Fed up flicking through Netflix deciding what the hell to watch? Or simply suffering from #Droughtlander? That easily recognisable condition when you’re missing #Outlander and its hunky, time-travelling hero, Jamie Fraser? Then check out The Ministry of Time (El Ministerio del Tiempo) for a fun, highly addictive time-travelling romp Spanish style with several time-travelling hunks of its own.

I’d seen the blurb: Three officers from different eras work for a secret agency guarding Spain’s past from time-traveling intruders trying to manipulate history. I loved the premise but was initially put off by two things. Firstly, my knowledge of Spanish history is more or less limited to having watched the movie El Cid starring Charlton Heston a couple of times (i.e. it’s slim verging on sheer ignorance at best) and despite what it says on my CV, my Spanish is rather rusty, having worked in Majorca in the 1980s as a holiday rep, where it was generally limited to phrases such as: no hay agua caliente in habitacion 205 (there’s no hot water in room 205). A phrase very unlikely to turn up in your average Spanish TV programme. However, I need not have worried.

The Ministry of Time is great fun to watch, terribly addictive and the fact you don’t know Spanish or are no aficionado of Spanish history or culture in no way impacts on the sheer enjoyment you’ll have watching the antics of our three heroes, Julián Martinez (Rodolfo Sancho), Alonso de Entrerríos (Nacho Fresneda) and Amelia Folch (Aura Garrido).

As Julián, Rodolfo Sancho manages to be incredibly sexy despite playing someone called Julián and like Jamie Fraser of Outlander fame, another hero from a time-travelling fantasy series, Sancho manages to pull off that neat trick of being manly whilst never crossing into macho territory.

Similarly, as with his Scottish fictional counterpart, his character Julián is also madly in love with one woman; the type of all-encompassing love that make his character so endearing to us cynical romantics out there. Only unfortunately for Julián his wife has been killed in an accident a couple of years previously which makes his ability to time travel all the more morally complicated.

Nacho Fresneda’s Alonso de Entrerríos is a hardened Spanish soldier from the 16^th century who besides time travelling has to deal with living in 21^st century Spain. Though to be fair to Alonso, he seems to have far more trouble understanding the workings of a toaster than getting to grips with the idea of same sex marriage: so fair play to him.

Meanwhile, Aura Garrido’s character Amelia is a forward-thinking woman and one of Spain’s first female students from the 19^th century. She also follows in a long line of international female crime fighters (British programmes tend to be slightly more prosaic about these things) in that had her job in stopping baddies not worked out she could always have pursued a career as a top-notch international model.

By far the youngest of our three heroes, Amelia is also the most intelligent and best educated out of the three, and thus is put in charge of the group. (Did I mention this programme is sheer fantasy?) Even more fantastical is that the men go along with this despite a few grumbles, mainly from Alonso. This proves, if nothing else, that the Ministry of Time is way ahead of most of contemporary Europe when it comes to promoting women.

Unfortunately for us cynical romantics, Rodolfo Sancho’s career must be going great guns, because he disappears for a good part of Series 2 and altogether from Series 3 by the looks of things. It’s a shame because besides being easy on the eye, Sancho is a very intense and extremely watchable actor, and the storyline between him and Amelia was a great one. On the plus side, Sancho is replaced in Series 2 by another fine actor, Hugo Silva as Pacino, a Spanish cop from the 1980s.

Series 2 is definitely a lot funnier to watch than series 1. I’m not sure if that was a conscious decision by the producers or writers or simply because Silva is clearly a fine comedic actor but in one particular episode “The Convent of Time” the set-up is as well-constructed as any of those to be found in an episode of Frasier which is high praise indeed. At one point, the episode had me guffawing out loud.

Although episodic in nature, there are enough throughlines running through the series to keep you engrossed in the overall story. Of course Julián’s disappearing act scuppers one of the main ones – the-will-they-won’t-they storyline between him and Amelia. Although while it’s a goer, that particular storyline is very well-handled.

And don’t let the fact that you might not know who some of the historical characters are put you off. It will prove irrelevant to your overall enjoyment of the programme. The Ministry of Time is so well written that it tells you all you really need to know but not in the kind of cack-handed way that you get in some police procedurals. If you are a geek like me, however, and insist on googling some of the characters, be warned. Don’t do what I did and look up Tino Casal in Google images. (He was a singer in the 80s. Think 80s fashion and that’s all you really need to know).

While the programme may be dealing with Spanish history, there are plenty of jokes at present-day Spain’s expense throughout. There’s humour too from the different ways our characters behave and speak: Amelia, speaking the Spanish of an educated young lady from the 19^th century, Alonso’s old-fashioned Spanish from the 1500s and Julián’s more colloquial modern Spanish while Pacino’s 80s slang seems more incomprehensible to everyone than Alonso’s 16^th century speech. There’s also a nice comic touch when the writers play with the idea that Pacino, coming from the 1980s, knows as little about modern technology as does his colleagues hailing from the mists of time. Admittedly, you’re more likely to get some of the jokes and references if you’re Spanish or live/have lived in Spain but if you don’t, they no way detract from the overall enjoyment of the programme. Rather, they’re an added bonus if you do get them.

Some references prove universal of course. Jokes comparing Spain’s former glory to its present state are definitely relatable as in an episode during “Time of the Occult” when ministry staff are forced to look and act like typical Spanish officials and are ordered to download Solitaire and Minesweeper on their computers, ensuring they are never minimised, to wear unflattering clothing from 20 years ago, to stand in groups by the recently installed coffee machines, moaning about the unions, and whatever they do, never to go straight back to their desks but rather stand about wasting time. You really don’t have to be Spanish to get that kind of joke.

You could also argue that the series throws up interesting questions on the nature of history and the moral dilemmas that arise from changing or from not changing the past and on the vicissitudes of time. In one episode, Cervantes is suicidal at his lack of success while his literary rival, Lope de Vega, goes from one success to another with apparent ease. Of course we viewers know that a couple of hundred years later Lope de Vega is generally unknown outside Spain while Cervantes wrote what is widely regarded as the greatest literary work from Spain’s Golden Age and the most widely read book after the Bible – Don Quixote. In another episode, Julián gets his heart’s desire back – his dead wife, Maite (Mar Ulldemolins) but at the cost of Spain once more under authoritarian rule and the Inquisition back in full force. Yes, he has his beloved wife back but as he notes not her “soul”. These are all interesting questions but to be honest you’ll probably be so carried away with the sheer enjoyment of each episode that you probably won’t give them much thought.

Given my lack of knowledge on the subject, I can’t testify to how historically accurate the programme is or isn’t but you get the impression the writers know what they are talking about. As any comic will tell you, to be able to joke about any subject you need to know that subject inside out. (It’s why so many comics stick to talking about themselves; it saves on research). The programmes come across as extremely well-written, the production values are high, the leads are excellent and the supporting cast is great too – Ministry boss, Salvador Martí (Jaime Blanch) and his sidekicks Irene Larra (Cayetana Guillén Cuervo) and Ernesto Jiménez (Juan Gea). There’s also a brilliant running joke with the celebrated Spanish painter Velazquez (Julián Villagrán) regularly turning up as the Ministry’s portrait artist. It’s a nice touch, particularly as Velazquez is portrayed as a great artist but definitely not someone you’d want to be stuck in a lift with for any period of time.  What soon becomes clear is that whoever does the casting for this production really knows their job, as the chemistry between the leads is perfect and Hugo Silva fits into the humungous gap created by Sancho’s departure with sheer aplomb.

Personally I’m not convinced if all the logic at the Ministry makes sense. I’m not sure, for example, how all the time-changing and back again scenarios work or why Hitchcock (who appears in an episode that is a wonderful pastiche of some of his greatest films) seems to speak English as a foreign language but to be honest I really don’t care. If you’re looking for well-made, intelligent TV that doesn’t take itself too seriously then I highly recommend The Ministry of Time. Watching it, time will literally fly!

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