Spanish television has spent the last decade exporting detectives, heists and period intrigue. Toy Boy, from creators César Benítez, Juan Carlos Cueto and Rocío Martínez, went the other way. It put a stripper at the center of a murder case and let the Costa del Sol do the rest.
The show premiered on Atresplayer Premium in September 2019, ahead of its Antena 3 launch on 25 September 2019. It ran two seasons and 21 episodes, ending on 21 November 2021. Atresmedia and Plano a Plano produced it. Its audience score sits at 7.6 out of 10 across 566 votes on TMDB.
Trailer, via Espinof.
Hugo Beltrán Wakes Up Next to a Corpse
The premise is blunt. Hugo Beltrán, played by Jesús Mosquera, is a young, handsome and carefree stripper. One morning he wakes on a sailboat after a night of partying and excesses, next to the burned corpse of a man — allegedly the husband of his lover, Macarena Medina.
He does not remember anything from the night of the crime, but he is sure he is not the murderer. He believes he was set up. A quick trial sends him to prison for fifteen years.
Seven years later, Triana Marín arrives. María Pedraza plays her as a young lawyer representing a major law firm, offering to reopen the case. Hugo distrusts the offer. Triana gets the conviction annulled anyway, and Hugo walks out on probation, pending a new trial.
Two Worlds That Should Not Touch
The engine of Toy Boy is the gap between its leads. Triana is hard-working, responsible and bright-futured. Hugo is a master of the night, an ex-prisoner, and a murderer in everyone’s eyes but his own.
Cristina Castaño’s Macarena is the other pillar. She is mature and powerful, and was in a high-voltage sexual relationship with Hugo before the corpse turned up.
| Character | Actor | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Hugo Beltrán González | Jesús Mosquera | Ex-stripper, convicted, retried |
| Triana Marín | María Pedraza | Lawyer who reopens the case |
| Macarena Medina | Cristina Castaño | Lover, widow, suspect |
| Iván | José de la Torre | Supporting lead |
What Season 2 Adds
Season 2 brings in Álex González as Leonardo Giallo, alias “El Turco,” and Federica Sabatini as Rania Giallo. The cast also includes Carlo Costanzia as Jairo, Juanjo Almeida as Andrea Norman Medina, Raudel Raúl Martiato as Germán, Adelfa Calvo as Doña Benigna Rojas, and Carlos Scholz as Óscar.
The Case for Watching It Anyway
Three things carry the show:
- The central mystery: who burned the body, and why Hugo was chosen to take the fall.
- Macarena as a character caught between lover and widow.
- The Hugo-Triana partnership, which runs from distrust to shared work on the case.
The show runs 21 episodes across two seasons. The case itself is simple.
Toy Boy is not a great crime drama. It is a confident, watchable one with a genuinely good hook and two leads who hold it together. The 7.6 is fair — high enough to justify the commitment, low enough to be honest.
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