The 23rd and final season of Tell Me How It Happened, TVE's longest-running series where the adventures of the Alcántara family are told, arrives on La 1 this Wednesday the 18th instead of airing on Thursday, as was usual. According to the official account of the series on X (formerly Twitter), “we will relive the history of Spain, ours and that of the Alcántara. We changed the day and moved to Wednesday. This last season, nothing will be the same as always!” A warning of what awaits his followers.
To start, this new season will be shorter, with only seven chapters spanning from 1994 to 2001. And each of them will focus on a character from the series: Imanol Arias (Antonio), Ana Duato (Mercedes), María Galiana ( Herminia), Irene Visedo (Inés), Pablo Rivero (Toni), Ricardo Gómez (Carlos) and Carmen Climent (María). For the chapter dedicated to Carlos, an exciting return: actors Elena Rivera and Ricardo Gómez, who played Karina and Carlos until 2018, reprise their roles for this, now it seems so, final goodbye.
With this new installment, the series produced by RTVE in collaboration with Grupo Ganga wants to put a finishing touch to a 22-year career in which 413 episodes have been recorded with the participation of more than 2,000 actors and 20,000 extras. It also holds the title of “RTVE's most viewed and awarded” fiction series. In 2009 it was recognized with the National Television Award, awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and has won, among others, two Ondas awards, more than 30 Irises, two Golden Antennas and four Silver Frames.
Its premiere took place on September 13, 2001, just two days after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The series created by Miguel Ángel Bernardeau has told in parallel the life of the Alcántara family and the history of Spain from 1968 to 2001, although in season 21 (the first to be broadcast after the covid-19 pandemic) there were some time jumps until 2020-2021. In those episodes, the death of Antonio Alcántara occurred, news that caused enormous shock among the followers.
This final season reaches the year 2001, which coincidentally coincides with the beginning of the series. Will there be a wink in an internal key? Will we see the Alcántara family in the last episode sit in front of the television to watch the premiere of a new series called Cuéntame?
For now, Mercedes will be the protagonist of the first episode this Wednesday, previewed last September at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. 'Mercedes, the force' begins in 2001, with the Alcántara family gathered in Sagrillas for a sad family celebration. The relationship between them is broken, and the origin of the confrontation must be sought in the winter of 1994, when the entire family, in the absence of Carlos who continues to live in New York, meets to celebrate New Year's Eve.
On those dates, Mercedes has a medical check-up that makes her rethink some things. After speaking with Antonio, they make an important decision that turns the family “upside down” and opens wounds from the past that seemed healed, according to the RTVE press release.
Some of the historical events that will have an impact on the lives of the Alcántara during these last episodes will be the digital revolution in Spanish homes with the arrival of the internet and mobile phones, the departure of Felipe González from Moncloa and the arrival of José María Aznar, the cruel murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco by ETA in 1997, the year 2000 effect or the attack on the Twin Towers.
