Mariano Rajoy

It's Barcelona versus Madrid...and we're not talking football.

Spain is facing its biggest political crisis for years....the autonomous region of Catalonia considering breaking away from the rest of the country.

Mark Coles profiles Spain's right wing Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, as he goes head to head with the Catalan President to try to stop it happening.

The programme examines his Galician roots and his grandfather's role in wresting power from the Spanish state back in the 1930s.

We follow Rajoy's rise to power, hear about the setbacks - two accidents that nearly that nearly claimed his life - and why the 2004 Madrid terror attacks came close to ending his political career.

Producer Smita Patel. Researcher Beth Sagar-Fenton Editor Penny Murphy.