''Conta-me como foi'' () is a Portuguese television drama series which was broadcast on

RTP1 RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mains ...

of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2023. It recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Lopes (), during the last years of the Estado Novo and the early years of the current Third Republic.

Development

The first episode was broadcast on 22 April 2007. The series begins in March 1968 with the arrival of television to the house of the Lopes just in time to watch the of the Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa. The last episode of the fifth season was broadcast on 25 April 2011 with the Lopes living the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

on 25 April 1974. In February 2019, RTP announced that the series, after eight years shelved, would be renewed for fifty-two more episodes, with the storyline moving firmly into the 1980s. The first episode of the sixth season was broadcast on 7 December 2019 with the Lopes entering 1984. The series is an adaptation of ''

Cuéntame cómo pasó ' (), usually shortened to ''Cuéntame'' and also known in English as ''Remember When'', is a Spanish prime-time television historical drama series that originally ran on La 1 (Spanish TV channel), La 1 of Televisión Española for twenty-three ...

'', a Spanish series by

Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea. T ...

starring

Imanol Arias Manuel María Arias Domínguez (born 26 April 1956), better known as Imanol Arias, is a Spanish actor. In his career beginnings, Arias was a recurring face of Basque cinema. His career in the 21st-century is marked by his portrayal of Antonio ...

and

Ana Duato Ana Consuelo Duato Boix (born 18 June 1968) is a Spanish actress, who is best known for portraying Mercedes Fernández in the television series ''Cuéntame cómo pasó''. Biography Ana Consuelo Duato Boix was born on 18 June 1968, in Valencia ...

. It has also been adapted in Italy by

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

as '' Raccontami'' with

Massimo Ghini Massimo Ghini (born 12 October 1954) is an Italian actor. Life He has worked with Franco Zeffirelli, Giorgio Strehler, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, and Gabriele Lavia, among others. He has been married to actress Nancy Brilli, and is the father ...

and

Lunetta Savino Lunetta Savino (born 2 November 1957) is an Italian theatre and movie actress. She's best known for portraying Concetta Gargiulo in Italian soap opera ''Un medico in famiglia'' (1998–2009). She later played lead roles in other Italian televisio ...

, in Argentina by Televisión Pública Argentina as ''

'' with

Nicolás Cabré Nicolás Gabriel Cabré Brickenstaedt (born 6 February 1980) is an Argentine actor and television host. Known for his film, stage and television work, he has won ACE Award and earned four Martín Fierro Awards, Martín Fierro Award nominations ...

and and in Greece by ERT as '' Ta Kalytera mas Chronia'' with and .''Τα καλύτερά μας χρόνια'' official synopsis
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Plot

António Lopes (

Miguel Guilherme Miguel Guilherme (born 15 November 1958) is a Portuguese actor. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1980. Selected filmography References External links * 1958 births Living people Male actors from Lisbon Portuguese m ...

) and Margarida Marques ( Rita Blanco) are a married couple that have emigrated in the 1960s from Ermidão, a –fictional– small village inland, to a –also fictional– working-class suburb in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, along with her mother Hermínia () and their three children, Isabel (), Tóni () and Carlos () seeking a better life away from the hardships of an impoverished countryside. António works as a clerk at the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

in the mornings and at Eng. Ramires' (

José Raposo José Sá Raposo (born 3 February 1962) is a Portuguese actor and producer. Biography He began in the children's theater, by the hand of Francisco Nicholson in 1981 at the Teatro AdHoc, which company he integrated. He did ''Teatro de Revista ...

) printing house in the afternoons. Margarida and Hermínia make trousers for a department store at home while doing the housekeeping. Isabel works at Clara's ( Maria João Abreu) hair salon along with Náni (), Tóni is starting a master's degree in Law making him the first Lopes going to university and Carlos spends his school days with his best friends Marinho (Manuel Alves) and Luís (Francisco Madeira). With great effort and hard work they are able to purchase in installments their first television set, their first washing machine and even their first car. The Lopes' story is narrated from an indefinite present by an adult Carlos (voiced by ). Their story is directly and indirectly affected by the events and the social, economical and political changes occurring in Portugal since the late 1960s until the late 1980s. The Lopes are also direct and indirect witness of the historic acts occurring those days.

Cast and characters

Lopes Family

Episodes

References

External links

''Conta-me como Foi''
at * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conta-me como foi Portuguese historical television series Rádio e Televisão de Portugal original programming 2007 Portuguese television series debuts 2023 Portuguese television series endings 2000s Portuguese television series 2010s Portuguese television series 2020s Portuguese television series Television series set in the 1960s Television series set in the 1970s Television series set in the 1980s Non-Spanish television series based on Spanish television series Portuguese television series based on non-Portuguese television series Television shows filmed in Portugal