"When someone lies, they should not try their luck. Especially if they were almost caught and barely managed to get away with it." - Alba Romero
Alba Romero (better known as Lidia Aguilar Dávila) is one of the main characters in Netflix's original series, Cable Girls. She is portrayed by Blanca Suárez.
Alba is forced to assume a new identity as Lidia Aguilar when she is falsely accused of murder. She seeks a job at the National Telephone Company, as part of the mission assigned to her by Inspector Beltrán. Alba plays a nice girl Lidia Aguilar, while maintaining her darker and misunderstood underbelly as a con.
Early Life[]
Ten years ago, Alba was a young girl headed to Madrid to chase her dreams with her first love, Francisco. They lived in the same village and fell in love. When they arrived at the Madrid train station, her luggage was stolen. When she tried to get her luggage back, she was arrested by policemen. She and Francisco were separated that day when Alba was falsely accused of theft. She then met Victoria, an older con woman who gave her shelter and employed her as a thief, told her not to get emotionally involved with other people, and taught her how to manipulate others. Francisco visited 340 boardinghouses trying to find her, and when he got to Victoria's brothel, Alba's Madam, Victoria, lied to him and said Alba was not there. If not for her, they would have reunited ten years prior to their meeting at the telephone company.
Throughout the Series[]
In Chapter 1: Dreams, Alba observed her surroundings at a party when she spotted her friend, Gemina. Alba was a prostitute who, with her friend Gimena, robbed parties so they could finance their move to Argentina and toward their new lives. When Gemina got the key to the safe, they stole precious jewelry worth a lot of money and left the party full of hope. As they are trying to escape to a life of freedom, Gemina’s husband stopped them by holding them at gunpoint. Alba, not wanting her friend to lead a life under the control of a man, attempted to tackle the man. In the altercation, the man shot his wife, and both he and Gimena were shot and killed. Police Inspector Beltràn arrested Alba and falsely accused her of murder. Alba would have gone to trial for murder had it not been for the corrupt policeman, Inspector Beltrán, who made a deal with her. In exchange for not charging her, he forced her to work for him and asked her to steal money from the National Telephone Company, where Alba now started working as a switchboard operator under the alias Lidia Aguilar.
At the company, she met Francisco Gómez, after they spent ten whole years apart, and at first pretended not to recognise him when he "mistook" her for Alba. She also encountered Carlos Cifuentes, the company’s owner’s son, who was initially attracted to her. Because Carlos kept the key to the company’s vault she started flirting with him at the Telephone Company's grand opening party. Once she got the key to the safe, she quickly snuck into the office and tried to open the safe. However, the security guards were there so she couldn't open it. She left the office and returned home and contemplated what she would do tomorrow since the deadline was tomorrow at one o'clock and Inspector Beltrán would not extend the time for her. During a highly publicised event the next day, the first intercontinental call between the King of Spain and the President of the United States, Lidia intentionally messed up so she could excuse herself from the task. She used the distraction of the important call so she could rob the safe. Unbeknownst to her, Francisco was waiting behind her. As she was taking the money out of the safe, Francisco stopped her as he walked closer toward her. Turning around to face him, Francisco told her that he knew her true identity was Alba and not Lidia. Not knowing what to do, Alba simply stared at him.
In Chapter 2: Memories, Francisco questioned why Alba would lie about her identity. The truth was that when Alba was tasked with stealing from the company, she did not know Francisco was there. Francisco had imagined all potential ways of how they would meet each other again, unfortunately, this was not one of them. When Alba realised Francisco was not going to allow her to get the money from the company safe, she decided to leave her job and push the friends she made, Marga, Carlota, and Angeles, away.
That night, as she entered her house, she found two cops inside her house going through her belongings, in search of the money. She quickly ran away, as they saw her and followed after her. She managed to hide under the bridge as they continued running over the bridge. Left with no choice, Alba sought out help from Marga. She apologised for lashing out earlier. Marga accepted her apology and welcomed her into the boardinghouse she was staying at. When they entered the apartment, Marga explained that Carlota was hosting a party. Upon seeing them, Carlota approached them and questioned why Marga had brought Lidia with her when she'd made it perfectly clear earlier how she felt about them. Carlota forgave her and told her to get herself a drink.
With a bottle of anisette, Lidia and Marga sat on the bed as Marga explained that she'd witnessed Angeles' husband, Mario, being unfaithful to her with Francisco's secretary, Carolina. As the party progressed, Lidia looked after a drunk Marga who rants about Pablo and how he was her hero because he stopped her from getting robbed. She admitted that she was a coward because she didn't even thank him and instead ran away from him after he gave her back her purse. However, she had a solution; she was gonna fix it now by writing him a letter thanking him for saving her.
As Miguel looked out the window, he saw that Doña Lola was on her way back home. He alerted everyone to leave before she arrived. They rushed out the back door as Carlota and Lidia hid in the bedroom just before Doña Lola entered the house. When Marga entered the room, Lidia and Carlota came out of hiding. Marga chided herself for calling Doña Lola a tart. Carlota tried to reassure her that Doña Lola wouldn't kick them out, her bark was worse than her bite. When Carlota explained that Lidia could go home after Doña Lola went to sleep, Lidia asked if she could stay with them for a couple of days. When they got concerned, Lidia made up a cover story; her mother got sick recently. When the doctors couldn't do anything for her, she took her mother to Argentina, something they'd always wanted to do, so she could enjoy the little time she had left to live. She was willing to do anything, even borrow money from bad people, but her mother died before they got the chance to leave. And she was left with enormous debts to pay. These dangerous people were now after her and she was scared they'd find her, so she needed their help.
The next morning, they informed Angeles of their plan of using the switchboard to make Inspector Beltrán think she was out of the country, in France. The plan would've worked had it not been for Sara catching them, and Inspector Beltrán, who was on the other end of the line, figured out that Alba had not left the country after all. Sara escorted them to Francisco's office and explained what they'd done. Francisco instructed the girls to stay outside the office as he talked to Lidia. As Lidia started defending the girls, Francisco interrupted and admitted that he didn't think he'd see her again. Unfortunately, she was left with no choice but to use the switchboard and the girls in order to protect herself from Inspector Beltrán. Instead, Francisco offered her a deal - accept the money from him and continue working for the company, or Marga, Carlota, and Angeles would lose their jobs. Alba was loathed to accept help from a man, but she could see that Francisco was telling the truth; he was not the boy she loved a decade ago. He'd do anything to keep her close to him.
As Lidia left the office and headed towards the elevator, Carolina confronted her, telling her that she knew very well how first she's got the bosses wrapped around her finger. Deciding not take any more of her taunts, Lidia held her firmly against the wall and told her to stay out of her business, as she wouldn't want to have her as an enemy. She let her go and closed the elevator door on Carolina's face.
With Lidia now assigned to customer support, she went to her post and continued working. She then received a package from a messenger, who explained it was from management. She opened the envelope to find a lot of cash. Later on, Carlos called her through the switchboard pretending to need customer support as an excuse to ask her out on a date, to which she was quick to decline.
As Angeles called to ask for a replacement operator as she'd decided to quit her job in defense to her husband. Lidia and the girls overheard this as they walked past her. Concerned for Angeles, they asked her who she was replacing, to which she replied she was leaving the company. She and Mario had decided long ago that this arrangement would be temporary and Mario thought it was best for the family, and she claimed she did as well. But she loved her job so Carlota told her not to quit and not let Mario dictate her life. Carlota didn't understand, Angeles explained, her family is very important and always comes first. Not being able to keep quiet her silence any longer when she learnt that Angeles, who was just promoted, meant to leave the company, she blurted out the truth about her husband; he was cheating on her with a woman that worked there. She kept the identity of Carolina a secret. It turned out that Mario only wanted Angeles to quit so he could carry on with his affair with Carolina. Overwhelmed, Angeles got up and slapped Lidia before stalking off. She didn't want to believe that it was true and accused Lidia of ruining her marriage. Marga questioned why Lidia told her, to which Lidia replied because so many women submit to their husbands and she couldn't be one of them.
Lidia had learned to take care of herself, to avoid making friends, to abandon memories that would make her vulnerable, to forget everyone else. She never was a good student. As she left the company building, she was on her way to deliver the money to Inspector Beltran. Unbeknownst to her, Francisco followed her in his car. When she left the park, she met Francisco parked at the entrance of the park. She confirmed that she had given the money before Francisco then drove her to the train station where they got separated years ago. When they got there, Francisco told her that we went to 340 boardinghouses trying to find her, after sleeping there for a week, waiting for her to come back. He confessed that his feelings for her were still there. Lidia refused to be the old Alba. He'd lost her there once, but it wouldn't happen again, so he turned her around and kissed her. Unbeknownst to them, someone surreptitiously took a photograph of them.
In Chapter 3: Lies, the real Lidia Aguilar whose name Alba had taken on the first day in the company turned up and Carolina, who had been asked by Francisco’s wife Elisa to spy on him, found out about it. The policeman, namely Inspector Beltràn, arrived to check Lidia’s papers. Beltràn, who knew Lidia is not the one she pretends to be, showed her the photos of her and Francisco kissing and blackmailed her again, and asked her to steal from the company again. To prevent Francisco’s life from being destroyed, Lidia lied to him, telling him she didn't love him anymore.
In Chapter 4: Feelings, Lidia planned to steal and sell the plans for the Rotary 7, a new invention by Miguel that would make the work of the switchboard operators unnecessary. As Carlos supported Miguel’s plans and has access to them she started a relationship with him but soon started developing feelings for him as he had changed from a womaniser to a sensitive, loving man. Francisco was not happy about it and tried to blackmail her into leaving Carlos, threatening to reveal her true identity to Carlos.
In Chapter 5: The Past, Carolina later tried to reveal Lidia’s true identity again when she went through her things and found a love letter, to Francisco, signed with “Alba”. As she proceeded to tell Elisa, Francisco's wife, about it, Carlota was on the other line listening to their conversation. As a result, Carlota found out about Lidia's real name when she tried to help her by eavesdropping Carolina's conversation with Francisco's wife. When confronted with this new information Carlota gained, Lidia was forced to admit that her real name is Alba and she was in love with Francisco when they were young. Alba then got invited to diner with the Cifuentes family where Elisa had an emotional breakdown in front of her family when Alba Carlos introduced her as his new girlfriend. However, Francisco reassured Elisa and told her it was all a lie.
In Chapter 6: Family, When Francisco came to Victoria‘s he revealed to Lidia that ten years ago, he had been there to ask for her and Victoria had told him she didn’t know Alba. Lidia was angry at both Victoria and Francisco and stormed out. Victoria told him Lidia is only doing all this to save him and told him about the photos and her plan to steal the invention. He confronted Lidia and she told him she started the relationship with Carlos to help Francisco but had now developed feelings for Carlos.
In Chapter 7: Loss, Francisco got the photos from Beltràn but at the same time, Lidia met with Carlos to tell him the truth about herself. She was interrupted by Carlos' marriage proposal. Francisco arrived to show Lidia the photos which meant she is a free woman now but she still accepts Carlos' proposal as she really loved him now. Francisco later told her he accepted her decision and wished her the best, and told her she will always be Alba for him.
In Chapter 8: Love, Carlos continued pursuing his plans for the Rotary 7 which would mean that all switchboard operators would loose their jobs. Lidia's friends find out she knew about this and are angry at her, believing she’d rather choose the Cifuentes family than her friends. Lidia tried to convince Carlos to install his pilot project in a smaller city and not in Madrid but Carlos couldn't and wasn't willing to. On the day when the invention was to be presented to the public, Lidia stole the plans and sold them to another family which meant Carlos and Miguel couldn't get a patent for it anymore. When an angry Francisco confronted her about it he accidentally called her Alba in front of Carlos.
In Chapter 9: The Choice, Six months after Carlos found out that Lidia was Alba, and things had changed at the telephone company. Lidia worked as the assistant of the new director of the company, Sebastián Uribe. However, she was not happy with her position which was part of her deal when selling the plans as her new boss mostly used her to make coffee, among other things. Lidia was struggling to earn the respect of Uribe and to be a true manager rather than a secretary, but apart from that, life at the telephone company was fine. She had big plans for the telephone company, but Carlos, who was angry and hurt, returned back to the company. Carlos' anger toward Lidia had not abated. He declared he was there to get his company back. He stole her idea of phone boxes and presented them to their boss. When Lidia claimed the ideas to be hers, their boss told them both to work on the idea to prove who invented it. Whoever proofed the idea to be theirs would become director of the company. Lidia asked Francisco for help but he hated her for causing him to loose his wife and home and being forced to work in a factory now. He instead offered Carlos his help, trying to gain Lidia’s trust to steal help Carlos beat her.
At the New Year's Eve auction, Alba caught Angeles trying to poison Mario. On her way back to her husband, someone bumped into Angeles that caused her to drop her purse. She set down the poisoned drink and picked up her purse; a passing Carlos took it. He was saved from drinking it by Lidia, who bumped into him hard. Mario saw what happened and figured out the drink was poisoned. He dragged Angeles out of the party and up the stairs to the rooftop. There, he proceeded to viciously kick her as she lay on the floor. Marga, Carlota and Lidia came to Angeles' aid and helped fight off Mario when he attacked Angeles. Mario turned his fury on Lidia, grabbed her and strangled her with his hands. Angeles struck him from behind; when he fell, he hit his head hard, and died.
In Chapter 10: Pact Àngeles wanted to go to the police and admit she killed Mario but Lidia convinced her not to. She told the girls how horrible prison is and that they should all get rid of the body and keep the incident a secret. They wrapped the body in a tablecloth and carried it to Mario’s car, ignorant of Sara watching them. Later they threw Mario’s body off a bridge.
Lidia made a plan for Àngeles: She should take her daughter to the village where her mother lives and claim that the latter is ill if anyone asks questions. When the police questions her she should tell them she went to her mother’s and Mario, who wanted to pick her up, didn’t come. Lidia also stressed how important it was that none of the girls ever talked about how Mario died. She dropped off the girls in the city centre and then pushed Mario’s car of a cliff where she was seen by a homeless man who had slept nearby.
When she returned home Francisco was waiting for her and she tearfully asked him to hug her. She thanked him for being so kind to her after all she did to him and acknowledged that he had loved her more than any other person did and she hadn’t even realised it. She even admitted to often thinking about what it would be like if they were still together, if she hadn’t met Carlos. Francisco told her it would be to early to start a relationship again but that he wanted to help her with her project and work together with her to get into the company again. Before he left Lidia gave him the plans for her project and asked him for his opinion.
When Lidia went to her room later that night, Marga waited for her, still shocked by the events of the day and unsure if she could keep such an awful secret. Lidia reminded her of Pablo, her grandmother and the wonderful life ahead of her and told her not to risk all this for something that wasn’t her fault. Marga reminded her she was still involved in this situation too and asked if she could stay with Lidia for the night to which the latter agreed.
The next day Pablo told Uribe that Mario stole 5000 Pesetas from the company to which Uribe reacted by calling the police and informing all employees about the incident, even though Lidia tried to keep him from doing so. She went to Àngeles to warn her to leave and Àngeles packed her suitcase. When they wanted to leave the apartment Inspector Cuevas, who had just been assigned to the theft case, arrived to interrogate Mario and asked Àngeles some questions instead. Alba realised they could take advantage of the theft as the police believed Mario was on the run with the money. The chicas decide to put something that belonged to Mario on a train to increase this suspicion. The plan was later carried out with the help of Carlota and Sara with the latter dressing up as a man and leaving Mario’s suitcase and hat behind in a train.
When Lidia returned to the company she ran into Elisa who blamed her for the time she suffered in the sanatorium because of what happened with Lidia and Francisco. However, as she was also angry at Francisco, she told Lidia that Francisco was betraying her and that she was planning to destroy him first. When Lidia confronted Francisco with this information he lied to her, saying Elisa had lied as she was angry because of his plans to annul the marriage, when in reality it was Elisa who wanted to do that. Francisco then told Lidia he was constantly thinking about her and kissed her.
In Chapter 17: Time, Lidia and Carlos are suppose to get married but a fire started at the church before they could say their vows. The church fire resulted in the disappearance of their daughter, Eva.
In Chapter 38: Power, Lidia is a prisoner at a women’s reeducation camp under the Nationalist regime. She is able to escape by the end of the episode with help from a nurse for the prison. While escaping, she notices Marga, who is late into her pregnancy, entering the camp as a new prisoner.
Physical Appearance[]
Alba is a young and attractive woman. With her dark hair, olive skin, and stellar smile, she is known to make heads turn. Alba is almost never seen without her classic red lipstick and her hat. She is usually seen in the uniform of the telephone company. Other than that, she wears a skirt that stops at her knees and a matching shirt.
Personality[]
Alba is extremely independent and a fiercely outspoken woman, which is uncommon in these times. She is also seen to be intelligent, and a quick thinker. Alba appears to constantly be guarded, but in reality, has a kind heart and cares about those around her. Further, she is also seen to be determined and driven, meaning that she's not one to let distractions get the best of her.
Relationships[]
Francisco Gómez[]
Francisco and Alba knew each other long before she started working at the telephone company. They were young and in love, and escaped to the city together to live happy life together. However, that never happened. As soon as they landed in Madrid, she was towed away by the police because she was mistakenly accused of theft. She never heard from Francisco again until the present day, ignorant of him trying to find her for a long time.
When she starts working at the Telephone Company, she encounters Francisco who recognizes her as his childhood sweetheart. At first, she pretends not to know him but when he catches her trying to steal money from the safe she explains that she is being blackmailed by a police officer. He helps her by getting her the money she needs and the two of them kiss. Beltràn takes a photo of them and blackmails her, forcing her to keep working for him and not tell Francisco about it. Lidia is forced to tell Francisco she doesn’t love her anymore to keep his life and marriage from being destroyed.
He later finds out through Victoria she lied to him to save him and tries to help her with Beltràn. Lidia tells him she has started to develop feelings for Carlos and he accepts her feelings, telling her she will always be Alba for him.
When Francisco saves Eva and is put in a coma, Lidia visits everyday. When Lidia goes to leave with Eva to America, Francisco goes with her and they start their own family with Eva and Sofia.
He supports Lidia when she goes back to Spain to bring Sofia home after she joins the war. When Lidia is imprisoned, he does everything possible to break her out of there.
After Lidia dies, Francisco is show to still be taking care of her daughter.
Carlos Cifuentes[]
Carlos and Lidia first met while she was on a mission to steal from the company. She found out that Carlos was the key keeper to the company vault and started flirting with him. Carlos was initially attracted to her and soon fell for her. Lidia started a relationship with him, at first only to get to the plans for the Rotary 7, but then developed feelings for him. He proposed to Lidia at the train station just when Francicsco turned up to tell her he had gotten the photos and she was a free woman now. She accepted Carlos’ proposal anyway as she has started to love him.
However when Lidia stole and sold the plans for the Rotary, causing the company to be bought by another family, and when Francisco accidentally revealed her true identity to Carlos, the latter was hurt and broke up with Lidia.
Soon, Carlos realized that they were about to have a child and asked to marry Lidia. They had a wedding but never officially got married. After many attempts, they finally ended when Lidia left with Eva to America. When Carlos will not call for Sofia to come back, Lidia grows a feeling of resentment and hatred toward Carlos. She is shown to upset upon hearing about Carlos’ death.
Victoria[]
Victoria is first seen in the first episode, giving advice to Alba and addressing her by her rightful name. It is later shown in flashback episodes, that Victoria was in jail for a few hours while Alba was wrongfully imprisoned. Victoria is shown to be of a much higher class, is extremely independent and seemingly wealthy. She also appears to be confident, as she tells Alba that it will take her two hours maximum to get out of there, while it could take Alba days. Victoria returns later to bail Alba out of jail, and later, guides her through life, ensuring Alba learns that she must not rely on anyone - especially not a man - for anything in her life. Alba appears to have full trust in Victoria, which is uncommon and often confides in her.
At the end of the series, Lidia, along with the other girls, have to face a group of Nationalist soldiers. The soldiers shoot at the girls as they run out to distract the soldiers in order to protect their lives one. The screen cuts to black, implying that they died.
Gallery[]
