The television series Cuéntame cómo pasó (2001–) has achieved unprecedented success in Spain since it began its run in the fall of 2001. Now in its fifteenth season with 271 episodes broadcast, the series has won countless awards and has broken ratings records for TVE, Spain's national state-owned public service television broadcaster. The evolving nature of the programme is reflected on its website, which has grown to include interactive features that allow viewers to play an active role in watching the series. The site's visitors can learn about the different characters as well as the historical, cultural, and social context of each episode. They can view complementary documentaries about the time period, additional features such as behind-the-scenes clips and script-reading sessions, and media coverage of the series and its principal actors.

The popularity of the series, which appeals to viewers because of its focus on a ‘regular family’ with experiences similar to their own, has gone beyond the local market and reached audiences around the globe, leading to its adaptation in other countries.

A series that reaches millions of spectators weekly (more than 10 million in Spain at its peak, by some accounts), Cuéntame cómo pasó has so far covered the period from the year 1968 until the 1980s (it is still unclear when the series will end), and therefore tackles many of the changes that occurred in Spanish politics and society from the later years of the Franco dictatorship to the Transición. These experiences are narrated through the lives of the Alcántara family, comprising parents Antonio (Imanol Arias) and Mercedes (Ana Duato), Mercedes's mother, Herminia (María Galiana), and the children, Inés (Irene Visedo, Pilar Punzano), Toni (Pablo Rivero), and Carlos (Ricardo Gómez), as well as the family's many neighbours and friends from San Genaro, the Madrid barrio where they reside. The story is framed by a voice-over narration (provided by Carlos Hipólito) from the perspective of the youngest son, Carlos, who comments on each episode of the series from an unidentified present. This voice-over often helps to situate the plot by explaining the social or political context of the time and its relationship to the present. The imminent changes that will affect the family reflect the greater social changes taking place in the country.