Show of the Week: Morocco

Acquisitions execs around the globe often bite when presented the bait of a Beta Film-distributed Spanish-language drama, which is why there are high hopes for Morocco – Love in the Times of War.

The show comes from Bambu Productions, the same company that provided Germany-based Beta with sales hits Grand Hotel and Velvet.

As with its precedessors, it is a period drama with melodramatic undertones, with the difference being this is set to the backdrop of the historically significant conflict between Spanish colonial forces and the Berber tribes of the Rif mountain region in Morocco in the early 1920s.

The series focuses on the clash between a group of upper class nurses who head into the war seeking validity through their actions and lower class but more experienced and acclaimed lower class colleagues that are already on the scene.

Among the new nurses is Julia, a 25-year-old who has conned her way to Morocco to search for her fiancé and brother, both of whom are missing in action.

According to Beta executive VP of international sales and acquisitions Christian Gockel, “The show takes the vintage lush, romantic and ever-twisting Bambú-esque storytelling skills to new heights of emotional suspense by setting a blend of true-to-life historic and fictional characters against the backdrop of the Spanish-Moroccan war of the 1920s”.

Gockel says the effect of these developments means Bambú has taken its “pedigree love-triangles and upstairs-downstairs conflicts beyond pure entertainment and into true drama”.

Beta will be holding a screening of the show, which runs to 13 episodes, at 11.30am on the Wednesdasy of MIPCOM (October 18) in the Festivale des Palais’ Auditorium K.

Gockel suggests it will be a “top show for public broadcasters around the world”, adding: “In addition, we expect Morocco to travel to platforms in numerous territories.

“Platforms need to expand their audiences and therefore are interested in reaching out to viewers who usually prefer watching traditional linear programmes – therefore Morocco has high potential.”

The show: Morocco – Love in the Times of War
The producer: Bambú Productions
The channel: Atresmedia
The distributor: Beta Film
The concept: Romantic drama set during the Spanish-Moroccan war