• LOC Alberto Caballero, creator of 'La que se avecina': the millions left by the series

A grey sky settles over the sign of the Torregrosa Funeral Home on a foggy but not excessively cold November morning. We are in an industrial estate in Navalcarnero, on the outskirts of Madrid, and from the outside it might look like it is really a funeral home. In fact, we are told that some countrymen have approached us to ask for prices and services. But no, behind the poster that welcomes us is a television set, that of Muertos, S.L., the new series by siblings Alberto and Laura Caballero, created together with Araceli Álvarez de Sotomayor and Daniel Deorador, for Movistar Plus+.

The quartet is the creator of other successful fictions such as La que se avecina, El pueblo and Machos alfa and with this one they complete their collaboration with all the major platforms in the country. Everyone wants to work with them. The goal here is the same, to make us laugh, although they promise a very different comedy from the previous ones. "It's a Spanish Succession, with all its miseries," says Alberto, but in a funeral home, "and instead of a large corporation it's an SME."

When the owner of the funeral home dies, his daughters want to close it and set up a gym, his right-hand man, Dámaso (Carlos Areces) longs to rise to power, but unpredictably it is Nieves (Ascen López), the widowed wife, who takes the reins, helped by her son-in-law Chemi (Diego Martín), a textbook brother-in-law. "She looks silly, but then it turns out she isn't," Ascen says of her character, "she's like a lot of ladies who have been dedicated all their lives to their family, their children and to catechesis, but then they put them in the real world and they work better than expected. Except when it comes to catechesis, we are very similar. In the desire to live, to do things in a group, to have challenges...".

The actress is ecstatic. He tells us that he has worked in hundreds of series (including La que se avecina, a long time ago, and Machos Alfa), always with very small roles, and that his biggest challenge had been the musical Billy Elliot, but this is his first television protagonist: "I've won the lottery! I should have retired on September 30th, but a month before this opportunity came my way. I'm very happy. If this continues, I'll stay here for as long as it takes. This gives me a lot of life and health." And he says: "When I got the scripts, I cried with laughter. I hope people feel the same way when they watch the show."

We wanted to tell you that everything that usually happens around death is very miserable

Alberto Caballero, creator of Muertos S.L.

"We wanted to tell the story that everything that usually happens around death is very miserable," says Alberto Caballero, who cites Miguel Mihura as a reference for the project. "Beyond affections and pains, there are interests. People can stick over the ownership of a company like in Succession or who gets the fridge. Our favourite theme for the series is decadence – of coexistence, of emptied Spain, of masculinity...-, because now it was time for the decadence of decadence, which is death, and all that it causes".

The place where it takes place marks the character of the proposal, although they assure that, in reality, it is a sitcom of co-workers, like The Office. They seek to give the series a naturalistic air: "The photography, the sets, the uniform, etc., don't look like comedy, which are usually brighter and happier," adds Laura, "From the image it looks like a thriller, it has turned out very elegant."

Muertos, S.L. is an anomalous filming: unlike what is usually the case, there are no nerves, no screams, and no stress. It could be thought that it is because of the solemnity that propitiates the fictitious mortuary place, but what reigns is the family atmosphere -from the driver who brings us to the production assistant- of the production company Contubernio.

We cross the lavish hall of the funeral home, with its wooden counter and velvet armchairs, the cafeteria with all its details and the wake rooms, and then move on to the other side, the one we don't normally see: first, some mundane offices -Chemi's adorned with a poster of Steve Jobs, which already defines the character-, and at the end the spookiest, the crematorium oven and thanatopraxia room. There is no shortage of detail here and the Knights have learned everything about the subject: for example, how the mouth of a corpse is sewn up, the special contact lenses that are put in so that the eyes do not open or how long it takes for a body to be cremated.

Their advisor, a thanatopractor who enjoys his work very much, not only advises them, but also shows them material from his work: "I have some videos and photos now on my mobile, that if the police stop me...", jokes Laura. However, the series will be suitable for all stomachs: "We didn't want to make a gore series. There are characters doing thanatopraxia, but like the one in the bank making bills," he clarifies.

There will be, in principle, eight half-hour episodes, which will arrive on Movistar Plus+ foreseeably during the first half of 2024, although the investment in sets and the juicy nature of the theme suggest that it could have continuity. After the success of the comedy Poquita fe, the platform is open to series that last enough seasons. The Knights are also keen to continue. They have been left with many dead in the inkwell.

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