Isabel

I gave this 10/10 because I believe that it succeeded completely in its intent, which was presumably to faithfully recount, as dramatically as possible, the rise to power and reign of one of Europe's most important monarchs. At over 39 episodes and more than 2500 minutes in length it is of course hard to be perfect all the time and there are moments when the acting or the scenery is not at 100% what it normally is but that is a minor quibble. If there are a few dodgy displays of cheap CGI scenes then there are a 100 beautiful ones. If there are one or two actors who appear again in different roles, then do remember that this is a relatively small country(compared to the US) with a smaller budget but with an ambition no less than anything conceived in Hollywood.

Two things stand out: The story with its countless subplots which appear at a dizzying rate (especially for the non Spanish speaker), and secondly the acting. Michelle Jenner as Isabel is a beautiful queen, but she does a fantastic job bringing to life the complex personality, so distant from our own time but which ultimately succeeds in turning a backwater kingdom in the middle of the Iberian peninsula into a world empire. Rodolfo Sanchez as Fernando/Ferdinand is also inspired, but for me the two most memorable performances were from two other duos, one at the start and one at the end :Carillo/Pacheco in the first series with their plots and counter plots are pure drama while Juana/Felipe in the third and final series is tragedy in its most bewildering form. Irene Escolar as Juana "la loca" is probably the best of all. You haven't seen intense if you haven't seen Escolar's Juana.

One thing bugs me though: as a non Spaniard who fortunately understands Spanish, I am nevertheless sad that the DVD box set does not come with English subtitles. As a ruler Isabel is there, somewhere in the top 10 of great rulers/tyrants with Napoleon, Lincoln, Genghis, Caesar Augustus and Charlemagne and well ahead of the Tudors or the Borgia in terms of importance in world affairs. Lots of good things, and to be sure bad things: Inquisition, the Discovery of America, the granting of Human rights to the Indians(later ignored by the conquistadors who caused the death of millions) and the financial and legal reforms which laid the foundations of one the greatest empires in History and whose influence is still felt in that 500million speak Spanish today. With such an important person in history, surely someone in the Spanish state television would have the in-site to market this on a world wide basis.

There was a time when European networks produced excellent TV series based on historical events, literary works or on the lives of relevant historical characters. Budgetary restrictions gradually did away with that type of programming and productions nearly halted. TVE themselves produced a few remarkable ones and so did the BBC and RAI, the latter before turning into the generally appalling network it now is. With this new series centred on the life of Queen Isabella of Spain and now well into its third and final season, TVE has more or less come back to what they so successfully did until a couple of decades back. Actors are of a good enough standard and the recreation of some of the Kingdoms that comprised the Iberian peninsula at the time is in general to a good standard. There is some abuse, in my view, of computer-generated images and sequences that are distractive and in a few instances questionable in their success but the series as a whole deserves wider distribution (PBS take note?). The Alhambra sequences in Seasons 2 and 3 are a delight to watch.

The show is definitely entertaining. Good job on the scenes and settings. Great to see attempts at creating the atmosphere of palaces of the 15th century Peninsula and inclusion of monuments like Alhambra in some scenes.

The cast delivered an unequal performance through. Sometimes over-stressing an emotion. A bit too much dramatisation.

If you don't get bothered by lack of historical accuracy then you'll enjoy Isabel very much. However, in my case, I found the narrative leaning to one side only with Muslims being the villains and Jews the allies of the Catholic Kings who are often portrayed as merciful and generous. History tells us a different story: the Granada War was vicious. Innocent victims on both sides of the conflict. The Nasrids while they didn't share the same faith as the Catholics were just as Iberians. Both Muslims and Jews suffered a great deal during the war and afterwards. The list goes on.

All in all, it's a good entertaining show worth watching.

1400s ... Spain has The Catholic Monarchy ruling all over the Reign. The Queen, Isabel, with its faithful attitude over the catholicism, gets rid of all enemies of the country, fighting against them An Excellent Spanish production, proudly made by all Spanish actors, trying to recall one of the most spectacular war times in our country We still waiting for the second season, actually expected for 2013 fall Looking forward to you enjoy this Spanish production as I did. There is still some circunstances that has no popped up yet, because of the remains of the time. Further more, we expect to all the history that has been playing, continues as the previous episodes has been doing.

This has got to be one of THE best historical series I have ever seen. I've watched it several times and learned so much about this period in Spanish history. I just wish it was available to purchase in the US with English subs. I've contacted many different companies and RTVe as to why it is not available and can't get an answer.

Michelle Jenner and Rodolfo Sancho are incredible as Isabel and Fernando. All of the characters are. It could have been set up as just a romance between these two, but it also shows the politics of the era while keeping you on the edge of your seat.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.