Portuguese Movies & Series

Watching movies and series is a good way to get used to how European Portuguese sounds. We went through dozens of options and picked the ones in Portuguese from Portugal, not Brazil. Most are free to watch and have Portuguese subtitles, which you can turn on in the video settings. Where there are no subtitles, we say so.

The list runs from formal period dramas to everyday conversation.

If you'd rather listen on a walk or in the car, our European Portuguese podcasts are sorted by level, from slow shows for beginners to what people in Portugal listen to.

➕ Note: all videos on the RTP website show a registration pop-up. You can dismiss it by registering or logging in, or by clicking outside the pop-up window a few times.

Portuguese drama films

Os Maias (2014)

• Where to watch: RTP Play (a series of 4 episodes), YouTube
• Subtitles: none. There is a subtitles button on RTP, but the subtitles do not appear.
• Why we recommend it: 19th-century Portuguese life in clear, formal language, good for getting used to a more formal way of speaking.

Portuguese comedy films

A Canção de Lisboa (2016)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: this modern remake of a classic comedy shows life in Lisbon with lively, natural dialogue. A good way to get used to faster, more playful Portuguese.
• Other notes: suitable for advanced learners. You may also be interested in the original version from 1933, available on YouTube.

O Pátio das Cantigas (1942)

• Where to watch: Facebook
• Subtitles: auto-generated Portuguese on Facebook.
• Why we recommend it: a light and funny look at Lisbon's neighbourhood life, with clear, simple dialogue. Good for getting comfortable with everyday speech.

2 Duros de Roer (2022)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: a buddy-cop comedy. A policeman from Porto asks for a transfer to Lisbon and is paired with a Lisbon colleague who would rather party than arrest anyone. Over one crazy day they uncover a drug ring. At about 80 minutes it fits into one evening, and the jokes and banter are everyday spoken Portuguese.
• Other notes: RTP rates it 16 and over. The subtitles also write out sounds in capitals, such as "GRITA" (shouts) and "BEBÉ CHORA" (a baby cries), which is a quick way to pick up the words for them.

Portuguese TV series

Salto de Fé

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: an RTP1 comedy about a painfully honest young priest who keeps being sent to stranger parishes. The third season, shown in August 2026, was one of the most-watched shows on RTP Play. Funny, and full of everyday spoken Portuguese.

Glória

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Subtitles: Portuguese and many others
• Why we recommend it: a Cold War story set in rural Portugal, with clear dialogue and a steady pace. Good practice at following natural speech.

Cuba Libre

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: a true story full of drama and strong emotions, with clear dialogue, good if you want to get used to real conversations and simple storytelling.

Rabo de Peixe

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Subtitles: Portuguese and many others
• Why we recommend it: the series follows a young fisherman and his friends who find a boat full of cocaine off the coast of the Azorean village of Rabo de Peixe. They soon face the wrath of the dealer who owns it, the police who are after it, and a series of unpredictable events that put their lives at risk. Fast-paced, modern Portuguese with plenty of slang.

Conta-me como foi (season 6)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: a warm family drama about one Lisbon household. This season is set in the mid-1980s, and the dialogue is clear and everyday, so it is good practice for ordinary family conversation.

Pôr do Sol

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese, English
• Why we recommend it: a light, funny series in modern Portuguese. A good way to pick up everyday expressions and humour.
• Other notes: it's a parody of soap operas in general, and Portuguese soap operas in particular, so it gets sillier the more it leans into that.

Bem-vindos a Beirais (seasons 1 to 4)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: a simple and funny look at village life, with easy-to-follow dialogue. Good for practising everyday Portuguese.

A Travessia

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: a historical series with clear and steady language, good if you want to hear structured Portuguese while learning about a big moment in history.

Os Filhos do Rock

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none. There is a subtitles button, but the subtitles do not appear.
• Why we recommend it: a look at Portugal's 80s rock scene with lively, natural speech. Good for getting used to faster conversations and slang.

Os Filhos do Rock, the making of

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: a behind-the-scenes look with real, casual Portuguese, good if you want to practise listening to natural conversations about music and culture.

Desliga a Televisão

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on almost every episode. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: a sketch comedy show that zaps through Portuguese TV, with a recurring sketch that makes fun of the teen soap Morangos com Açúcar. Fast and dense, so it suits advanced learners.

Velhos Amigos

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: a comedy series from 2011 about a group of old friends and what comes with age. The episode titles tell you the ground it covers: a treatment, a night out, a care home, bad neighbours, a birthday party. 26 episodes of about 45 minutes, and the only series on this page with older people at the centre of it.

Matilha (season 1)

• Where to watch: YouTube, the whole first season in one playlist.
• Subtitles: auto-generated Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: seven episodes of about 45 minutes, so you hear the same voices over several evenings. Good practice for following one story across a whole season.
• Other notes: some episodes (we found it on episodes 4 and 7) play with an automatic English voice by default. To hear the original, click the gear icon in the player, choose Audio track, then Portuguese (BR) original. YouTube labels it Brazilian, but the series is from RTP, so the original voices are from Portugal.

Irreversível

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: an RTP1 crime series from 2024, in which a psychologist and a police inspector look into the brutal murder of a young woman. There are six episodes of about 45 minutes, all subtitled, and the actors speak standard Lisbon Portuguese.
• Other notes: it is a dark story, and RTP rates it 12 and over. A reader on Reddit suggested it.

Ruído (seasons 1 and 2)

• Where to watch: RTP Play, season 1 and season 2
• Subtitles: Portuguese on every episode. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: a comedy from an idea by Bruno Nogueira, set in a dystopian world where a law bans laughing. A group of actors and writers meets in secret to put on comedy sketches. Season 1 has eight episodes of about 30 minutes, and season 2 has three so far. The talk is quick and conversational, with everyday words like "pronto" and "fixe".
• Other notes: RTP rates it 16 and over.

Jones

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on all four episodes so far. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: a mystery from 2026. A wealthy family gathers at an estate in Sintra to celebrate an engagement, and the party ends in a murder. The inspector on the case can talk to the dead. With one family at the centre, you hear the same voices from one episode to the next. Episodes run about 45 minutes.
• Other notes: RTP rates it 12 and over. It is still running: a new episode goes out on RTP1 on Monday evenings and is added to RTP Play.

Portuguese documentaries

Nós, portugueses: nascer para não morrer (part 1)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese, on both parts.
• Why we recommend it: real stories about Portugal's society, with natural speech and accents. For when you want more complex listening.

Repovoadores

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on about half the episodes
• Why we recommend it: real interviews with people who left the big cities to restart their lives in small and depopulated Portuguese villages. The tone is warm and conversational, and it is set in real places around the country.

Visita Guiada (seasons 14 and 15)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on most episodes of seasons 14 and 15
• Why we recommend it: Paula Moura Pinheiro takes one building, one place or one work of art each week and tells you its story, speaking slowly and carefully the whole way through. This is the gentlest documentary listening on this page.
• Other notes: sixteen seasons are free to watch, going back to 2014. Seasons 14 and 15 have the most subtitles, so start there. Episodes run from about 25 to 55 minutes.

Linha da Frente

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on about half the episodes
• Why we recommend it: a half-hour report on real life in Portugal today, full of ordinary people speaking at their own speed. Ideal if you are around B1+ and want to move past studio Portuguese.
• Other notes: fourteen seasons are available. Check the subtitles button before you settle in, because coverage changes from one episode to the next.

PJ 7

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: eight episodes of about half an hour on the big cases investigated by the Portuguese Judicial Police, told by the people who worked them. Great if you want to hear how professionals explain their work.
• Other notes: suitable for advanced learners, because there are no subtitles and the interviews move quickly.

Até Eusébio Chorar

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: the story of Portugal's run at the 1966 World Cup and what it meant to a poor country under a dictatorship. A good 51 minutes of narration and archive voices.

Portuguese Soul

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: the fado singer Gisela João visits people in Portugal who make new things from leather, rubber, the sea and food waste. About 25 minutes an episode, with a warm presenter and plenty of craft vocabulary.

Outras Histórias

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on about two thirds of the latest season. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: two short portraits per episode of people around Portugal doing their work: the last blacksmith in a village, three women carpenters, a headmistress who turned a hundred. People explain their own trade while you watch them do it, so the words match what is on the screen. About 25 minutes an episode, nine seasons.

Documentaries about Portugal itself

The Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos makes hour-long documentaries about Portugal itself and puts them on YouTube for free. They play almost anywhere in the world, and YouTube lets you slow the speech down while you listen.

They are serious films about serious subjects. Housing, ageing, poverty, work, democracy. If you would rather have castles and countryside, the documentaries above will suit you better.

The whole collection is in one place: Documentários da Fundação.

Our pick of them, all with auto-generated Portuguese subtitles:

• 💧 Onde está a água?, 59 minutes. Whether Portugal is changing how it uses water, from the reservoirs to the fields to the kitchen tap.
• 👵 Longevidade: Desafios Económicos e Sociais, 49 minutes. Portugal is living longer and losing people every year, and this is what that means for everyone.
• 🕊️ Viva a Democracia: 50 anos e o futuro, 51 minutes. Fifty years of Portuguese democracy, through specialists and ordinary citizens.
• 📖 Nós, Portugueses: Partir para não Chegar, 54 minutes. How poverty and illiteracy shaped 20th-century Portugal, and what schooling was like under Salazar.
• 💼 Os Dias Contados, 52 minutes. The end of the job for life, and how technology changed Portuguese working days.
• 🧑 Juventudes, 50 minutes. The best-qualified generation Portugal has ever had, still living with their parents.

When you are ready to go without subtitles

These two have no subtitles at all, so you are listening with nothing to fall back on. Save them for when the ones above feel comfortable.

• 👩 Mulheres em Portugal, 47 minutes. Eight women tell the story of the last 40 years in Portugal, including the gaps that have not closed.
• 🏠 Portugal, uma casa para todos, 53 minutes. Why Portuguese young people stay home until 34, and what happened to house prices in Lisbon and Porto.

Portuguese children's TV

Rua Sésamo (Portuguese Sesame Street)

• Where to watch: YouTube
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: simple language, slow speech and a lot of repetition. Good for building basic listening and vocabulary.

A Carochinha e o João Ratão

• Where to watch: YouTube
• Subtitles: auto-generated Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: a simple, fun story in easy language. Good basic listening practice, and you learn a traditional children's story along the way.

Traditional Portuguese children's songs

Here's a collection of traditional Portuguese children's songs, which make it easier to grasp basic sentence patterns and verb conjugations. Singing along helps with pronunciation, rhythm and intonation, and the lyrics are on screen to follow.

• 🎸 Eu Perdi o Dó Da Minha Viola
• ⚽ Olha a bola Manel
• 🎈 O balão do João
• 🐸 Eu Vi Um Sapo
• 🐈 Atirei o pau ao gato

Portuguese culture and education programmes

Cuidado com a Língua!

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on most episodes
• Why we recommend it: a fun show about grammar and idioms, great if you want to clear common doubts in European Portuguese.

Animais Anónimos

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: stories about rescued animals and the people who have saved them. Good practice for hearing different ways of speaking.
• Other notes: it played for us from the Netherlands. We could not test it from outside Europe, where RTP sometimes blocks programmes.

Literatura Aqui (seasons 1 to 5)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on most episodes of seasons 2 to 4. The first season has none.
• Why we recommend it: talks about books, poems, and stories with clear Portuguese, good if you are around B1+ and want to hear a range of voices and styles.

Literatura Agora

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on most episodes, but not on the first four
• Why we recommend it: focuses on books and culture with thoughtful, steady speech, ideal if you are around B1+ and want to practise listening to more formal Portuguese.

Palcos Agora

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: talks about theatre, dance, and music in different cities of Portugal, with real accents and rich vocabulary. Good for pushing your listening further.
• Other notes: some episodes do not have subtitles.

Biosfera (seasons 12 to 24)

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on about 40% of the episodes
• Why we recommend it: real environmental issues in clear, formal language. Good for building scientific vocabulary.
• Other notes: features Portuguese Sign Language. Thirteen seasons are available and the subtitles change from one episode to the next, so check before you start.

Sociedade Civil

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: RTP2's weekday talk show, one subject per hour with Luís de Castro and his guests: boardwalk walks, health, money, housing. An hour on one topic means the same words come round again and again, which is what makes it followable without subtitles. For B2 and up.

Portuguese food and travel shows

Paulo Oliveira, Terapia no Fogo

• Where to watch: YouTube
• Subtitles: auto-generated Portuguese
• Why we recommend it: Paulo Oliveira is a chef, passionate about good food and a creator of gastronomic content. You hear everyday vocabulary, regional expressions and a natural, conversational tone.

Portugueses pelo Mundo: Comunidades

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese on most episodes
• Why we recommend it: real stories from Portuguese people around the world, in natural accents and everyday language, set in different cultures and cities.

Portuguese interview programmes

One person answering questions for half an hour or more. Only one voice at a time, and a question before every answer tells you what the answer is about.

Primeira Pessoa

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: one guest per episode tells their own life to the journalist Fátima Campos Ferreira, filmed in a place that means something to them, for about 35 minutes. A fado singer, a writer, a television presenter. With the subtitles on, this is the easiest interview programme on RTP to follow. Seven seasons.

Grande Entrevista

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: Vítor Gonçalves questions one public figure for about 50 minutes: politicians, writers, business people. No subtitles, so this is for B2 and up, and it is good practice for staying with a long answer.

Portuguese soap operas

A novela runs every weekday with the same people in the same places. After a week you know who everyone is, and the same words keep coming back. That is what makes a novela learnable, even without subtitles.

O Sábio

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: RTP1's novela from 2017, about a man who reappears in his old city twenty years after he vanished. 300 episodes, which RTP Play splits into 364 videos of 25 to 45 minutes. Almost every one has subtitles, so start with this one.

Os Nossos Dias

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: Portuguese from episode 201 on. Press the CC button in the player and choose "Português adaptado".
• Why we recommend it: RTP1's novela from 2013, about families and working life. RTP Play has the first season, 309 episodes in videos of about 28 or 41 minutes. Kitchens, offices and shops, and the speech that goes with them.

Vila Faia

• Where to watch: RTP Play
• Subtitles: none
• Why we recommend it: RTP's 2008 remake of the very first Portuguese novela, from 1982, set around a family and its wine estate. 120 episodes of about 45 minutes.