Criminal: Spain

Psychological games abound between detectives and suspects in a tense interrogation room, where the search for answers sometimes comes at a moral cost.

Criminal: Spain (2019) is a Spanish crime drama limited series created by Jim Field Smith and George Kay for Netflix. Its story unfolds almost entirely in a single interrogation room, where police detectives and suspects engage in a tense battle of wills. Emma Suárez plays detective María de los Ángeles Toranzo Puig, with Jorge Bosch as Carlos Cerdeño Varona and Álvaro Cervantes as Rai Messeguer Ortiz, and Carmen Machi and Eduard Fernández also appear in principal roles. The engine of the series is the investigators' need for answers, pressing suspects with psychological pressure while the search for the truth gradually exacts a moral price on everyone involved. Each of its three episodes of roughly forty minutes is built around a different case, with the room itself serving as the stage for every confrontation. The show is a compact, self-contained miniseries rather than a sprawling run, presented as a contained procedural piece. Its tone is claustrophobic, intense and morally uneasy, with a restrained visual register that keeps attention fixed on faces and words. Fans of Criminal (UK), The Killing and The Interrogation will find resonance in its procedural tension and dense, character-driven interrogations.

Critics and audiences found the interrogation-room format tense and well acted, though the mixed reception reflects uneven plotting and a modest audience rating.

• Criminal (UK)shared interrogation room tension, psychological cat and mouse, moral cost of investigation
• The Interrogationshared police procedural tension and interrogation-driven drama
• The Killingshared Nordic-style crime tension and morally grey investigators

Created by

Jim Field Smith, George Kay

Release Date

2019-09-20

Episode runtime

40 min

Rating

6.9 / 10 (111)

What is Criminal: Spain about?

A tense three-episode Spanish miniseries where detectives and suspects wage psychological games inside a single interrogation room.

What is Criminal: Spain like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Criminal: Spain as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is Criminal: Spain violent?

Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Criminal: Spain as mild.

What did critics think of Criminal: Spain?

Critics and audiences found the interrogation-room format tense and well acted, though the mixed reception reflects uneven plotting and a modest audience rating.

Which shows are like Criminal: Spain?

Shows with a similar feel include Criminal (UK), The Interrogation, and The Killing.

How long is Criminal: Spain?

Criminal: Spain: 1 season, 3 episodes.

Is Criminal: Spain still running?

No, Criminal: Spain has ended.

Where can I watch Criminal: Spain?

In United States, Criminal: Spain streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.