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Currently priming “Number 10,” one of the most awaited of British TV series, “Sherlock” creator and “Doctor Who” showrunner Steven Moffat will attend Serielizados-Barcelona Series Festival as its headline international
guest. He will be joined producer Sue Vertue, producer of “Mr. Bean,” “Sherlock” and “Number 10” and CEO of Hartswood Films, the U.K.’s longest-established scripted producer, also behind ITVX and ITV1 hit “Douglas Is Cancelled.” Hartswood Films was majority acquired by ITV Studios in 2024.
Serielizados has yet to reveal what Moffat and Vertue will talk about. If a Series Mania masterclass is anything to go on, their session in Barcelona will most certainly be funny.
“Real life is funny – drama is a lie,” Moffat said at Serielizados in Lille. “You can’t be too funny, too sexy or too pretty. Always go for funny. Humor is truth on speed, that’s what it is. It’s insight with velocity.”
British humor is one of the things the British can be very good at, and one of its television industry’s main export values.
Serielizados is ever more aligned with the Catalan TV industry while still attracting the Spanish premieres of some of the most talked-about international series of the year – 2025’s festival was won, for example, by Norway’s “A Better Man” and Canada’s “Empathy” – the conference strand at Serielizados industry arm, Serielizados Pro, generated a high-quality debate energized top executives from Nordic broadcasters SVT, DR and YLE, plus also reps from BBC Studios, Arte France, Germany’s Beta Film and Paris-based Slot Machine.
In-person attendance soared last year 80% to 16,000, while Serielizados’ online version, hosted by upscale SVOD service Filmin, hit 194,000 viewers.
‘In Vitro,’ ‘Episòdic’
In 2026, running Oct. 19-28, Serielizados will open with “In Vitro,” backed by Catalan public broadcaster 3Cat and HBO Max and set to debut this fall.
Created by Marc Crehuet and Alejandra Guimerà, and directed by Creheut (“Pop Ràpid,” “The One-Eyed King,” !Mirror, Mirror”), it turns on Blanca, 37, a biologist, new to a fertility clinic where she confronts the needs and risks of her clients and her own as well. Beta Film picked up international distribution rights for“In Vitro” ahead of Series Mania.
Serielizados closes with an experiement, the first season of “Episòdic: El principi d’Arquimedes,” a six-part anthology series, each episode lasting 15 minutes, made by 38 audiovisual students from universities, film schools and educational institutions.
The series is directed by Ainhoa Lastra (“La nit del foc,” at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and Andrea Morales (Paraules d’amor) and Carlos R. Haro (“Cinc minuts més, si us plau”). The series is written by Daniel Durán Pous – a producer on “Unicorni” with two shorts to his credit, “Hipolit” and “L’ultim tren” – adapting the “The Arquimedes Principle,” from playwright Josep María Miró. An alleged child-abuse drama which cleverly plays with audiences own sense of prejudice, the work is hailed in its native Catalonia as a modern Catalan classic.
‘Segunda Temporada,’ ‘Nissaga de poder,’ ‘Literaturium de séries‘
Serielizados will also showcase “Segunda Temporada,” the latest Filmin Original from Spain’s upscale SVOD streaming service, turning on Paula, a once bestselling generational voice who, after writers’ block, is reduced to ghosting the bio of a washed up trap music legend, just out of prison, and maybe or maybe not feeling redemption. Created by Miguel Angel Blanca, behind breakout Filmin hit “Autodefensa,” “Segunda Temporada” will contend in Serielizados national competition.
The TV festival will also showcase the 30th anniversary of 3Cat daily soap “Nissaga de poder,” a milestone in its drive for ambitious originals, and “Literaturium de séries,” an exclusive live edition of the comedy podcast reviewing the supposed but fictional best TV series of the year.
Mind The Gap
Serielizados also announced Tuesday the second edition of Mind the Gap, its project pitching showcase which will take place Oct. 21, forming part of Serielizados PRO. Expanded to 11 selected titles, with its call for submissions now open and extended through Aug. 17, eight will be chosen from an open call and three tapped from winners at Germany’s Seriencamp Co-Production Pitch and Spain’s ECAM Forum and Iberseries & Platino Industria – an indication of how European events are working together to get projects in front of its top commissioners, production executives and sales agents who make up Mind the Gap’s jury.
Participants can also expect press coverage. Winners at Mind the Gap’s inaugural edition last year were led by best series laureate “Fortune Cookie,” a low-fi sci-fi drama thriller set in Madrid’s Usera Chinatown, created by Adrián Saba (“The Erection of Toribio Bardelli”) and produced by Kubik Films, Newen Studios Spanish banner headed by brothers Fernando, Jorge and Alberto Sánchez-Cabezudo.
“A comedy about two Gen Z misfits dodging eviction, chasing dreams, flipping the finger to adulthood and to the glittering city [Barcelona] that’s leaving them behind,” said producer Anna M. Bofarull, “Precarity Fair,” created by Eli Cruz and Mika Cilindro and produced by KaBoGa, won Mind the Gap’s Konga Music Award.
In a further move, Serielizados has released its poster with a slogan, “An Eye for It,” which, it says, “emphasizes the role of its programming team in filtering and curating the ever-growing number of television series, helping audiences discover the most exciting and distinctive titles in an increasingly crowded landscape.”
Serielizados has indeed often shown impecable taste in its lineup selection and top prizes, a jury recognising Sweden’s “Pressure Point” in 2024, for instance, as best international series. Plaudits in 2025 in the national competition went to “The Anatomy of a Moment” and “Jakarta.”
