It’s being tipped as Spain's version of Orange is the New Black but you can forget the light relief of comical scenes about lost contraband and mythical chickens — Locked Up’s characters are seriously violent. Within 48 hours of arriving at the prison, Macarena’s bunkmate is founded murdered (well, steamed alive to be more precise).

Lead actress Maggie Civantos who plays Macarena says: “So often, women on TV are subordinate – they’re the friend or the supporting character. In this, you see real women: strong women, weak women, sweet women, violent women.”

Unlike OITNB, this series offers a real insight into the bleak reality of incarceration — the brutality, injustice and the daily fight for survival. Not only do we see Macarena struggle to adapt from her middle-class privileged lifestyle into prison life but the plot thickens when she finds a clue to where nine million euros has been buried from her former cellmate (you know, the one who was steamed alive).

The dramatic thriller unfolds over the series as Zulema — a psychopathic inmate who has a weird thing for scorpions and is feared by prison staff, as well as the prisoners — is also on the search for the money. Cue some serious tension between Zulema and Macarena.

There's also some serious sex scenes in the mix. We all know the phrase ‘Don’t drop the soap’ in the prison showers but if you thought OITNB was open about nudity and sex, Locked Up turns it up a notch.

The show’s creator Alex Pina says it has “the most sex and violence we’ve ever seen on TV in Spain”.

Why Channel 4's gripping prison drama Locked Up is about to become your latest TV obsession