| Cuéntame cómo pasó | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Cuéntame |
| Genre | Drama, Historical, Comedy |
| Created by | Miguel Ángel Bernardeau |
| Written by | Alberto Macías & Eduardo Ladrón de Guevara |
| Starring | Imanol Arias Ana Duato Ricardo Gómez María Galiana Pablo Rivero Esmeralda García José Sancho Juan Echanove Ana Arias |
| Narrated by | Carlos Hipólito |
| Opening theme | Cuéntame |
| Country of origin | Spain |
| Language(s) | Spanish |
| No. of seasons | 12 |
| No. of episodes | 203 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Miguel Ángel Bernardeau |
| Location(s) | Madrid |
| Running time | 60-90 mins |
| Production company(s) | Grupo Ganga Producciones |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | La 1 |
| Picture format | PAL (576i) |
| Original run | September 13, 2001 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
Cuéntame cómo pasó (English: Tell me how it happened), also known as Cuéntame, is a Spanish television series set during the last years of Francoist rule, and the transition to democracy in Spain. It has been broadcast by the Spanish public TV channel TVE1, since 2001. Its original name (Tell me) had to be changed for copyright reasons.
Relying on a combination of micro and macrohistory, the series recounts the experiences of a middle class family, the Alcántara, during the last years of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition, and is both a chronic socio-political the time. Its name comes from a famous song by the Spanish sixties pop group Formula V, titled Tell Me.
The series was created to celebrate the first 25 years since the transition and its didactic spirit is clearly evident in some of the episodes. It includes documentary interviews with historical figures of the era, such as those concerned by the assassination of the then Prime Minister Carrero Blanco or the death of Franco.
From its first episode, broadcast on September 13, 2001, Cuéntame has reflected changes in Spain since 1968 (it starts in April 1968), with the victory in the Eurovision song contest of the singer Massiel and, according to the producer of the series, Miguel Ángel Bernardeau, should continue until the end of the transition.
In December 2008, TVE and Ganga Group announced that the series, in its 10th season, had achieved very good audience levels, and would be renewed for up to 3 more seasons, with the storyline moving firmly into the 80s and the "Movida madrileña".
The series, through situations, characters and attitudes of the era, with which the public who lived then could easily empathize, constitutes a wistful reminiscence of those times, and in that respect can be compared to the series The Wonder Years, which did the same thing for US history, or "Temps de silenci" (Catalan: "Times of silence": a series about Catalonia after the Spanish Civil War).
It influenced the Portuguese series Conta-me como foi, which starts the same year (1968), going to 1974, the year of the 25 de Abril. It counts with the participation of Portuguese actors such as Rita Blanco or Miguel Guilherme.