Cuéntame cómo pasó

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the TV show known as Cuéntame. For other uses, see Cuéntame (disambiguation).

Cuéntame cómo pasó

Also known as Cuéntame

Remember When

Genre Drama, Historical, Comedy

Created by Miguel Ángel Bernardeau (es)

Written by Alberto Macías

Eduardo Ladrón de Guevara

Starring Imanol Arias

Ana Duato

Ricardo Gómez (es)

María Galiana
Pablo Rivero (es)

Irene Visedo (es)

Paula Gallego (es)

José Sancho

Juan Echanove

Ana Arias (es)

Lluvia Rojo

Elena Rivera (es)

Narrated by Carlos Hipólito (es)

Opening theme Cuéntame (es)

Country of origin Spain

Original language(s) Spanish

No. of seasons 19

No. of episodes 348

Production

Executive producer(s) Miguel Ángel Bernardeau

Location(s) Madrid

Arahuetes (Province of Segovia) as

Sagrillas (Province of Albacete)

Running time 60–90 mins

Production company(s) Grupo Ganga Producciones for Televisión

Española

Release

Original network La 1, TVE Internacional

Original release 13 September 2001 – present

External links

Website
 Production website

Cuéntame cómo pasó (English: Tell me how it happened), usually shortened to Cuéntame and also known in
English as Remember When, is a Spanish television drama series which has been broadcast on La
1 of Televisión Española since 2001. It is the longest running prime-time series in the history of television in
Spain.[1]
The series recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Alcántaras (Spanish: Los Alcántara), during
the last years of the rule of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy.[2]
Initially the series was to be titled Nuestro Ayer, but it finally was titled Cuéntame. This name comes from the
famous song Cuéntame (es) by the Spanish 1960s pop band Fórmula V that is used as the series opening theme.
In March 2002, during the first season, the title was changed to Cuéntame cómo pasó because Cuéntame was
already registered.[3]
The series was created to celebrate the first 25 years since Spain's transition to democracy, and its didactic
spirit is clearly evident in some of the episodes. In special episodes it includes documentary interviews with
historical figures of the era, such as people concerned with the assassination of then Prime Minister Luis
Carrero Blanco[4] or the death of Francisco Franco.[5]
The first episode was broadcast on 13 September 2001. The series begins in April 1968 with the arrival of
television to the house of the Alcántaras just in time to watch the victory of Massiel at the Eurovision Song
Contest.[6] The story reflects the changes in Spain beginning that day.
In July 2016, TVE and Grupo Ganga announced that the series, after its 17th season, would be renewed for up
to 2 more seasons, with the storyline moving firmly into the mid-1980s.[7]
Through situations, characters, and attitudes of the era, the series evokes a wistful reminiscence of those times.
In this respect it can be compared to the series The Wonder Years, which did the same thing for US history.
This series was adapted in Portugal by RTP as Conta-me como Foi (pt), starting the same year (1968) and
going to 1974, the year of the 25 de Abril, with the participation of Portuguese actors such as Rita
Blanco and Miguel Guilherme.[8] It was also adapted in Italy by RAI as Raccontami with Massimo
Ghini and Lunetta Savino[9] and in Argentina by Televisión Pública Argentina as Cuéntame cómo
pasó (es) with Nicolás Cabré and Malena Solda (es).[10]
Cuéntame cómo pasó has received numerous national and international awards, including the first Premio
Nacional de Televisión (es) awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 2009,[11] two Premios Ondas (the
International Television Award in 2002[12] and for Best National Television Series in 2003[13]), three New York
Latin ACE Awards (for Best Scenic Program in Television in 2008[14] and Special Awards for Imanol Arias in
2009[15] and Ana Duato in 2010[16]) and a Silver Bird Prize in the Seoul International Drama Awards as the
runner-up for Best Drama Series in 2007.[17] It was also nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best
Drama Series in 2003.[18] The series, its cast and its technical staff have received more than seventy awards
overall.[19]
A short clip from the series' first episode was shown at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in
London among clips of famous British television programmes, music videos and films as part of "Frankie and
June say...thanks Tim" sequence.[20]

Contents
[hide]

 1Plot
 2Characters
o 2.1Alcántara Family
 o 2.2Friends and acquaintances
 3Episodes
 4References
 5Further reading
 6External links

Plot[edit]
Antonio Alcántara (Imanol Arias) and Mercedes Fernández (Ana Duato) are a married couple that have
emigrated in the 1960s from Sagrillas, a (fictional) small village in the province of Albacete, to San Genaro, a
(also fictional) working-class suburb in Madrid, along with her mother Herminia (María Galiana) and their
three children, Inés (Irene Visedo (es)), Toni (Pablo Rivero (es)) and Carlos (Ricardo Gómez (es)) seeking a
better life away from the hardships of an impoverished countryside. Antonio works as an office boy at
the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters in the mornings and at Don Pablo's (José Sancho) printing house in
the afternoons. Mercedes and Herminia make trousers for a department store at home while doing the
housekeeping. Inés works at Nieves' (Rosario Pardo (es)) hair salon across the street along with Pili (Lluvia
Rojo), Toni is starting a Master's Degree in Law making him the first Alcántara going to university and Carlos
spends his school days with his best friends Josete (Santiago Crespo (es)) and Luis (Manuel Dios). With great
effort and hard work they are able to purchase in installments their first television set, their first washing
machine, their first car (a SEAT 800) and even spend their first vacations at Benidorm where they see the sea
for the first time.
As time goes by, Antonio leaves his jobs at the Ministry and the printing house to work for Don Pablo in other
business. One of them, the building company Construcciones Nueva York ends up being a big fraud planned
by Don Pablo and his partners in order to run off with the money and blame Antonio. Antonio is taken to
court, the truth is revealed in the trial and finally Don Pablo is accused and imprisoned. After this, Antonio
starts working in other printing house, Gráficas Usillos, business that he eventually purchases and renames
to Alcántara Rotopress. He runs for the first free democratic general election after Franco in the list
of UCD for the Congress of Deputies for the Albacete constituency. He does not get the seat but he is directly
appointed, by Adolfo Suárez, General Director of Agrarian Production of the Ministry of Agriculture under
the Second Suárez Cabinet, a position located at the same office of which he was a subordinate years ago. With
his new position and with the printing house running well, the family is able to move their residence from the
humble San Genaro to the upper class Salamanca neighbourhood. He sells the printing house, he is removed
form the position in the Ministry and he starts a flags and banners factory named Estandartes y Banderas along
his best friend Desi (Roberto Cairo). When the Banco de Granada, the bank where Antonio and Mercedes
have all their savings and the mortgage of the Salamanca neighbourhood apartment, declares bankruptcy, their
economy gets in trouble and all the family have to move back to San Genaro, selling at a loss their luxurious
apartment in order to cover their debts. After this, he starts along with his brother Miguel (Juan Echanove)
an olive oil distributor, business spoiled when they are falsely accused of causing the toxic oil syndrome.
Antonio has also problems with gambling, his health gets worse when he has an angina and he has a love
affaire that puts his marriage in serious danger. With the money recovered from the Banco de Granada years
after its bankruptcy, and the lands the family has in Sagrillas, all the family start the vineyard and
winery Bodega Alcántara Fernández e Hijos.
Mercedes tired of sewing trousers, starts to design her own outfits, to make them and to sell them. The sales go
well, so she joins together with Nieves to start a boutique named Meyni in the hair salon premises, hiring Pili
as shop assistant and using the back room as atelier. As the business prospers, Don Pablo decides to invest his
money in it, and the clothing production is moved to a fully equipped dressmaking factory at Don Pablo's
premises, hiring a team of dressmakers and even hiring Antonio and Desi as salesmen. Meyni reaches its peak
of success when they run a fashion show in front of Carmen Polo, but the company does not outlast the
economic crisis and they have finally to close the factory. After Nieves' departure, Mercedes joins together
with Pili and they reconvert the boutique into a unisex hair salon. She gives birth to María, Alcántaras' fourth
child, she decides to finish her secondary school studies and she even finishes a Master's Degree in Economics.
She also works for some time as a real estate agent. Her health passes for troubling times when she is detected
a breast cancer, she has a mastectomy, she suffers the strong treatment and the subsequent recovery. With her
experience in design and in the fashion industry she starts a firm to make swimwear for women with a
mastectomy and once completely recovered she is one of the first woman in Spain passing a breast
reconstruction. She is also involved in the family winery taking care of the bookkeeping.
Inés travels to London with Nieves. There she falls in love with Mike (William Miller) and she decides not to
come back. When they break up, she returns and she starts an acting career with the help of Eugenio (Pere
Ponce (es)), the new San Genaro parish young priest. When Mike appears in Madrid looking for her, she
decides to follow him to Ibiza to live in a hippie commune. Antonio and Mercedes try by all means to take her
back but she doesn't return until she gets disappointed of her life there. Back in Madrid she helps Eugenio with
the social events in the parish. They spend so many time together that they finally fall in love with each other.
Eugenio passes a secularization and they get married. Inés continues with her acting career and she
accidentally gets connected with a member of the terrorist group ETA for which she gets arrested and
imprisoned. When released waiting to be taken to court and being pregnant, she and Eugenio decide to go into
exile to France, where their son Antonio Oriol is born and where they break up. Later she moves to Argentina.
She is able to return to Spain after the amnesty is promulgated. Once in Madrid she gets into La Movida
Madrileña nightlife and she gets into drugs, meanwhile Oriol lives with Eugenio in Cuenca. When the family
becomes aware of her addiction, they take her to Sagrillas and help her to get clean. After this, her acting
career starts to take off, having the leading role in several movies and stage plays. When Eugenio dies in a car
accident, Inés takes Oriol to live with her. She is also involved in the family winery helping Antonio with the
foreign orders and she starts a relationship with Marcos (Carlos Cuevas).
Toni finishes his Master's Degree while getting into trouble, along with his young love Marta (Anna
Allen (es)), actively protesting against the Régime. After university, he does his compulsory military
service and starts working as a journalist in the newspaper Pueblo (es). There he meets Juana (Cristina
Alcázar (es)), his fellow photographer, whom he falls in love with and finally gets married in Gibraltar. In the
meantime, Toni quits his job at the newspaper when he is hired by Antonio to manage a magazine he is
launching and to run his printing house. Later, he leaves those jobs to join a firm of labor lawyers. His
marriage does not last too long and finally Juana leaves Toni. With the separation and after losing his job, he
moves to Rome from where he returns immediately after he knows about Mercedes' illness. Back in Madrid he
starts working in a radio station. Two years after their breakup, Toni runs into Juana that is walking with a
little boy named Santiago (Víctor Garrido). Juana later reveals that she left Toni already pregnant and that
Santiago is his son. While radio broadcasting live from the Congress of Deputies the vote to elect Leopoldo
Calvo Sotelo as the country's new Prime Minister, he lives the 23-F attempt coup d'état from inside. He moves
to London, where Juana is living, to be near his son for some time. Back in Madrid he starts working as
a investigative journalist and he puts his life in risk investigating several shady complots. Fearing for his life
and avoiding putting his family in danger, he flights to London. When accepting a position in Televisión
Española's news service, he dares to return to Madrid with his new fiancée Deborah (Paloma Bloyd), and he
becomes a Telediario news anchor.
Carlos spends his childhood going to school and playing in a vacant lot with Josete and Luis. He drives
Antonio, Mercedes and Herminia crazy because he is a restless child. When he is in high school, Karina (Elena
Rivera (es)) and her mother move into the apartment next door, she eventually becomes his biggest love. He
gets into reading and writing and he wins a prize with a short story he writes. He starts dating Karina but the
relationship goes with ups and downs. When finishing high school, instead of starting a degree, he decides to
do his compulsory military service. There he meets Marcelo (Nao Albet (es)). After service, he starts a Master's
Degree in Business Management in a private school, but he does not finish the first year. He opens a nightclub
and he is accused of drugs smuggling. As he does not want to betray his business partner, that is the one who is
smuggling, he is arrested and imprisoned. In prison he is attacked and he is about to die. After prison he
continues to write and he even publishes his first novel. He is also in a long sporadic relationship with Julia
(Claudia Traisac), his summer love from Sagrillas. When finding Luis in very bad conditions, he takes him to
Sagrillas and he helps him to recover, while taking care of the winery. When recovered, Luis takes over the
winery everyday management. Josete and Marcelo join them in Sagrillas and all them decide to start a rural
tourism small lodging named La Casa de Doña Pura as it is set at the former cottage of Carlos' grandmother
Pura (Terele Pávez). Karina, running away from Carlos, gets married and, after a one-night stand with Carlos,
she gets pregnant. She gives birth to Olivia, a baby that it is not clear if it is Carlos' daughter or not. When her
husband knows about the infidelity, they break up, Carlos takes care of her and the baby and, at last, he
proposes and she accepts.
All the Alcántaras' story is narrated from an indefinite present by an adult Carlos (voiced by Carlos
Hipólito (es)). Their story is directly and indirectly affected by the events and the social, economical and
political changes occurring in Spain in the late 1960s, the 1970s and 1980s. The Alcántaras are also direct and
indirect witness of the historic acts occurring those days, including, among many others, when Antonio,
Mercedes, Carlos and Miguel witness the car bombing that assassinates Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco,
when Toni chronicles the Portuguese Carnation Revolutionfrom Lisbon, when all the family queue for hours
for Franco's funeral chapel, when Carlos, Karina and Josete get trapped in the Alcalá 20 nightclub fire, when
Antonio and Mercedes take part in the famous game show Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez and when Antonio
proudly attends, at the Royal Palace, to the solemn signature of the agreement for which Spain and Portugal
joined the European Economic Community.

Characters[edit]
Alcántara Family[edit]

Seasons
Character Actor Episodes[21]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Antonio
Alcántara Imanol Arias 333 Main
Barbadillo

Mercedes
Fernández Ana Duato 333 Main
López

Herminia
María Galiana 323 Main
López Vidal

Ricardo Gómez (es) 332 Main

Carlos
Alcántara
Fernández Carlos
332 Main
Hipólito (es)(narrator)

Antonio
Pablo Rivero (es) 295 Main
Alcántara
Fernández
(Toni)

Irene Visedo (es) 154 Main Recurring Main

Inés
Alcántara Marieta Orozco (es) 1 Guest
Fernández

Pilar Punzano (es) 86 M

Esmeralda García 76 Recurring

María
Alcántara Celine Peña 55 Recurring
Fernández

Paula Gallego (es) 74

Purificación
Barbadillo Terele Pávez 25 Recurring Guest
Sánchez

Miguel
Alcántara Juan Echanove 188 Guest Recurring M
Barbadillo

Patricia Figón 1 Guest

Françoise
Alcántara
Aida Folch 48 Recurring

Francisca
Ramos
Ana Arias (es) 208 Recurring Main
Fernández
(Paquita)

Eugenio
Domingo Pere Ponce (es) 136 Recurring Rec.
Subirats
Antonio Hugo Várgues 12 Rec.
Oriol
Domingo
Alcántara Javier Lorenzo 44

Juana
Cristina Alcázar (es) 72 Recurring
Andrade

Santiago
Alcántara Víctor Garrido 14
Andrade

Karina
Elena Rivera (es) 166 Recurring
Saavedra

Marcos
García de Carlos Cuevas 19
Blas

Deborah
Paloma Bloyd 12
Stern

Friends and acquaintances[edit]

Friends and acquaintances appearing in more than 100 episodes.

Seasons
Character Actor Episodes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

José Quijo Jiménez (Josete) Santiago Crespo (es) 272 Recurring

María del Pilar Villuendas García

Lluvia Rojo 266 Recurring
(Pili)

Ramón Pascual Manolo Cal (es) 245 Recurring

Desiderio Quijo (Desi) Roberto Cairo 239 Recurring

Valentina Rojas Alicia Hermida (es) 189 Recurring

Clara Jiménez Silvia Espigado (es) 184 Recurring

Luis Gómez Manuel Dios 164 Recurring Rec.

Pablo Ramírez Sañudo José Sancho 151 Recurring

Froilán Cardeñosa Mora Antonio Canal (es) 149 Recurri

Enrique San
Celestino Álvarez (Tinín) 148 Recurring
Francisco (es)

Eladio Contreras Prieto (Cervan) Tony Leblanc 145 Recurring

Josefina García Peláez Pepa Sarsa 141 Recurring

Nieves Carranza Rosario Pardo (es) 139 Recurring Rec

Episodes[edit]
Main article: List of Cuéntame cómo pasó episodes

Originally aired Ratings

Season Episodes Setting
First aired Last aired Viewers Share

13 September 2 April 1968 – 3 August [22]

1 33 4 July 2002 5.519.000 33,7%
2001 1969
 26 September 26 December 15 August 1969 – 1 [23]
2 14 6.419.000 37,6%
2002 2002 January 1970

31 March 1970 – 21 July [24]

3 13 3 April 2003 10 July 2003 6.746.000 42,0%
1970

25 September 8 September 1970 – 1 [25]

4 14 1 January 2004 6.727.000 39,0%
2003 January 1971

10 May 1971 – 12 July [26]

5 13 15 April 2004 22 July 2004 5.788.000 35,3%
1971

18 November 24 February 27 October 1972 – 18 [27]

6 14 5.830.000 32,5%
2004 2005 March 1973

22 September 12 January 23 September 1973 – 6 [28]

7 17 4.969.000 28,2%
2005 2006 January 1974

14 September 8 February 25 April 1974 – 12 March [29]

8 21 4.746.000 26,7%
2006 2007 1975

13 September 14 February 30 April 1975 – 7 [30]

9 22 3.746.000 21,0%
2007 2008 February 1976

25 December 16 April 1976 – 1 January [31]

10 19 28 August 2008 4.281.000 24,1%
2008 1977

3 September 17 December 12 March 1977 – 26 [32]

11 16 4.074.000 22,2%
2009 2009 December 1977

11 November 7 June 1978 – 31 May [33]

12 18 17 March 2011 4.724.000 23,8%
2010 1979

15 September 30 August 1979 – 11 [34]

13 19 3 January 2013 4.547.000 22,7%
2011 February 1981
 23 February 1981 – [35]
14 19 10 January 2013 23 May 2013 4.101.000 20,5%
February 1982

2 July 1982 – 8 March [36]

15 19 16 January 2014 5 June 2014 3.758.000 18,5%
1983

5 April 1983 – 21 [37]

16 19 8 January 2015 21 May 2015 3.125.000 16,1%
December 1983

5 January 1984 – 16 [38]

17 19 7 January 2016 19 May 2016 3.209.000 17,2%
March 1985

11 April 1985 – 20 [39]

18 19 12 January 2017 25 May 2017 2.928.000 17,1%
October 1986

19 19 25 January 2018 2018 18 January 1987 – ... [40]

13 September
Total 348 2 April 1968 – ...
2001

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó has became the longest running prime-time
weekly television series in Spain (In Spanish)
2. Jump up^ Remember When official synopsis
3. Jump up^ Cuéntame changes its name due copyright problems (In Spanish)
4. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Episode 113: Carrero Blanco Special. The
beginning of the end (In Spanish)
5. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Episode 152: Special. And after Franco,
what? (In Spanish)
6. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Episode 1: The return of the fugitive (In
Spanish)
7. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó renews for two more seasons (In Spanish)
8. Jump up^ Conta-me como Foi official synopsis (In Portuguese)
9. Jump up^ Raccontami, the Italian Cuéntame (In Spanish)
10. Jump up^ Argentinian Cuéntame cómo pasó official synopsis (In Spanish)
11. Jump up^ Order CUL/3583/2009, 23 December, of the Ministry of Culture
for which is awarded the 2009 National Television Award (In Spanish)
12. Jump up^ 2002 Premios Ondas winners list (In Spanish)
13. Jump up^ 2003 Premios Ondas winners list (In Spanish)
14. Jump up^ 2008 New York Latin ACE Awards winners list
15. Jump up^ 2009 New York Latin ACE Awards winners list
 16. Jump up^ 2010 New York Latin ACE Awards winners list
17. Jump up^ 2007 Seoul International Drama Awards winners list
18. Jump up^ 2003 International Emmy Award winners list
19. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó full list of awards
20. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó appears in the 2012 Olympics opening
ceremony (In Spanish)
21. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó full cast list
22. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 1 (In Spanish)
23. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 2 (In Spanish)
24. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 3 (In Spanish)
25. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 4 (In Spanish)
26. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 5 (In Spanish)
27. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 6 (In Spanish)
28. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 7 (In Spanish)
29. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 8 (In Spanish)
30. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 9 (In Spanish)
31. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 10 (In Spanish)
32. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 11 (In Spanish)
33. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 12 (In Spanish)
34. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 13 (In Spanish)
35. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 14 (In Spanish)
36. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 15 (In Spanish)
37. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 16 (In Spanish)
38. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 17 (In Spanish)
39. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 18 (In Spanish)
40. Jump up^ Cuéntame cómo pasó - Season 19 (In Spanish)

Further reading[edit]
 Rosi Song, H. (2016). Lost in Transition. Liverpool University
Press. ISBN 978-1-78138-287-5.

 POUSA, Laura; FORNASARI, Eleonora (2017). "Tell the (hi)story to the

nation. Two transcultural adaptations of the Spanish TV series Cuéntame
cómo pasó: Raccontami and Conta-me como foi". Communication &
Society. 30 (2): 1–14.

 Bartlett, Linda B. (May 22, 2017). "Cars, Space, and the Dynamics of
Power in Cuéntame cómo pasó ('Tell Me How It Happened')". Studies in
20th & 21st Century Literature. 41 (1, Article 16). doi:10.4148/2334-
4415.1909.

External links[edit]
 Cuéntame cómo pasó on IMDb
 Cuéntame cómo pasó full episodes on rtve.es
Categories:
 Spanish drama television series
 Period television series
 Television series about the history of Spain
  RTVE shows
Navigation menu