Verano azul (English: Blue Summer) is a Spanish television drama series created and directed by Antonio Mercero. It was first broadcast on La Primera Cadena of Televisión Española (TVE) from 11 October 1981 to 14 February 1982.
The series tells the adventures of a group of youngsters between the ages of 9 and 17, while on summer vacation in a small, unnamed coastal town on the Spanish Mediterranean Costa del Sol. The series was mainly filmed in Nerja, but the name of the town where the story takes place is never mentioned.
With 19 episodes, it drew up to 20 million viewers in Spain (TVE was the only television network available in Spain until 1983) and has been re-run multiple times since then. It was also broadcast in Hispanic America, Portugal, Brazil, France, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.
Contents
Characters
Main
Chanquete (Antonio Ferrandis), a sailor who lives in La Dorada 1ª, a fishing boat set up as a house on land near a cliff. He was born in 1924.
Julia (María Garralón) is a lonely painter on vacation in the town. In the chapter "The Rainbow Smile" the reason for her loneliness is revealed. She was born in 1948.
Bea (Pilar Torres), Tito's sister, is the beautiful official of the group, whose love Javi and Pancho dispute throughout the series. She was born in 1966.
Desi (Cristina Torres), an inseparable friend of Bea and the daughter of separated parents, which at the time was a novelty: such a scandal is a common comment among the other boys' parents. She was born in 1967.
Javi (Juan José Artero) is the leader of the gang. Proud, haughty and independent, he often clashes with his father, a defender of a strong hand and old values. He was born in 1967.
Pancho García (José Luis Fernández) is from the town and works as a delivery man for a grocery store run by his uncles, with whom he lives. He is the character with the most personality in the gang, that is because his parents died. He was born in 1965.
Quique (Gerardo Garrido), is Javi's best friend, located between the two older boys and the two younger ones, he is a somewhat blurred character. We know he even has a sister, but she isn't part of the gang. He was born in 1968.
Piraña (Miguel Ángel Valero), his name is Manuel (his parents know him as Manolito), but they call him Piraña because of his passion for eating, bordering on voracity. He is witty and cultured, and Tito's comrade-in-arms. He was born in 1972.
Tito (Miguel Joven), brother of Bea and is the smallest of the gang. Piraña's partner in arms. He was born in 1973.
Recurring
Agustín (Manuel Tejada) is the father of Bea and Tito, calm and always open to dialogue with his children.
Carmen (Elisa Montés) is the mother of Bea and Tito.
Javier (Manuel Gallardo) is Javi's father, an authoritarian who cares a lot about business.
Luisa (Helga Liné) is Javi's mother.
Jorge (Carlos Larrañaga) is Desi's father. He only appears in one chapter, "The Visitor".
Pilar (Concha Cuetos) is Desi's mother, who is separated from Jorge, her husband. Cuetos and Larrañaga later worked together again playing a divorced couple in the series Farmacia de guardia (1990-1995), also directed by Mercero.
Cosme (Manuel Brieva) is Piraña's father.
Nati (Ofelia Angélica) is Piraña's mother.
Enrique (Fernando Hilbeck) is Quique's father.
Mercedes (Concha Leza) is Quique's mother.
Frasco (Fernando Sánchez Polack) is the owner of the bar where Chanquete usually goes to play dominoes and drink slugs. He is also one of his best friends. In one of the chapters he comes to use force, shotgun in hand, when he believes Chanquete has been killed.
Buzo (Antonio P. Costafreda) is one of Chanquete's friends. He is characterized by his constant sadness and his weary resignation.
Epifanio (Roberto Camardiel) is the mayor of the town. He almost always smokes Havana cigars.
Production
Created and directed by Antonio Mercero, and produced by Televisión Española (TVE), the series was filmed in 16 months, between August 1979 and December 1980, mainly in Nerja in the Province of Málaga with additional footage filmed in Motril and Almuñécar in the Province of Granada. There were 20 episodes initially planned but one of the episodes (titled "The Excursion") had to be cancelled during filming due to difficulties in its production.
List of episodes
The order is based on original air date. In later releases, the order of episodes is 1, 2, 7, 9, 3, 5, 4, 6, 17, 13, 11, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19.