Veneno: the Spanish series by Los Javis about Cristina Ortiz that conquered half the world — and where to watch it

Veneno (2020) is the series with which Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, Los Javis, told the life and death of Cristina Ortiz, La Veneno, one of the most popular television and LGTBI icons in Spain in the nineties. Based onI say! Neither whore nor saint. The memoirs of La Veneno, the book by the journalist Valeria Vegas, the fiction of Atresplayer Premium broke audience records in Spain, was a phenomenon on HBO Max and won, among others, the Ondas Award and the GLAAD award for the best series in Spanish.

What's it about

The series begins in 1996, when Valeria Vegas (Lola Rodríguez), a young journalism student who has not yet made her transition, meets her late-night television idol: Cristina Ortiz, La Veneno. From that friendship is born the biography that structures the fiction, a journey between the town of Almería where Cristina grew up as Joselito, her media explosion in the program Tonight we cross the Mississippi, her time in prison and her last years, until her death in 2016.

The big casting decision defined the series: three trans actresses play Cristina at different stages of her life — Jedet (youth), Daniela Santiago (the Mississippi years) and Isabel Torres (maturity). The cast is completed by Paca la Piraña, a real friend of La Veneno who plays herself, along with Lola Dueñas, Goya Toledo and Ester Expósito.

A premiere marked by the pandemic

Veneno was supposed to be released in full on March 29, 2020, but the COVID-19 confinement paralyzed filming and only the first episode could be broadcast that day. The second arrived on June 28, coinciding with Pride, and starting on September 20, a weekly episode was broadcast until the end, on October 25, 2020. That same day, Antena 3 broadcast the first two episodes free-to-air, which led the night with more than 2.5 million viewers, according to Wikipedia and the Spanish press.

The phenomenon went far beyond the audience: after the premiere, Atresplayer Premium subscribers grew by 42% to 3.3 million, the first three episodes were screened in more than 200 Spanish cinemas and a giant canvas of the series occupied the Gran Vía in Madrid, the first time that an LGTBI series was promoted like this on that avenue. The City Council also replaced the plaque dedicated to La Veneno in the Parque del Oeste.

Awards: from Ondas to GLAAD

• Ondas 2020 Award: best female performer in national fiction, shared by Jedet, Daniela Santiago and Isabel Torres, «for capturing the essence of La Veneno making the viewer understand the character».
• GLAAD Award 2021: best series in Spanish, according to El País. Only Élite and Las Chicas del Cable had achieved it before among Spanish fictions.
• Iris Critics Award 2020 and nominations at the Feroz, including Paca la Piraña as best supporting actress.

The series also had a sad epilogue: Isabel Torres, who played the more mature Cristina while fighting lung cancer diagnosed in 2018, died on February 11, 2022 at the age of 52, according to RTVE.

Where to see it

• Spain: the 8 episodes are available on Atresplayer, the Atresmedia platform where it premiered as an original series.
• United States and Latin America: on HBO Max, where it premiered on November 19, 2020 and became a small criticism phenomenon.
• Soundtrack: includes versions by Amaia and Jedet and the original song “You should never have crossed the Mississippi” by Leiva, available on digital platforms.

In summary

Why watch it? Because it is one of the most celebrated Spanish series of the decade: exciting without being complacent, with three award-winning central performances and a fascinating reconstruction of Spanish television in the nineties. Is it tough? At times — it does not avoid prostitution, prison or the violence that crossed Cristina's life — but the tenderness with which Los Javis look at their characters makes it a luminous story. How long is it? Eight chapters: a weekend well spent.