Spy Manor Glória: Netflix’s first Portuguese Series

Netflix announced last week the start of the Glória series, its new original project, produced by the SPi production company of Grupo SP Televisão and co-produced with RTP.

An original series by Pedro Lopes, and directed by Tiago Guedes, Glória will be shooted in Ribatejo region and in Lisbon. The series takes place in the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, in the small village of Glória do Ribatejo, where RARET is located, an American broadcasting center that broadcasts Western propaganda to the Eastern Bloc. João Vidal, an engineer from families linked to the Estado Novo, but recruited by the KGB, will take on several high-risk espionage missions that could change the course of Portuguese and world history.

The series will feature Portuguese and international actors, with emphasis on Miguel Nunes, Carolina Amaral, Victoria Guerra, Afonso Pimentel, Adriano Luz, Joana Ribeiro, Marcelo Urgeghe, Sandra Faleiro, Carloto Cotta, Maria João Pinho, Inês Castel-Branco , Rafael Morais and Leonor Silveira.

José Amaral, Executive director SPI:“This is a journey and a strategic vision for international expansion that we have been following. As producers, this moment also represents the beginning of a new cycle for the Portuguese audiovisual market, since it places our country on the roadmap of the great international productions that Netflix has been advocating, and which we are privileged to be able to count on with the participation of RTP, which has been a great partner in this international positioning.”

José Fragoso, Director RTP1 and RTP International channels: “The beginning of the shooting of the series ‘Glória’ represents the arrival of Portuguese television fiction to a new level of quality and demand. With an indisputable international profile, developed by an experienced and rigorous SP team, the series that Tiago Guedes is going to direct will be the first national fiction project to count on Netflix’s exceptional international production and distribution capacity. RTP, whose investment in regular series production is today a decisive element in the development of this sector, is proud to participate directly in this co-production, which is also a historic moment for our country’s audiovisual production, alongside SP and Netflix. “

Nuno Artur Silva, Secretary of State for Cinema, Audiovisual and Media: “I welcome the first co-production of a Portuguese production company with Netflix and I hope that this first production, which has the support of the Tourism, Film and Audiovisual Fund, will be followed by many other projects that will give visibility to the creativity of Portuguese screenwriters, directors and producers, and give the country’s cinema and audiovisual a new dynamism. ”

Synopsis: Glória is a historical spy thriller centered on RARET, the re-broadcasting office of Radio Free Europe. Taking place in Portugal in the sixties, the series shows how Glória, a small village in Ribatejo, became an unlikely Cold War stage where American and Soviet forces fought through dangerous sabotage maneuvers to achieve control of Europe. At the center of this story is João Vidal, a young man from a family with connections in the Portuguese Fascist Regime, who gets recruited by the KGB after becoming politicized in the Colonial War. João will find himself involved in the intricate webs of the spy game, and ultimately understand that whatever side he is on, the world, particularly the one of espionage, is never black and white. 

About SPi 

Producer dedicated to the development and production of international projects. Since its creation, it has been participating in co-productions, namely with the Spanish market, celebrating strategic alliances and following the new emerging business models that are configuring a new production reality with the entry of new players / OTT’s in the audiovisual panorama worldwide.

SPi belongs to Grupo SP Televisão, founded in 2007 by a team and structure of shareholders with over 25 years of experience in the Portuguese audiovisual market. SP Televisão is the reference of independent producers in Portugal, responsible for the greatest successes of Portuguese fiction, recognized nationally and internationally.