Santa Bárbara (telenovela)

Santa Bárbara
"Nem tudo o que brilha é ouro" (Portuguese) "Not everything that shines is gold" (English)
Genre	Romance, Melodrama, Mystery
Created by	Artur Ribeiro
Developed by	Plural Entertainment
Directed by	Hugo de Sousa
Starring	Benedita Pereira Albano Jerónimo São José Correia Almeno Gonçalves Susana Arrais (see more)
Opening theme	Toma Conta de Mim by Pedro Abrunhosa
Ending theme	Toma Conta de Mim by Pedro Abrunhosa
Country of origin	Portugal
Original language(s)	Portuguese
No. of episodes	271
Production
Running time	45min
Release
Original network	TVI
Picture format	16:9 SDTV
Original release	September 28, 2015 – October 1, 2016
Chronology
Related shows	La Patrona
External links
Website

Santa Bárbara (English: Saint Barbara) is a Portuguese telenovela broadcast and produced by TVI. It is written by Artur Ribeiro and adapted from the Mexican telenovela La Patrona. The telenovela premiered on September 28, 2015 and is currently airing at 11pm (UTC) primetime slot. It is recorded in the north region of Portugal.

The telenovela was first announced in November 2014 when Artur Ribeiro was reported to be the author of another new telenovela of TVI. The telenovela was supposed to premiere in March 2015. Days after, came the first hints that it would be an adaptation of a mexican telenovela and La Patrona was the chosen one.

Margarida Marinho was the first actress reported to participate in the telenovela, in the role of Antónia Vidal, one of the main characters of the original plot. But later she moved to the rival broadcaster SIC. Sara Matos and Pedro Teixeira were also actors thought to be part of the telenovela but were never confirmed. Finally, in 2015, Benedita Pereira and Albano Jerónimo were announced as protagonists (Gabriela and Alexandre). In February, São José Correia replaced Margarida Marinho's original role on the telenovela (Antónia Vidal). At that moment, she was still recording the telenovela Jardins Proibidos and TVI had to make some changes so she could abandon that production and join the cast of this one.

Also in February, the telenovela received its first title, Santa Bárbara, which was later announced to be the official one.Santa Bárbara originates from the actual spiritual figure Saint Barbara, believed to be the protector of the miners, which is one of the main plots. The premiere was then delayed to September because TVI extended the length of Jardins Proibidos (on air at that time). TVI tried to convince Joaquim de Almeida to join the cast. This actor is popular worldwide for acting in several tv series such as Revenge, Once Upon a Time, Bones, Miami Vice, etc.. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to accept it but promised a cameo role with the main character Marcelo Vidal.