The Time in Between (TV series)

Plot

The story begins in 1934. Between Youth and Adulthood… Sira Quiroga is a young seamstress from a traditional neighbourhood of Madrid who works with her mother Dolores in the haute couture workshop of Doña Manuela. At age twelve, Sira sweeps the atelier floors where her single mother works as a seamstress. At fourteen, she quietly begins her own apprenticeship. By her early twenties she has learned the ropes of the business and is engaged to a modest government clerk. But everything changes when two men burst unexpectedly into her neatly mapped-out life: an attractive salesman and the father she never knew.

Sira meets and falls madly in love with Ramiro Arribas. Despite her mother's disapproval, Sira decides to break off her engagement with Ignacio. Dolores then brings Sira to meet her father at her father's request. At the meeting, Sira learns that her mother broke off relations with her father after becoming pregnant by him because she knew that his upper-class family would never approve of her and she refused to become his mistress. Sira's father has become concerned about the security of his wealth due to instability in the country and gives jewelry and money to Sira to keep for him. Ramiro persuades Sira to use the money to start a business with him overseas. With the Spanish Civil War brewing in Madrid, Sira leaves Madrid months before the Spanish coup of July 1936 and travels with Ramiro to the Tangier International Zone. In the beginning of their stay in the city, everything runs smoothly, but things change when Ramiro begins to drink heavily and squander the money from her father. After Sira becomes pregnant, Ramiro abandons her taking the remaining money and jewelry, and Sira is forced to flee Tangier due to the debt that they have incurred at the hotel there. Sira loses the baby on a bus trip to Tétouan, the capital of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco, and finds herself abandoned, penniless, and heartbroken in an exotic land. The policy of the protectorate and the debts she owes prevent her from going back to Spain and she is detained in the guesthouse of Candelaria "La Matutera", who discovers her talent for sewing and helps her establish an haute couture dress shop, financed shadily. Sira reinvents herself by turning to the one skill that can save her: her gift for creating beautiful clothes.

As England, Germany, and the other great powers launch into the dire conflict of World War II, Sira is persuaded to return to Madrid, where she takes on a new identity to embark upon the most dangerous undertaking of her career. Thanks to her workshop, Sira meets relevant personalities like Juan Luis Beigbeder, the High Commissioner of the Protectorate; Beigbeder's mistress Rosalinda Fox, who becomes a close friend to Sira; Ramón Serrano Suñer, Francisco Franco's brother-in-law; or Alan Hillgarth, the chief of the British intelligence services in Spain. Such personalities impel Sira to get involved in espionage, using the skills of her trade for more dangerous tasks. As the preeminent couturier for an eager clientele of Nazi officers' wives, Sira becomes embroiled in the half-lit world of espionage and political conspiracy rife with love, intrigue, and betrayal.

Production

The series was filmed in various locations in Spain, Morocco and Portugal. María Dueñas' original novel is set in Madrid, Tangier, Tétouan and Lisbon. Most of scenes in the series were filmed in these cities. Some of the scenes were filmed in Guadalajara and Toledo in Spain, and Estoril and Cascais in Portugal. The budget was estimated in over 500,000 euros per episode.

Cast and characters

Soundtrack

Music score was composed by César Benito. The soundtrack album reached #2 on Spain’s iTunes Store Albums, and #1 on the Soundtracks category. It also won numerous awards, including Best Music for Television by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Television of Spain, and is one of the most played TV soundtracks worldwide on Spotify with more than two million plays since its release.

The "Theme of Sira" from the soundtrack was used by Spanish gymnast Carolina Rodríguez in her ribbon routine since 2014, including the 2016 Summer Olympics.

International broadcast

The rights for El tiempo entre costuras were acquired in Italy by Canale 5; the series premiered in Italy on April 25, 2014 as Il tempo del coraggio e dell'amore (The Time of Courage and Love) and aired with an average of 3.4 million viewers (14% share). In Portugal, the series aired on TVI. In Japan, the series premiered in June 2015 on NHK General TV as Jonetsu no Shira (Sira's Passion). The rights for the series have also been acquired in China (CCTV-8), Taiwan (PTS), Hungary (MTVA), Croatia (RTL Televizija) or Chile (TVN), among others.

This series is also available on Netflix in the USA on their streaming services.