RTP (public TV network, which also produced Gloria and Turn of the Tide, the two Portuguese Netflix shows) is unfortunately the only network investing in this type of fiction television. The other two big networks unfortunately only seem to invest in soap operas, which run for 600+ episodes and are very formulaic. It’s sad because RTP has definitely made some very good stuff (and they’ve been collaborating with Spanish networks on some cross-border shows, there’s a few they’re pretty good), but you can tell that these things suffer from relatively low budgets.

That’s why turn of the tide came as quite a shock in quality compared to the rest of the shows - Netflix actually put a relatively high budget into the show, which just allows them to dedicate so much more time to these little things.

When watching it, the thing that would consistently real the period piece illusion for me were the modern cranes that you could often see in the Lisbon scenes.

Another great one, based on the same direction approach as Casa de Papel, is Rabo de Peixe.