ON RTÉ TWO THIS CHRISTMAS:
elev8
Presenters Seán Regan, Diana Bunici and Ivan Minnock have written their letters to Santa, hung up their stockings in the elev8 loft and baked their home-made mince pies (but we can’t promise they’re edible) – they’re all set for a Christmas-tastic week of festive fun!
For three months the country’s most talented mini-bakers have been putting their skills to the test in Ireland’s Best Young Baker – and now the winner will have their prize-winning cupcake go on sale in Avoca Food Halls for the festive season, with proceeds donated to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin and special deliveries sent to the patients within!
Seán, Ivan and Diana are all about spreading Christmas cheer – ESPECIALLY to those who need it most – so they’ll also be visiting Temple Street Children’s Hospital and The National Children’s Hospital in Tallaght to bring viewers some elev8 favourites with a twist!
Counting down to Christmas is always fun – but it’s set to get even MORE fun this year with elev8’s very own take on ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’! elev8’s roving reporter Ted always has his floppy ears to the ground for a scoop – and with four legs instead two he never misses a beat – BUT there’s a lesson to be learned when he decides he doesn’t believe in Santa and then comes face-to-face with The Man himself! Plus, one lucky elev8 viewer will get to live the dream of running a Trolley Dash around a toy store – one minute to nab as many toys as possible for charity – ready, steady, DASH!
Of course all of the traditional elev8 favourites will be out in festive force – The BFF Quiz, Parents Under Pressure and a special Christmas edition of Ready, Steady, Sport as the two top teams on the leaderboard go head-to-head! PLUS, the elev8 bumper-Christmas-hamper giveaway will be back – tune in to find out details on how to enter YOUR name for this amazing competition – if you’re not in, you can’t win!
All of this and much, much more on elev8, LIVE from the loft on RTÉ Two.
elev8 – RTÉ TWO at 16.00 daily
Monday 16th December – Friday 20th December
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TWO TUBE
Christmas Week on Two Tube and the dynamic duo, Bláthnaid Treacy and Stephen Byrne will be meeting the stars on ice where they’ll be interviewing, or attempting to interview, celebs as they go ice-skating. For the season that’s in it, a mega mix of celebrities will reveal their favourite Christmas memory and there’ll be tons of amazing giveaways throughout the week. One lucky viewer’s dream will come true when they get to meet their favourite band. Blathnaid and Stephen will also see another side of Irish life at Christmastime when they go to help behind the scenes in a soup kitchen.
Two Tube – RTÉ TWO at 17.30, 18.00 & 18.30 daily
Monday 16th December – Friday 20th December
ON RTÉjr THIS CHRISTMAS:
Tell Me A Story
This Christmas on Tell Me A Story we’ll be encountering an enchanting new set of specially-written stories. As well as enjoying some winter warming tales and Christmas crackers, we’ll also hear about the Hindu festival of Diwali and the story of a little girl called Fei who is bringing some Chinese dumplings to her Granny. With stories in English, Irish, Hindi and Mandarin, the holiday season on Tell Me A Story will be teeming with all your favourite faces including Bryan Dobson and Ryan Tubridy reading stories by writers like David Maybury and Dee Roycroft. So sit back, get comfy and lose yourself in our festive fables.
Tell Me A Story – RTÉjr at 12.30 & 16.05
Monday 16th December – Sunday 29th December
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The Beo Show – RTÉjr
This Christmas, Sharon Shannon is the Beo Theatre’s star guest. On Christmas Eve, Donie is getting excited and leaving food out for Santa. He’s hoping someone can set the right mood so Sharon and our young guest set about choosing the perfect Christmas song which they perform together. On Christmas Day, Donie and Gerty are excitedly opening their presents – but the radio is broken! Along comes Sharon who teaches her new Christmas song to today’s young performer and this is what they sing for Donie’s Christmas Concert! On St. Stephen’s Day, Donie and Gerty are feeling pretty sleepy after all the fun but this soon changes when The Wren Boys pay a visit to the theatre. The occasion takes wings when Sharon returns to perform her famous tune ‘Blackbird’ with another young guest performer.
Actually, every day’s a celebration throughout the Christmas season at The Beo Theatre. We’ve all kinds of completely new stuff to show our young guest artists. Beginning on Monday 16th December, Donie and Gerty welcome the uniquely talented New Zealander, Gerry Paul, who performs his hilarious songs about animals along with several visiting child singers. He demonstrates how you can begin writing songs of your own and he shows the children how to make an original musical instrument at home. In one show, he teaches a young boy how to sing like Elvis!
Also playing at the Beo Theatre is broadcaster, author and musician Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin who appears with his daughter, Róise. This is a great opportunity to teach our young guests a little about how songs are like conversations and about learning new songs. There’ll also be some traditional songs to perform, among them ‘Beidh Aonach Amárach.’
Throughout the festive fortnight, there are further musical encounters for the children with cellist Nicola Geddes and also a good look at the violin – or is that the viola? – with ace string player, Beth McNinch. Amongst other lessons, Beth shows one young performer how judging the right weight on the bow is a little bit like… stroking a cat!
The Beo Show – RTÉjr at
Monday 16th December – Sunday 29th December
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The Curious World of Professor Fun and Dr. Dull
It’s the holiday season in The Curious World where all the crew – Professor Fun, Dr. Dull and Artist Laura (and Little Miss Hap) – are in festive mood and striving to make every day a party.
On Christmas Eve, Dr. Dull is busy hanging up lots of his boring, grey decorations as a ‘surprise’ for Professor Fun – but the Professor is nowhere to be seen! That’s because she’s travelled all the way to the Artlings’ world to help them get ready for Santa’s arrival. But she hasn’t forgotten about Doctor Dull and she’s even sent a surprise guest to keep an eye on him and bring some colour back into his world. Dr. Dull also travels over to Artist Laura to make a lovely Santa to finish off his decorations.
Christmas Day has arrived and Dr. Dull and Little Miss Hap are opening presents. Doctor Dull is curious to see what Professor Fun and the Artlings are getting up to in their world. Little Miss Hap convinces Dr. Dull that they need a Christmas Tree – just like the Artlings – and that he should ask Artist Laura for her help to make one.
St. Stephen’s Day, the day after Christmas and Little Miss Hap is playing with all the leftover wrapping paper, wondering what to do with all the lovely colours. Meanwhile, Dr. Dull is looking in on the Artlings and trying to work out what mischief Professor Fun has been getting up to with them! He decides to visit Artist Laura in the hope that Little Miss Hap will clean-up while he is away…
The Curious World of Professor Fun and Dr. Dull – RTÉjr at
Monday 16th December – Sunday 29th December
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Reubini Master of Magic
Presented by Reuben and his magic assistants
It’s Christmastime again but Reuben doesn’t see it like his young assistants do – he’s no good at wrapping presents and somehow he gets attacked by the Christmas decorations! On the other hand, he attempts to make his Christmas stocking bigger but it all goes wrong and he gets trapped in it. Next thing, he gets lost under a pile of tinsel. Good thing his assistants are is more level-headed!
Reubini Master of Magic – RTÉjr
Saturday 21st December & Saturday 28th December
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Storytime
Presented by Emma O’Driscoll, Muireann Ní Chíobháin, Reuben and Miriam Devitt
A selection of enthralling new stories for young children, specially-written for Christmas and read by your favourite RTÉjr presenters! This year’s stories are: Elf-tastic, read by Emma ODriscoll; Granny Saves Christmas, read by Reuben; Magic Mittens, read by Muireann Ní Chíobháin; and The Cheeky Robin, read by Miriam Devitt.
Storytime – RTÉjr
Saturday/Sunday, 21st/22nd December & Saturday/Sunday, 28th/29th December
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Sing-along
We will be filming 2 seasonal songs ;
Jingle Bells – TX Saturday 21st
Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer – TX Sunday 22nd
These will be repeated on Saturday and Sunday 28th & 29th of December
Sing-along – RTÉjr
Saturday/Sunday, 21st/22nd December & Saturday/Sunday, 28th/29th December
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Spraoi
Presented by Muireann Ní Chíobháin
We will include lots of seasonal + celebratory themes in Spraoi throughout the ten days with a big emphasis on Christmas on 24th, 25th& 26th
“Oli’s getting ready for Christmas” – Christmas eve – 24th
“ Let’s celebrate” – Christmas Day – 25th
“Sharing is caring” – St. Stephen’s day – 26th
Spraoi – RTÉjr
The Why Guy – presented by Albie (Tommy Baker) + host of experts
Is the North Pole a real place? – TX 24th December
Do Reindeers live in Ireland? – TX 25th December
Do Penguin’s feet freeze on the ice? – TX 26th December
Hubble Bubble Club – Presented by Emma O’Driscoll & Reuben
We will have our usual birthdays and news with lots of extra festive fun for the ’RTE jr. 10 days of Christmas’
TX Monday 16th – Friday 20th & Monday 23rd to Friday 27th December
ON YOUNG PEOPLE’S PROGRAMMES ONLINETHIS CHRISTMAS:
Made With Love
RTÉ Young People’s Online joins in the Made With Love theme with a specially-commissioned range of Christmas Cards for youngsters to download and make for their loved ones. Plus, there’ll be a chance to win signed Christmas cards for your little ones from Emma and Rueben.
Over the Christmas period, our new Facebook page, RTÉjr for Grownups (facebook.com/rtejr) will keep everyone up-to-date on RTÉ Christmas specials and events for young people across TV, Radio, Online and RTÉ’s Performing Groups. There’ll also be great competitions with prizes including Tree Fu Tom, Fimbles and RTÉjr merchandise!
The free RTÉjr App will have a full range of RTÉjr TV and Radio programmes over the Christmas and New Year period for you to download and enjoy on the move. The App is available to download from the App store or at rte.ie/rtejr.
All this and the full range of RTÉjr TV & radio programmes, games and activities can be found on rte.ie/rtejr.
TRTÉ Online Countdown to Christmas
Christmas begins on TRTÉ Online on Monday Dec 16th with a fantastic giveaway of the challenge winner’s The Wanted merchandise, hand-picked by the band in the semi-final of our TV series Music Inc. This, along with exclusive clips and photos, can be found on rte.ie/musicinc – #rtemusicinc.
Also, check out rte.ie/unasdreamticket for exclusive clips, photos and giveaways throughout the Una’s Dream Ticket series which begins on RTÉ TWO on Christmas Day. #trtedreamticket
elev8 will be revealing the final code for its secure online sticker album game, Crazy Creatures. Collectors have until New Year’s Eve to collect all the stickers in the album to be in with a chance to win an iPad!!! Play the game here: elev8stickers.ie
If you’re in search of a Christmas gift, head over to the elev8 homepage, rte.ie/elev8, for Diana’s Crafty Corner where there’s a lot of unusual make-and-do ideas. And on TRTÉ YouTube, youtube.com/trte, the elev8 presenters will have more crafty Christmas ideas for you to enjoy!
The TRTÉ Facebook and Twitter will keep us up-to-date on festive specials across TRTÉ TV, Radio and online. Plus, there will be loads of giveaways including TRTÉ merchandise, concert tickets and movie goodies. And look out for all the Christmas-themed games and word quizzes.
Two Tube Online for Christmas
It’s Christmastime with Bláthnaid and Stephen on Two Tube online across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and twotube.ie. There will be celebrities, giveaways, ice-skating and dreamers.
When Two Tube is off air, the Two Tube Sessions will continue online with performances from The Mighty Stef, ToySoldier, The Ikonics and more. And there’ll also be updates on Una’s Dream Ticket, Music Inc. and teenage TV content over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Keep up at twotube.ie, facebook.com/twotubetv, twitter.com/twotubetv and youtube.com/twotubetv.