First look trailer and key art revealed for Sky Original documentary series Juan Carlos: Downfall of The King

Watch the trailer HERE

Download key art and images HERE

Sky has today released the first-look trailer and key art for Juan Carlos: Downfall of The King, a sensational new Sky Original documentary series. Charting the rise and fall of former Spanish King Juan Carlos I, the four-part series will be coming to Sky Documentaries and NOW on 21st May 2023 and today receives its world premiere in competition at Canneseries.

For many years, King Juan Carlos I was a Spanish hero, celebrated around the world for reforming Spain with his modern, progressive, democratic values. He led his country from the Franco dictatorship to parliamentary monarchy, transforming Spain into a modern European state and becoming the most popular Spanish ruler in history.

King Juan Carlos had a loyal Queen, a loving family, international respect, friends in high places and faithful subjects; he had everything a King could wish for. So, how did this revered Monarch take such a drastic fall from grace that he was forced to abdicate in 2014 and eventually flee into exile in 2020?

This compelling, investigate documentary features exclusive interviews with close friends, palace insiders, journalists and supporters of Juan Carlos, along with his former lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Documented and brought together on screen for the first time, a varied collective of high-profile figures including former secret service agent José Manuel Villarejo, biographer Jaime Peñafiel, ex-bank president, Mario Conde and close confidant of Juan Carlos, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein’s ex-husband, Philip Adkins share their eyewitness accounts of this remarkable period in modern Spanish history.

Juan Carlos: Downfall of The King sets out on an international hunt across London, Monaco, Geneva, Abu Dhabi and New York to find out how Juan Carlos came to his enormous fortune and asks long standing questions around his financial affairs, lucrative connections and his alleged involvement in global corruption cases.

This new Sky Original documentary explores how a fateful hunting trip to Botswana revealed the King’s secret love affair with his companion, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, and set off a series of events that shook the Spanish monarchy to its core and caused the House of Cards to fall in the most dramatic way. Then there’s the intriguing question of why Juan Carlos  transferred the sum of 65 milllion euros to  Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein’s account shortly before the end of his reign.

Christian Beetz, Co-Author, Producer, Gebrueder beetz Filmproduktion: “When we started producing this investigative series about King Juan Carlos I of Spain, we were unaware of the magnitude, scale and reach of the royal, financial and political scandal. Bit by bit, a web of intrigue, greed and power games unravelled, rooted deep in the highest circles of Spanish society. It’s a remarkable story and one that we have sought to tell without fear or favour.”

The series is produced by Grimme Prize winner Christian Beetz, who created the series with Anne von Petersdorff and Georg Tschurtschenthaler from Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion, and author Pedro Barbadillo. Executive Producers at Sky Deutschland are Christian Asanger and Felix Kempter, and for Sky Studios, Barnaby Shingleton. The four-part documentary series is being produced by Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion in association with Sky Studios.

Juan Carlos: Downfall of a King will be available on 21st May on Sky Documentaries and Now 

The series will be available to stream exclusively on SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, the Nordics, the Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe in the coming months

Notes to editors 

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. Across six countries, Sky connects 23 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Following the launch of Sky Glass, we now offer customers our strongest ever line-up of products and services. As well as the new streaming TV with Sky inside and everything integrated, customers can enjoy the award-winning Sky Q with all your favourite channels and apps in one place, and with Sky Go you can now access an even better experience on your devices. Sky TV has new channels, new shows and new deals with Peacock, Paramount+ and more. Sky Mobile was voted Best Pay Monthly and Best Value Pay Monthly network by Uswitch, and with Sky Broadband we’re offering our fastest speeds yet.

Sky Documentaries is the home of exclusive factual content for all Sky and NOW TV customers at no extra cost. The channel offers world-class factual programming, providing an unmissable mix of premium, original commissions and acquired content that uncover the story behind the story.   

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free; Sky Arts is the UKs only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26 – the UN Climate Change Conference. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity, and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over the next three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.

About Sky Studios

Sky Studios is Sky’s original programming arm across Europe.

We develop, produce and commission original drama and scripted comedy for Sky’s 23m customers and beyond. Building on the success of critically acclaimed Sky Originals including Emmy-winning Gangs of London, BAFTA-nominated Landscapers, international hits Babylon Berlin and Das Boot, as well as upcoming series Day of the Jackal, M. Son of the Century, and Helgoland 513.

We’re an agile Studio, seeking out the best untold stories from new voices while working in creative partnership with today’s best writers, producers, and on-screen talent to bring viewers stories they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

With commissioning talent and production capability across the UK, Germany, and Italy, we understand local tastes across Europe better than anyone else and have plans to more than double our investment in original content by 2024, fully supported and backed by Comcast NBCUniversal.

We’re also developing a new TV and film studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK creative sector in the first five years alone. 

About Gebrueder Beetz

Gebrueder Beetz filmproduction is a prime documentary powerhouse, which produces internationally acclaimed, award-winning documentary features and series for cinema, TV and streaming – for the national as well as for the international market.  

The company’s productions include the Emmy-nominated documentary THE CLEANERS, the first German Netflix Original documentary series A PERFECT CRIME (Best Docuseries 2020, Berlin Series Festival) and the Oscar-nominated documentary OPEN HEART.  

Most recently released are the multi-award-winning prime documentary series REEPERBAHN Special Unit FD65. According to the industry leader ”Realscreen", gebrueder beetz filmproduction belongs to the 100 most important independent production companies worldwide. Our company operates under the umbrella of LEONINE Studios since October 2022. 

Image credit – © 2023 Sky / gebrueder beetz filmproduktion 

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