After fifteen years, the well-known youth series comes to an end spangas† Tonight the very last episode of the TV series can be seen on NPO 3. The drama series brought sensitive social themes to life for young people.
Attention was paid to themes such as psychological problems, mourning, poverty and lhbti. The characters were diverse in the broadest sense: a cancer patient, an adopted girl with two fathers and a refugee from Syria came along as characters.
The KRO-NCRV series follows the daily lives of ten students, first at Spangalis College, then at Spangas: the Campus. The best secondary school in the Netherlands, that was the idea of the makers. ‘Together we are stronger than alone, all so different but still one’ has been sung for years in the leader of the series, a message that keeps coming back.
“The idea of the series was to show what problems there are among young people, with the idea that you are not alone,” says Jasper Gottlieb, who starred in the series with his twin brother from the start for four seasons. “What I liked about it is that it wasn’t so moralizing,” Gottlieb says. According to him, the themes were an encouragement to start a conversation with each other.
Sexual Diversity
Isabelle (14) from Leiden is in the third year of pre-vocational secondary education and is a big fan of the drama series. “Every time something new happens that makes me want to keep watching.” She regrets that the program, which she has followed for six seasons, is now ending.
The student likes that there are many different actors and characters in the series. “You don’t see that in other series. Like Leslie, which is non-binary, and Caro, a transgender person.” Also in real life the actors are trans and non-binary. Her favorite character is Noor, one of the main characters, in which she recognizes herself. “Noor is bi. Sometimes I don’t even know whether I like boys or girls,” says Isabelle.
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