant performance as the Silicon Valley executive, who was eventually accused of fraud.

This true crime Swedish managed to cope with the second season ofThe Squid GameThe series is based on a true story that made history in Sweden, although the victims' names have been changed. In the series, on October 19, 2004, in broad daylight, an eight-year-old boy, Adnan, and a 56-year-old woman, Gunila, were stabbed to death in the small town of Linköping. The only connection between them is that they live in the same neighborhood and both took the same route every day: he to school and she to work. Another neighbor witnessed the violent deaths but is unable to remember details about the killer due to the trauma. Despite the efforts of a police inspector, the case remains unsolved for more than a decade. A genealogist will be tasked with unraveling the mystery of the killer's identity 16 years after the events.

With a resume that includes five Oscar nominations and an Emmy Award, there's little more to say about the acting talent of Michelle Williams, who first rose to prominence on television with the youth series Dawson grows upThe actress's new project is based on the true story of a woman who begins a journey of sexual self-discovery after being diagnosed with cancer for the second time and realizing she only has a few years left to live. Molly leaves her husband, who no longer sees her as a woman but simply as a sick person, and begins a series of sexual adventures. Dying for sexIt is a dramedy about life, death and sex, but also a beautiful story of friendship, that of the protagonist with her best friend, who takes on the responsibility of caring for her in the last years of her life.

Turning a tax inspector into the protagonist of a series is a risky move, but Diego San José pulls it off. Carmen Machi plays the anti-heroine of this fiction, a gray woman devoted body and soul to the tax authorities and capable of anything to prove that a Latin pop star, the Celeste of the title, has defrauded the Spanish Treasury. Despite the people involved in the project, the miniseries is not a comedy but rather a thriller in which, apart from Machi, Manolo Solo and also stand out Clara Sans.

A miniseries can also work with independent chapters, following somewhat the model of the British Inside No. 9, in which each episode tells a different story starring the same actors, the theater company La Calòrica has made the leap to television with Multipurpose room, a six-episode fiction series that takes place in the same space: the multipurpose room of a civic center. Each chapter shows a different universe –a kind of voguing, a survival course, a pottery workshop, or a children's program fan meeting – with five actors playing up to 30 different characters. Now that there's been so much talk about the sequence plans ofAdolescence, let us remember that the fourth chapter of Multipurpose room It is also filmed in a single shot, without cuts.

At a time when fiction is increasingly paying attention to older people, this series focuses on the culminating moment of the end of life, moving between poignant drama and thriller. True love, which won the award for best screenplay at the 2024 Serielizados Fest, asks whether there is ever a situation in which it is right to help someone end their life. This is the question that sets the entire action of the series in motion, which begins when a group of old friends reunite at the funeral of one of them, who has died after an illness that made him totally dependent on others. In a moment of sadness and drunkenness, the friends promise each other that, when the time comes, if one of them needs it, others will help them design a dignified death. But will they really be able to do it, or is the promise just a product of the emotion of the moment?

The story told in this British miniseries is one of those that makes your hair stand on end as soon as you read it. Until I kill you It is the true story of the survival of Delia Balmer, a nurse at a London hospital who maintains a years-long relationship with John Sweeney, a carpenter who ends up abusing her both physically and sexually. Delia is a woman with certain difficulties socializing and who has always lived a little outside of convention, which makes it easy for John to enter her life. The series shows the hell of the protagonist, who soon realizes that her partner has psychopathic tendencies, but also the times when the police did not do their job well and did not protect Delia when they had the chance. Anna Maxwell Martin plays the protagonist masterfully – giving space to all her complexity – and, for that, she is nominated for a BAFTA for Best Leading Actress in Television. The person in charge of bringing the seductive and charismatic Sweeney to life is Shaun Evans, a far cry from his role in Endeavour.

One of the best productions released in 2024 was this adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe's book of the same name about some of the most turbulent years in Northern Ireland. In the television version of Don't say anything (published in Catalan by Periscopio), the focus is primarily on the Dolours sisters and Marian Price, members of the IRA and two women who fascinate the viewer despite their questionable actions and decisions. Lola Petticrew, who plays Dolours, is one of the great discoveries of this miniseries, which, despite depicting painful events, is powerfully engaging. Like Maxwell Martin, the young Irish woman has also been nominated for a BAFTA television award for best leading actress.

Two rising actresses for a miniseries true crime which has gone somewhat unnoticed, but which fans of the genre are going to celebrate. Riley Keough (Everyone loves Daisy Jones) and Lily Gladstone (winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actress for The Moon Killers) play a writer and a police officer who delve into the circumstances surrounding the brutal murder of teenager Reena Virk, who died one night out partying with her friends. Set on an island in British Columbia, Canada, the miniseries delves into the secrets of the group of teenagers—most of whom are at risk of social exclusion—accused of the murder.