Places of memory in the new millennium: British influence on Spanish transnational heritage cinema and television

A revival of Spanish heritage productions has taken place in the new millenium, with films such as Las 13 rosas/13 Roses (Martínez Lázaro, 2007) and La voz dormida/The Sleeping Voice (Zambrano, 2011) and successful TV series such as Cuéntame cómo pasó/Tell Me How It Happened (2001–2011), Amar en tiempos revueltos/Loving in Troubled Times (2005–2012/2013–), La señora/The Lady (2008–2010) and 14 de abril, la República/14th April, the Republic (2011). This article views this development against the backdrop of British heritage productions in film and television during the crucial Thatcher years. Borrowing conventions from this genre, Spanish heritage productions emphasize their ‘quality’ while including a component of revisionist nostalgia in the narratives. The aim of this article is thus to examine how the generalized wilful nostalgia of the last decades is reflected in Spanish cinema and television, which reproduce local historical events in global formats.