Aquí no hay quien viva
| Aquí no hay quien viva | |
|---|---|
 Season 4 DVD Box | |
| Starring | Fernando Tejero Eduardo Gómez Gemma Cuervo Mariví Bilbao Emma Penella Luis Merlo Eva Isanta Adrià Collado José Luis Gil Loles León Sofía Nieto Eduardo Martínez Carme Balagué Isabel Ordaz Santiago Ramos Juan Díaz Elio González Maria Adanez Daniel Guzman Malena Alterio Laura Pamplona Guillermo Ortega |
| Country of origin | Spain |
| No. of episodes | 77 as of February 25, 2006 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 90 min aprox |
| Original release | |
| Network | Antena 3, Factoría de Ficción, Paramount Comedy |
| Release | 2003 – present |
Aquí no hay quien viva (No one can live here) is a Spanish television comedy focusing on the inhabitants of the fictional building Calle Desengaño 21, Calle Desengaño being a street in Madrid. New episodes are shown on Antena 3 network in Spain, and cable/satellite channel Factoría de Ficción reruns them a couple of weeks later. Another cable/satellite channel, Paramount Comedy, reruns the old episodes. In Latin America the show is transmitted through the Antena 3 Internacional satellite channel.
It has become popular thanks to its funny characters and witty script. The show has now finished its fourth season.
Characters
Porter's lodge
- Emilio Delgado Martín (Fernando Tejero) - The building's porter. He lives in the porter's lodge with his father, Mariano. He's not an ambitious man, he just wants to live without worries and have a steady girlfriend. Unluckily, he's in the wrong building for it. He's a gossip and he always has a comeback for everything. He was in college for a while, until he was kicked out. He's had three girlfriends so far: Rocío (a mailwoman with a young son whom he almost married), Belén (a complicated relationship where they have broken up and getting together again several times) and Carmen (his college professor).
- Mariano Delgado (Eduardo Gómez) - Emilio's father, though not exactly a model one. He's separated from Emilio's mother and, since he has no place to live, he made himself one with his son. He has a lot of nerve, he's a womanizer without much luck and he's always after one money scheme or another. It won't be the first time Emilio has kicked him out, but he always takes him back. His catch phrase is ignorante de la vida, criticizing the younger generation for being ignorant about life. He enjoys a brief career as a stand-up comic with his performance being called Crónicas Marianas, "The Mariano Chronicles", a reference to the Spanish TV show Crónicas Marcianas. He considers himself a metrosexual, much to the amusement of his neighbors and son.
1-A
Radiopatio headquarters, home of three old ladies nicknamed las Supernenas (The Powerpuff Girls and las tres mellizas (the three twins) among others.
- Vicenta Benito (Gemma Cuervo) - Lives in flat 1-A. She's a retired woman that has never married and who's still a virgin. She's really naive (to the point that she seems dumb) and polite but also very optimistic. Her dog Valentin is the most important thing for her. Alongside her sister Marisa and her friend Concha, they're the source of all gossiping in the building. She's got a crush on Andrés. When Marisa's husband gets back they end up together to everyone's amazement.
- Maria Luisa "Marisa" Benito (Mariví Bilbao) - Vicenta's older sister. After her husband Manolo left her, Vicenta took her in her home. She's the polar opposite of her sister, a harsh, ironic chain-smoker who always speaks her mind. She would like to retire to Benidorm with a handsome German. Alongside her sister and her friend Concha, they like to spy on others in the building and spread gossip. Marisa is often seen smoking and carries a large bottle of Chinchón liquor in her purse.
- Concha (Emma Penella) - In the first season, she lived in flat 2-B with her son Armando and her grandson Dani. Afterwards, they moved out and she sold the flat to the Guerra family. But her son put her in an old people's home because the woman he moved in with didn't like her, which pissed her off. She went to live with her friends Vicenta and Marisa. She still had another flat in the building, which she rented to Belén without a contract. Recently, she decided to sell it, and Belén bought it using a plot that Concha didn't like one bit.
1-B
- Mauricio "Mauri" Hidalgo (Luis Merlo) - A gay journalist who used to work for a Cosmopolitan-type magazine. He's unstable, hypochondriac, has many obsessions and he's pretty insecure. Mauri frequently finds himself not sure as to whether or not his potential love interests are gay. During the first season, he lived with his boyfriend Fernando, but he left to work in London. Later he had a son, Ezequiel, by artificial insemination with his lesbian roommate Bea. He also had an affair with Lucia's brother Diego, which ended when Diego got involved with Abel, Ezequiel's nanny. Fernando has since returned and they're living together again. Recently, Mauri decided to write a book at Fernando's urging and his own lack of fullfilment with his career. After suffering from severe writer's block, he was helped by Mariano to write an action novel featuring a truck driver who is struck by lightning and gains precognition powers. Although he found the story ridiculous, he went with the idea. The book became a best-seller.
- Fernando Navarro (Adrià Collado) - Mauri's lawyer boyfriend during season 1. After he lost his job when he came out, he got a very good job offer at London and finally decided to take it. They did the long-distance relationship thing for a while, but they finally broke up as friends. He has since returned and, after a bit of fumbling, he and Mauri are living together again. He has decided to start his own practice at home.
2-A
- Juan Cuesta (José Luis Gil) - A middle-aged high-school teacher and long time building president, a position that defines who he is. He's a very grey man, completely controlled by his wife, he's a born worrier and nobody respects him. But, as president of this building, he always sees himself in the middle of some big messy affairs. He's married to Paloma, until she ends up in coma. He then starts an affair with Isabel and, after an spectacular coming out, they move in together. He has divorced his wife, but has yet to marry Isabel. He lost his job and his position as building president in later seasons, and with them his purpose in life. He has since then found a new job and recovered the building president place.
- Paloma Hurtado (Loles León) - Juan's wife of 18 years. A very controlling woman with an acerbic tongue. She ended up in coma after failing down the interior patio from her window while fighting with Isabel. She finally got out of her coma, only to be run over with a car by Isabel.
- Natalia Cuesta (Sofía Nieto) - Juan and Paloma's teenaged daughter. She's got a lot more freedom since her mother is in coma. She's had several boyfriends, among them Pablo, with whom she lived under her aunt's roof for a while. She moved out to live on her own, but soon returned and she's now studying psychology. She got pregnant as a surrogacy mother for a couple that soon backed out of the deal; she still carries on with her pregnancy.
- José Miguel "Josemi" Cuesta (Eduardo Martínez) - Juan and Paloma's son, who is in his early teens. A lazy but sharp boy, always quick to take advantage of opportunities. Said to have a genius IQ, and was offered a chance to study abroad in Canada, but he opted to stay in Spain.
- Nieves Cuesta (Carme Balagué) - Nicknamed la Chunga by the neighbours, she's Juan's single sister. He moved in with him (without asking him first) after Paloma's accident to help him. Unlike her brother, she has a strong character and wants things done her way. She has some money, but she's stingy. She has a fallout with her brother over his relationship with Isabel and, after some trouble, ends up buying Isabel's flat and starting a relationship with her former husband Andrés, trying by all means to get back at her brother. When things between Andrés and her fall through, she moves away, leaving her brother in charge of renting the flat.
- Isabel Ruiz (Isabel Ordaz) - Called La Hierbas (herb-woman) by her neighbours, she moves in with her family after buying flat 2-B from Concha. Neurotic and hypochondriac with a laisser-faire attitude, she's big time into natural therapy, herbal remedies and yoga. After her husband gets jailed, she starts an affair with Juan, which eventually leads to the end of her marriage. She moves in with Juan and his children and eventually sells her flat. After Juan loses his job, she has to get back to work as a nurse, to her chagrin.
- Alex Guerra (Juan Díaz) - Isabel and Andrés' oldest son. When the family starts family therapy to try to save the marriage, Isabel confesses Alex is the product of a pre-marriage affair with a Polish man named Jaroslav. When Isabel moves in with Juan, he goes to live with them and gets along very well with his new family.
- Pablo Guerra (Elio González) - Isabel and Andrés' youngest son. After his parents' marriage breaks up, he sticks with his father. For a while, he dates and lives with Natalia in Nieves' flat. He moved with his mother after his father left.
2-B
- Roberto Alonso (Daniel Guzman) - Lucía's boyfriend. He's an architect, but works drawing erotic comics. He's brilliant, but he has no ambitions and he's lazy. After his relationship with Lucía ends, he moves to the building's attic and tries to get her back several times. After finally giving up, he now lives in 2-B with his ex-rival turned friend Carlos, trying to get him over his depression.
- Carlos (Diego Martín) - Lucía's childhood friend. A rich kid like her, he lives off his family's money. Carlos is very unsure of himself, and ends up doing whacky, impulsive things, such as pretending to be gay and trying to start a relationship with Mauri. He's been after Lucia since forever, but she never wanted anything with him. He helps her with her restaurant business, and gets infatuated with Alicia. Eventually, he buys the video shop in the ground floor and outs Juan as building president, gaining popular support by paying for a new elevator and spa in the attic. In a new year party, he has a drunken one-night stand with Alba, and she's now pregnant with his daughter, whom he agreed to support. After much trouble, Lucía finally gives him a chance, but it doesn't lasts long. Totally depressed, he agrees share a flat with Roberto.
3-A
- Lucía Álvarez (Maria Adanez) - Called La Pija (the snooty one). The daughter of the wealthy owner of a construction company, Lucía arrives at the building to live with her boyfriend Roberto. She works in her father's company and she's used to good clothes and the finer things. Eventually, her relationship with Roberto falls through and she decides to quit her father's company and do things by herself. She tries opening a restaurant, but it doesn't work. She goes through some difficult times after she refuses her father's money, but things started to get better once she gave her old boyfriend Carlos another chance. But things fell through quickly.
- Yago (Roberto San Martin) - Nicknamed el Sabrosón by the neighbours, he's Lucía's Cuban boyfriend, whom she met while on holidays while she was engaged to Carlos. He's a an econology nut and Lucía adopts his principles to get along with him. They've had several crisis when he caught her with Carlos and Roberto.
3-B
- Belen López (Malena Alterio) - Together with Alicia she's nicknamed la Golfa ( by her landlady. She rents flat 3-B to Concha, without a contract (a fact she reminds her landlady often). Harsh and fussy, she's very bitter because of her lack of success with men. She doesn't has a steady job and has worked in a lot of occupations (waitress, shop assistant and parking meter controller, among others). She eventually gets together with Emilio, to the point of living together, but they finally break up. Since then, they have broken up and getting together again several times, including an affair while he was dating Carmen. She had an one night stand with Roberto. She just got a mortgage to buy the flat from Concha.
- Alicia Sanz (Laura Pamplona) - Belen's roommate. A would-be actress, Alicia is vain, selfish, completely without tact and not above rubbing her success with men in her less successful roommate Belen's face. She goes through men like shoes, never falling in love with one. She toys with Carlos for a while, getting pricing gifts from him but never giving him anything in return. Occasionally (very occasionally) a bit of friendly generosity comes through. After Emilio moves up with Belén, they quarrel and Alicia moves in with a now single Lucía. After a while, she and Belén patch things through and she returns to 3-B. Eventually, Alicia finally falls in love with a man, Ricardo, and moves to New York City with him.
- Beatriz 'Bea' Villarejo (Eva Isanta) - Mauri's lesbian roommate and best friend. She moved in with Mauri after breaking-up with her girlfriend Inés, when Mauri was looking for a roommate after Fernando left. She's a veterinarian, open, optimistic and sure of herself. She wanted to have a child and Mauri offered to be sperm donor. He wasn't supposed to get involved with raising the child, but finally he did and in a big way. For a while, she dated lesbian lawyer Rosa, but the relationship ended when she made Bea choose between her and Mauri after her son, Ezequiel, was born. After Fernando returned, she moved to 2-B with her new friend Carmen. Now she lives in 3-B with Belén, Carmen and Ana, her new girlfriend.
- Carmen Villanueva (Llum Barrera) - A college professor, and the daughter of the vice-chancellor, she meets Emilio when he attends one of her classes and they start a relationship. Carmen knows what she wants and she's very sure of herself, but she has some insane tendencies. After she and Emilio break up, she moves up with Belén to try to recover him, up to the point to calling up her former crazy boyfriend to make him jealous, but it doesn't work. She later rents 2-B from Nieves, and Bea moves with her. She has a crush on Fernando, even after Bea tells her he's gay, and tries to seduce him, but he flees away scared. She now lives at 3-B with Bea, Belén and Inga.
- Ana (Vanessa Romero) - Nicknamed Inga by the neighbours, she's a very beautiful, Veela-like air hostess who, after a passionate night with Bea, ends up accepting she's a lesbian and they become a couple. She sporadically works as a model, which makes Bea rather jealous of other men looking at her love interest.
- Maria Jesús Vázquez (Beatriz Carvajal) - Belen's mother, she's nicknamed la Torrijas by the neighbours. She moves in with her when he leaves her husband. She's manipulative and dominant.
Attic
- Andrés Guerra (Santiago Ramos) - Isabel's husband. A middle-aged businessman of doubtful reputation, he has to sell his house after some trouble with the Treasury and he moves with his family to 2-B. He has a sports shop and he's always into doubtful business affairs. Eventually he's jailed, but he's able to get out when Vicenta pays his bond. But she has a crush on him, and he has to play along so she wouldn't retire the bond money. He suspects his wife is having an affair for a while, but he doesn't knows with whom until she tells him in a very inappropriate moment. He later starts a relationship with Nieves which falls through fast. He now lives alone in the attic.
Non-resident characters
- Paco (Guillermo Ortega) - The videoshop assistant. A self-proclaimed film lover, Paco has a collection of weird quirks and kinks. He's still a virgin (despite his friends attempts to find a woman to deflower him) because he wants his first time to be with a woman he loves. He finally finds a girlfriend at Diego and Abel's wedding and he gets very upset when his friends joke about the fact she's not very pretty.
Recurring characters
- Diego Álvarez (Mariano Alameda) - Lucia's younger brother. Recently married to Alba, he meets Mauri at his sister's restaurant opening, and they start an affair. He divorces and moves in with him, but their affair ends when he falls for Abel, the male nanny of Mauri's son Ezequiel. Mauri gets very pissed off and tries to prevent their wedding, but finally he marries Abel. But soon thereafter, he admits he has made an error, that it was too soon and that he misses Mauri. But Mauri's former boyfriend Fernando (who turns out to be a former college classmate of his) has since then returned.
- Alba (Marta Belenguer) - Diego's not completely sane wife. Jealous and insecure, she gets the shock of her life when she learns her husband is having an affair with another man. After they divorce, she has a one-night affair with Carlos, and she's now pregnant with his child.
- Rosa Izquierdo (María Almudéver) - Bea's girlfriend in season 4. A strong-willed lawyer that originally was hired by Bea's former employer against her but that she choose to became her lawyer instead. The two of them soon became a couple, but Rosa and Mauri never got along. In the end, they broke up when Bea choose to go with Mauri to Diego and Abel's wedding (to give him emotional support) instead of going with Rosa to meet her family.
- Marta (Assumpta Serna) - The president of the building on the opposite sidewalk. She's nicknamed pantumaca due to her strong catalan accent. Divorced for several years, she falls in love with Juan Cuesta, who hesitates between her and la hierbas. After being rejected by Juan she attempts suicide on New Year's Eve but finally accepts it and develops an ambiguous friendship with her rival, since every advice she gives her results in trouble and crisis for the couple. She's now going out with Isabel's youngest son Pablo.
Prizes
- Fotogramas de Plata: Best Actor (Fernando Tejero) (2005), Best Actress (Loles León)(2004)
- ATV Prize, Best Actor (Luis Merlo, 2005), Best Actress (Malena Alterio, 2005), Best Screenplay (2005), Best Fiction Program (2005).
- TP de Oro, Best National Series (2005), Best Actor (Fernando Tejero, 2005).
- Ondas Prize, best Series (2004), tied with Los Serrano.
External links
In Spanish: