Reeling in the Years

Reeling in the Years is an Irish historical documentary series broadcast in Ireland by RTÉ. Each episode, approximately 25 minutes long, looks back at the news and events of a particular year, from 1962 to 2009. The programme uses news archive footage, along with subtitles as the means of narration, to recount notable Irish and international events of the time. Music from the particular year is also played over the footage, with occasional scenes of live performances or music videos, generally by an Irish artist. Each decade takes at least eight months to make. The programme runs on RTÉ without advertisements during it. The theme tune for the series comes from Steely Dan's 1972 hit "Reelin' In the Years". The series was voted "most popular home-produced TV programme ever" in a poll of Ireland's Top 100 television programmes conducted by the RTÉ Guide in 2008. In 2008, a DVD entitled 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.