Sherlock creator and Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, who is currently gearing up for one of the most anticipated British TV series, Number 10, will be the headline international guest at the Serielizados Barcelona Series Festival. He will join Sue Virtue, CEO of Hartswood Films, producer of Mr Bean, Sherlock and Number 10, Britain’s oldest scripted producer and producer of the ITVX and ITV1 hit Douglas Is Canceled. Hartswood Films was majority acquired by ITV Studios in 2024.
Selierizados has not yet revealed what Moffat and Virtue will discuss. If a masterclass for series enthusiasts were to be held, their session in Barcelona would definitely be interesting.
“Real life is interesting. Drama is a lie,” Moffat said on Lille’s Serie Elizados. “It can’t be too funny, it can’t be too sexy, it can’t be too beautiful. Always try to be funny. Humor is truth with speed, that’s what it is. It’s insight with speed.”
British humor is one of the things the British are good at and one of the television industry’s main exports.
Selierizados is further deepening its ties with the Catalan television industry, while still attracting Spanish premieres of some of the year’s most talked about international series. For example, the 2025 festival was won by Norway’s “A Better Man” and Canada’s “Empathy.” The conference division of Serielizados Pro, the industry arm of Serielizados, will generate high-quality debates and will include representatives from the Nordic broadcasters SVT, DR and YLE, as well as BBC Studios, Arte France, Germany’s Beta Film and Paris-based Slot Machine.
In-person attendance soared 80% last year to 16,000 people, while the online version of Serielizados, hosted by premium SVOD service Filmin, reached 194,000 viewers.
“In vitro”, “Episode”
In 2026, Selierizados, which will air from October 19 to 28, is scheduled to debut this fall, opening with “In Vitro” sponsored by Catalan public broadcaster 3Cat and HBO Max.
Created by Marc Klewe and Alejandra Guimera and directed by Klewe (Pop Rapid, The One-Eyed King, Mirror, Mirror), the film follows Blanca, a 37-year-old biologist working at a fertility clinic for the first time, as she confronts the needs and risks of her patients and herself. Beta Films acquired international distribution rights to “In Vitro” ahead of Series Mania.
“Serielizados” ends with Experiment, the first season of “Episodes: El principi d’Arquimedes”, a six-part anthology series with each episode lasting 15 minutes, created by 38 audiovisual students from universities, film schools and educational institutions.
The series is directed by Pompeu Fabra University’s Ainhoa Lastra (“La nit del foc”), Andrea Morales (“Paradise of Love”) and Carlos R. Haro (“Cinc minuts mes, si us plau”), and written by Daniel Duran Pous, producer of “Unicorni” and two short films, “Hipolit” and “L’ultim.” “Tren” – An adaptation of playwright Josep Maria Miró’s “Archimedes’ Principle,” this drama about alleged child abuse that plays on the audience’s own prejudices is hailed as a modern Catalan classic in its native Catalonia.
Filming of “Episode”
“Segunda Temporada”, “Nissaga de Poder”, “Literary Series”
Serilizados also presents “Segunda Temporada”, the latest Firmin original from Spain’s premium SVOD streaming service. Paula is a former generational best-selling voice actress who, after a break in her writing career, finds herself ghosting the career of a washed-up trap music legend who has just been released from prison and may or may not have been saved. “Segunda Temporada”, created by Miguel Ángel Blanca, the man behind Firmin’s smash hit “Autodefensa”, will compete in the national competition of Seriezados.
“Segunda Temporada”
The TV festival will also feature the 30th anniversary of the daily soap “Nissaga de poder,” a milestone in 3Cat’s ambitious original production efforts, and the exclusive live version of “Literaturium de Séries,” a comedy podcast that reviews the year’s best fictional TV series.
Be careful of the gap
Serielizados also announced on Tuesday the second edition of Mind the Gap, a project proposal showcase to be held on October 21 as part of Serielizados PRO. The call for entries has now started and has been extended until August 17th, expanding to 11 carefully selected titles, with eight titles selected from the open call and three titles selected from the winners of Germany’s Seriencamp co-production pitch, Spain’s ECAM Forum, and Iberseries & Platino Industria. This shows how European events work together to get projects in front of the top commissioners, production executives and sales agents who make up the Mind the Gap jury.
Participants can also expect media coverage. The winners of last year’s first edition of Mind the Gap were led by “Fortune Cookie,” which won the award for best series. The film is a lo-fi sci-fi drama thriller set in Madrid’s Usera Chinatown, created by Adrián Saba (The Erection of Toribio Baldelli) and produced by Cubic Films and Newen Studios, the Spanish banner led by brothers Fernando, Jorge and Alberto Sánchez-Cavezdo.
“It’s a comedy about two Gen Z misfits who avoid eviction, pursue their dreams, move on to adulthood, and point their finger at the glittering city (Barcelona) that leaves them behind,” said producer Anna M. Bofarle. “Precarity Fair,” written by Eli Cruz and Mika Cilindro and produced by Kaboga, won a Conga Music Award for Mind the Gap.
In a further move, Serielizados released a poster with the slogan “An Eye for It”. It says it “underlines the role of programming teams in curating and curating a growing number of TV series, helping viewers discover the most exciting and distinctive titles in an increasingly crowded landscape.”
Indeed, Serielizados has often shown impeccable taste in line-up selection and top awards, such as the jury’s recognition of Sweden’s 2024 Pressure Point as Best International Series. Honored at the 2025 national competition were “Anatomy of the Moment” and “Jakarta.”
