Nine in the morning on October 26, 2023. Many months have passed, but that day was the day. The day when “the only thing that mattered was love because when there is love everything works and that is love, that is Love is forever“. Word of Don Pelayo.
That day in the City of the Image, in Madrid, there was an infernal wind, it rained at times, but when it did it was in buckets. The sky was completely gray. A sad day, as they say; “perfect”, they said on one of the platforms Love is forever. Many months have passed, but that day was the last day of one of the longest-running series on Spanish television, the last day of filming Love is forever.
Six months have passed since that sad followingnoon and last night, the spectators who for so many years – 18 if we join the years of Loving in troubled times in La 1 and those of Love is forever on Antena 3 – they have been loyal followers, they were finally able to see the final episode and the great farewell that the team, that its directorEduardo Casanova, and that the actors prepared to say goodbye in style to one of the fictions that has done the most for television in Spain: a fiction that highlighted the importance of daily series, of following-dinner series, especially in a time where viewers have thousands of content to choose from and watch whenever they want. The series that accompanied so many people at coffee time for so many years is gone.
It was a day of tears, applause, bouquets of flowers, sadness, champagne, laughter and pride. “When they told me that they were no longer going to renew any more seasons of Love is forever At first I felt sorry because for me Love is forever “It’s my series,” Jaume Banacolocha, CEO of Diagonal TV, producer of the series, explained to this newspaper minutes before the last scene was to be filmed. “But I immediately thought that if it had to end, it would end on a high note, with good audience data and without having shown any signs of wear and tear”he stated nervously while in front of him they passed one behind other members of the team to whom he unconsciously kept asking “how are you?”
Banacolocha was waiting behind the door that gave access to platform 2, the famous Asturiano and the mythical Plaza de los Frutos, the place where Eduardo Casanova had decided it had to be the end. It was an exhausting day, like any other day of filming, but with an added bonus, the emotion of ending an entire life dedicated to Amar. 18 years is said soon, they go by quickly, but they mean everything, especially for the actors who since 2005, when it was broadcast for the first time on La 1, made millions of viewers travel through different periods, but, above all, for their history.
Recording of the final scene of Amar es para siempre. MANUEL FIESTAS
for so long Love is forever It has accompanied millions of viewers at dinner and has given work to hundreds of actors, serving as a breeding ground for many young people and giving new opportunities to mature and in many cases forgotten talent. The heart of Amar It has always been in the Plaza de los Frutos; the soul of him, the beloved owners of the El Asturiano bar, Manolita (Itziar Miranda), Marcelino (Manu Baqueiro) y Pelayo (Jos Antonio Sayagus). It mightn’t be anything more than the three of them who would take their series to black.
“If this is a series, it will have to last a long time,” said Manu Baqueiro, the beloved Marcelino Gómez, in his last sentence. “I just hope it reflects all the love we have for each other because our love is forever.”responded Itziar Miranda, Manolita, trying to hold back her tears, holding the hand of her Marce, her Pelayo (Jos Antonio Sayags) and… “Cut! Love is forever is over”Casanova shouted, wrapped in tears. It was the end, the last scene, the last phrases of the series of a day in which EL MUNDO was able to see firsthand that a series can stop being a series and become a reality. Because Love is forever was the reality of 1,500 actors who passed through their 11 years old in Antena 3of the more than 27,000 extras and of the more than 150,000 minutes of broadcast. A whole life, his whole life.
“Thank you all for your invaluable work in all these seasons. We thank you for your effort, dedication and professionalism over all these years!“. For 18 years, every week the team at Diagonal TV, the series’ production company, sent all the members of the series the weekly recording plan, which detailed everything from the pick-up time of each actor, their hours for hairdressing, , for costumes, if they had to wash their hair or just put on makeup or what was filmed on set 1 and what on set 2. However, the weekly plan of Love is forever of the week of October 23 to October 26, 2023 was the last, the definitive one, the one that ended with the phrase that heads this paragraph. Because the farewells began practically the same day it became known that there would be no more seasons.
“Love in troubled times is Love is forever“said Eduardo Casanova, “in short, to love what we have done for 18 years of our lives, to love, to love unconditionally,” he repeated. At his side Miriam Daz Aroca (Elena Santacruz) suffered with each “cut, let’s go once more”, with each repetition of her partner Itzi. I knew she was suffering and I wanted all that pent-up emotion to come out once and for all.
“I raised the curtain on Amar 18 years ago and today it’s my turn to lower it”
Jaume Banacolocha, CEO of Diagonal TV
It’s not so much the work as the emotional part, someone from the team was heard saying while preparing the final scene. Itzi, as her classmates, Manu and José Antonio called her, retired to another room, which served throughout the day for her sea of tears. “They’ve been crying all day,” one of the makeup artists admitted as she ran following the actress to hide the swelling in her eyes. They didn’t want to talk, it wasn’t the day, it was “too hard.”
They said goodbye to their second family with whom they grew up and lived for 18 years. For each character who filmed their last scene that followingnoon, a roar of applause filled the set. They might be heard from the street, despite the infernal wind that moved trees and signs in the Plaza de los Frutos.
“This is my home, my home for more than 10 years”Jons Beram (Ignacio Solano) said crying. The actor had just done his last scene in the series and there was the depression that he tried to contain all day. The dam had broken, his and others’. He hugged the director, Manu, Itzi, each of his classmates. Behind the cameras more people were arriving. Nobody wanted to miss the grand finale. “Please, don’t let anyone upload anything to social networks,” warned Laura, the press manager who remained vigilant during the more than nine hours of filming so that nothing was revealed. It was difficult, very difficult. The important thing was that no one discovered the ending that the series had prepared for all viewers. It was their way of giving thanks, of conveying that love that they have felt every day.
It was time to change the plane. All cameras towards the other side of El Asturiano. A dozen chairs had to be placed in which the actors present in the final scene sat; the plates with the croquettes, the lasagna, the fries. It should have been minutes for peace, but it wasn’t. “I have never had so many people observing my work,” said Eduardo Casanova in an attempt to calm an emotion that was increasingly impossible to contain. Itzi and Manu did not separate for a second, they did not want anyone to be alone at any moment. They were both more than aware that they were playing the most difficult part, they were playing the scene in which, in addition to having to repeat it up to six times, it would be the last. She stopped being Manolita, he stopped being Marcelino.
Today they no longer had to get up early, nor did they have to pick up the production car, nor did they have to go to the hairdresser or try on their costumes. Itzi, surely, following many years will have taken his daughter to school: “How difficult this is! Amar It is a gift of life, it is a family, my family. The other day my little daughter started crying and told me that she was crying because she didn’t want it to end. And I asked him why he has always complained that he mightn’t take her to school. And do you know what she told me? Because every time someone asks you if you’re not tired of Amaryou always answer no because in Amar You are absolutely happy.”
The Amar is forever team delivers a farewell bouquet to Itziar Miranda.MANUEL FIESTAS
In fact, Itziar Miranda was in charge of saying the last words of the last scene of Love is forever with a Manu Baqueiro who mightn’t take it anymore, with a José Antonio Sayagus with the handkerchief in his hand, with the director taking off his helmets and putting his hands to his face, while the script, one of the costume boys, another set boy supported his hands on his shoulders: “Come on, Ed.”.
And Edu, and Itzi, and Manu and José Antonio might. “Live Love is alwayse!” the entire team shouted following the director’s “cut.” The dozens of people gathered behind the camera held the cell phone with one hand and the clone with the other. Now I know that it was over. Love is forever. “I raised the curtain Amar 18 years ago and today it’s my turn to lower it,” said Banacolocha in the middle of El Asturiano.
Manu remained, the most suffering, the one who only cried in front of the cameras when he looked at the portrait of his father in fiction: “I’ve been crying all day… I want to thank the entire team because I know that at times I have had my character, but I have given my all in this and so have you. When I started here 18 years ago they told me I only had six months and if I did it well. Look now… Thank you for letting us play. You are the host and we have made history! Today are tears, but when we take distance we will realize what a wonderful thing we have done.“.
Then came the last breath: “Long live Love is forever!”
