| Reeling In the Years | |
|---|---|
 Title card from the first series | |
| Genre | History |
| Opening theme | "Reelin' In the Years" |
| Country of origin | Ireland |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 58 |
| Production | |
| Producer | John O'Regan |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | RTÉ One |
| Release | 6 September 1999 – present |
| Related | |
| 100 Years | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Reeling in the Years is a television series shown on the Irish public broadcaster RTÉ.
Each episode, running for about 25 minutes, reviews the events of a particular selected year, from 1962 to 2019. News archive footage features, along with subtitles as the means of narration, to recount important national and international events of the time. Music from the selected year plays across the footage, with occasional scenes of live performances or music videos, often (but by no means exclusively) by an Irish artist. No advertisements are shown during the broadcast (apart from the occasional old advertisement dating from the relevant year). Each decade takes at least eight months to make.[1]
The theme tune for the series comes from Steely Dan's 1972 song "Reelin' In the Years". The six series are marked by a knowing attitude, where certain stories that seemed inconsequential at the time are remembered because they have taken on significance in the present day. This has gained the programme a reputation for its humour. An example is seen in the 1987 episode: Taoiseach Charles Haughey discusses what he would do if he were to win money in the newly formed National Lottery. Haughey, whose lavish lifestyle was later revealed to have been funded by "donations" from businessmen, exclaims, "I might keep a bit for myself!".
A 2008 poll (conducted by the RTÉ Guide) of Ireland's Top 100 television programmes resulted in Reeling in the Years being voted "most popular home-produced TV programme ever".[2] In 2008, a DVD—Reeling in the 80s—was released for the Irish market—with follow-up DVDs Reeling in the 90s and Reeling in the 70s released in 2009 and 2010, respectively.