Il tempo del coraggio e dell'amore

My wife and I really enjoyed this series. The plot is engaging, and the acting is above average. Adriana Ugarte, who plays Sira/Arish, is particularly fun to watch. More than anything I enjoyed the look of the show -- the architecture (in Tangier and Tetouan Morrocco, Madrid, and Lisbon), the cars, and the clothes. I saw somewhere that the women in this show (the dressmaker and her clients) wore well over 1000 different outfits, each more elegant, in a 1940 sort of way, than the last. This isn't what I usually watch TV for, but the look of the show is over the top and it makes the whole series more fun to watch. Also, with the first half of the show set in the Tetouan, in the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, during the Spanish Civil War, I had to brush up on some interesting history. I had imagined that Morocco was all under French control before the country resumed full independence in the 1950s, but a strip of northern Morocco was under Spanish administrative control from 1912 on. And of course Franco had started his rebellion against the Republic, and thus the civil war, by invading Spain from Morocco..

This is one of the best TV series I've ever seen. I watched this through Netflix streaming and got so hooked, I'd stay up late to see what was happening next. The main character is smart, courageous, resilient & gorgeous. She's a seamstress who creates stunning haute couture dresses along the lines of Grace Kelly and Kate Middleton. Her clients are some of the richest & most powerful of European society, so it makes it fun. The film is set in the late 30s & early 40s, so there are gloves, hats, coordinated bags & heels ... pure class & style all the way. But that's just the flash. The story itself starts out slowly, but develops, along with the characters, from a poor dressmaker's shop into intriguing emotionally charged war time espionage excitement, showcasing classic cars & incredible Moroccan & Spanish architecture & decor. The film is in Spanish, so if you don't speak it, you have to read the subtitles. The Spaniards speak very quickly, so I had to pause occasionally to read the full text. A fun fact: Because the main character, "Sira", is a dressmaker and the show was such a hit, sewing machine sales in Spain rose 197%! I'm going to pull out my own fabric stash & patterns & hit my machine. Only wish we still dressed that classy & could kick the Kardashians to the curb. What a refreshing turn that would be.

If you had created a series just for me, it would be "The Time in Between" -- 1930s, drama, fashion, suspense, and espionage - it had my name on it from the beginning.

"The Time in Between" is carried on the beautiful shoulders of Adriana Ugarte, a young, natural beauty with dancing eyes and a warm smile, who plays the heroine, Sira, who lives with her mother in Madrid during the Civil War. Her mother is an excellent seamstress and teaches Sira her skills. Sira is engaged to a young man who wants her to buy a typewriter so that she can take some classes. On entering the shop, Sira's eyes and the eyes of the man (Rubén Cortada) behind the desk meet - he's a hunk - and it's over. When Sira takes off with him, her mother disowns her.

After a great time nightclubbing in Morocco, the business project he was to invest in never materializes. One morning she wakes up and he's taken all of the jewels and money her father (whom she just met) had given her. Broke, she escapes from the hotel, finds herself in trouble with the law, and winds up in a low-class boarding house.

When the owner of the house wrecks her dress, Sira fixes it. The owner sets her up in a shop, and soon, she is a star dressmaker for the elite. One of them is Rosalinda Fox (Hannah New), the lover of Biegeber, the High Commissioner of the Protectorate, with whom she forms an important friendship.

The film then takes us on a wild ride that leads us to Nazis, espionage, and more love for Sira.

The scenery, the atmosphere, the clothing - everything is perfect and eye-popping. I understand this series was so popular that sewing machine sales in Spain rose 197%! I can believe it.

This is an absolute must-see. It's like potato chips - you can't watch just one episode.

For trivia buffs, there actually was a Rosalinda Fox and Commissioner Juan Biegeber. After the war, Rosalinda headed to Guadarranque where she bought property to await Juan, who was under house arrest in Ronda. The two of them lived there together; Juan died in 1957, and Rosalinda died at the age of 96. Rosalinda's book is called "The Grass and the Asphalt."

I read the book first and watch the show after. This is a really great adaptation! They did not miss a single conversation or eliminated a relevant character. But they added their own story line (not affecting the story from the book) but included new stories or scenes that made the last 9 episodes impossible long. This would have been the best adaptation of they had just left it alone and made 12 episodes instead of 17. The only added science that was much appreciated was the "closing cycles" of the firsts love interests and was much appreciated for the unsatisfied book reader. This was great, but the second half of the show got very slow.

It is everything one would hope for in a romantic period piece. Lovely scenery that is beautifully filmed. Lilting melodies on piano or with orchestra that remain in your head afterward. Fun scenes throughout, from the clubs, the cities, the country sides, to the costumes and cars of those times that are perfectly done. The actors all portraying their parts perfectly. I even learned things, such as the eating of the 12 grapes on New Years Eve in the main plaza in Madrid - which I looked up on my iPad without pausing the series on my TV. The story, as well, compelling, romantic, stressful at times as the main characters are always in some kind of danger. Perfect for delightfully and very satisfyingly filling a rainy day in bed with lots of sugary snack treats to indulge in.