Introduction

Recent social and political events in Spain have prompted a resurgence of feminism in the Spanish public sphere. Popular culture intervenes in these debates, and television does so specifically through the dramas that we explore in this book by foregrounding female stories, female subjects, and, in many cases, redefining and interpreting key moments in the progression of national gender politics. This study maps these developing concerns onto a selection of TV dramas that centre on feminisms and female identities and, as such, are key interlocutors in social change. Our intention is to mainstream Spanish television studies and, in our analysis of its innovative and varied approach to gender politics, to remove it from the ‘interpretative isolation ward’ (Smith 2006). After a brief overview of Spanish TV history and feminist TV scholarship in Spain and beyond, in this introduction we explain our methodology and the intellectual aims of the book as well as providing an outline of the chapters.