RTÉ today, 2nd December, unveiled its bumper festive line-up across RTÉ One, RTÉ2 and RTÉjr with a huge range of programming to keep everyone entertained over the Christmas season.
This Christmas viewers can look forward to comedy specials from Mrs. Brown’s Boys, Callan’s Kicks, The Savage Eye and Mario Rosenstock; explosive drama from Fair City; heart warming specials from At Your Service To The Rescue and Una’s Dream Ticket. Alongside brand new festive entertainment shows and documentaries including Mark Pollock’s Unbreakable, When Ryan Met Niall, Man On Bridge, The Longford Phoenix, What’s Another Year: The Life and Times of Shay Healy and Weather Beaten, a John Creedon weather special.
Plus we’ll have our annual favourites including The RTÉ Sports Awards 2014, and Christmas Carols from Kilkenny. Big movie premières to entertain young and old across RTÉ television include Argo, Django Unchained, The Help, War Horse, Happy Feet Two, The Dark Knight Rises and Anna Karenina.
Meanwhile Kathryn Thomas will be ringing in 2015 and RTÉ One we’ll be kicking off the New Year with a bang with Charlie, a trilogy of feature-length television dramas, based on real events, as well as the big return of The Voice of Ireland and an explosive hour-long episode of Fair City.
RTÉ One
The phenomenon that is the award-winning Mrs Brown’s Boys returns to RTÉ One this Christmas for a double dose of mayhem and laughs. Christmas is just around the corner and Agnes already has her tinsel in a twist. Cathy’s hiding something from her and the family are insisting upon a cost-cutting Secret Santa! And, after a spate of burglaries in Finglas, Agnes asks Buster Brady to fit a new alarm system.
It’s Christmas at The Zoo, and narrator Tom Dunne is getting his skates on to join the zookeepers for a well earned day out at the ice-rink after another busy year taking care of the animals at Dublin Zoo.
Fair City fans can look forward to two separate hour long specials of their favourite soap over the festive season on Christmas day and Sunday, 4th January. Paul gets a surprise when an unexpected visitor shows up on his doorstep, Charlie struggles with his first Christmas without Esther, Pete tries to keep both his families happy on Christmas day and a gas leak at the Station bar has devastating consequences for one of the Carrigstown residents.
Donal Skehan’s Kitchen Hero: Donal’s Christmas Feast will have a Christmas theme with Donal visiting a turkey farm and a bakery selling mince pies while Rachel Allen will show us how to shake up your traditional dessert menu and serve up something a little different with some exciting flavours and aromas that will make your Christmas one to remember in Rachel Allen’s Sweet Christmas.
Oliver Callan is back as Callan Kicks the Year returns for its second Christmas special outing with Dobbo at the helm of an acerbic and funny look at Ireland and the world in 2014.
Ireland’s top hoteliers John and Francis Brennan are back to undertake their biggest project to date. This hour long special At Your Service To The Rescue, follows the brothers as they take on Padhraic Dormer’s challenge to help Enable Ireland, a charity close to his heart.
RTÉ One also sees a host of special one-off documentaries and festive entertainment shows.
Unbreakable tells the inspirational story of Mark Pollock’s amazing strength and positivity in the face of incredible obstacles throughout his life.
One Direction are the biggest pop phenomenon in history, in When Ryan Met Niall Ryan Tubridy goes to Mullingar to talk to some of the people who helped make Niall Horan the man he is today. Ryan then catches up with him during the middle of One Direction’s sold out stadium tour of America for a back stage chat.
Man On Bridge tells the extraordinary story of legendary Dublin street photographer Arthur Fields. Having spent fifty years from the 1930s to the 1980s taking photographs on O’Connell Bridge, Arthur left a lasting impression on the lives of many Irish families and indeed on the fabric of the city itself.
As 2014 draws to a close, RTÉ News looks back at the stories that made the headlines in their News Review of the Year a year that roared in with storms and flooding, and went on to be dominated by protests over water charges; a year that saw a Garda Commissioner, a Minister for Justice and a Labour leader stand-down and saw politicians of many hues under pressure.
In Weather Beaten John Creedon is joined by Nuala Carey and George Lee as we look back at the remarkable year of weather in 2014 and the people in the eye of the storms.
On Christmas Morning, 2009, the people of Longford woke up to the devastating news that their beloved St Mel’s Cathedral was engulfed by flames. In a Would You Believe? special The Longford Phoenix, RTÉ’s Midlands Correspondent, Ciarán Mullooly, and Would You Believe? filmmaker, Birthe Tonseth, chart the long and arduous process of transforming the cathedral from a roofless ruin back to its former glory.
See a whole new side to your favourite stars as they team up with their dogs to compete in the Superstar Dogs arena in the ultimate team game in Superstar Dogs presented by Ray D’Arcy.
In What’s Another Year: The Life and Times of Shay Healy Shay, along with friends, colleagues and family members, looks back on a long, distinguished and occasionally turbulent life and times.
Mary Kennedy presents this year’s Christmas Eve carols from the atmospheric surroundings of Kilkenny Castle and features Donal Lunny , Zoe Conway, Máirtín Ó Connor, The Riptide Movement, Eimear Quinn, The Voice Squad, Hermitage Green, Fr Ray Kelly, Henry Shefflin and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
Midnight Mass and Eurovision Mass on Christmas Day both come from the newly-restored St. Mel’s Cathedral in Longford.
Kathryn Thomas and Paddy McKenna will be joined by special guests to countdown the final moments of 2014 and ring in a brand new year with New Year’s Eve Live on RTÉ One. Broadcast live from The House of Lords, the show will highlight the 3 NYE concert in College Green with artists including Kodaline.
The RTÉ Sports Awards in association with The Irish Sports Council and presented by Darragh Maloney will see a host of Irish sporting stars in attendance for one of the best sport events of the year.
It’s a giant case of thrills, spills and body ache as we select the greatest moments and relive them in all their gruelling muddy glory in Ireland’s Fittest Family: Tears & Triumphs presented by Mairead Farrell.
RTÉ One is the place to be for big movie premières this Christmas with Skyfall, Argo, Django Unchained, The Help, Madagascar 3, Marvel: The Avengers and Puss In Boots all airing over the Christmas period along with much-loved favourites It’s A Wonderful Life, The Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, High Society, North By North West , Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom.
January will see RTÉ One start the New Year with a bang – Charlie is a trilogy of feature-length television dramas, based on real events. The drama explores the emergence of modern Ireland through charting the rise and fall of the charismatic and divisive figure of Charles J. Haughey.
The Voice Of Ireland returns to our screens in January 2015. Bressie and Kian will be taking their seats on the spinning red chairs and joining them on the panel are two brand new coaches – Una Foden and Rachel Stevens.
In an explosive New Year Fair City hour-long special a gas leak at the Station bar has devastating consequences for one of the Carrigstown residents.
New presenter Angela Scanlon joins Joe Lindsay for a new season of the popular holiday review show, Getaways, beginning New Year’s Day on RTÉ One.
Ahead of the new series Operation Transformation – 7 years & Counting revisits leaders from the very first series of Operation Transformation right through to last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLR0PFudu7I
RTÉ2
Republic of Telly will rip Christmas telly to shreds while also featuring some seasonal sketches – including a nativity themed visit with Bridget and Eamon. Also the team’s very first annual Doctor Ha starring all the cast!
Katherine Lynch – The Noughtie Years tells the true(ish) life story of the the rise to fame of Sheila Chic, Liz Hurley and Bernie Walsh while Mario Rosenstock returns to RTÉ2 this Christmas Eve with The Mario Rosenstock Christmas Special as Mario brings his favourite impressions and funniest characters back to the screen for one night only in front of a live audience.
Hey Ho, Let’s Go is a brand new music comedy panel quiz show on RTÉ2. Presented by Dermot Whelan and joined by team captains John Colleary and Colin Murphy, the show is packed full of gags and musical trivia.
In Totes 2014 Eoghan McDermott fronts another rollicking romp through the top 20 showbiz, news and sports stories of 2014, aided and abetted by a smattering of famous faces, some of whom made the headlines that they’ll actually be talking about!
This Christmas The Savage Eye: An Irish Guide To Failure will draw a damning but hilarious conclusion about Ireland and its people. . The show will revisit the most memorable sketches from the series and include a summary of the most pertinent questions asked about Ireland and the Irish people, all linked together by our trusty narrator, Dave McSavage
On TRTÉ, our dedicated programme strand for young people, there will be lots of exciting content this Christmas including a brand new series of Una’s Dream Ticket, which will see The Saturdays Una Healy return to make dreams come true for some lucky boys and girls this Christmas. With a sprinkling of popstar magic, Una and The Saturdays are guaranteed to make this one of the most feel good shows on TV this Christmas as the long-held dreams and ambitions of the nation’s youngsters become amazing realities! Plus Orla Walsh and Nick Sheridan take a look back at all the big news and sports stories of 2014 in the News2day Review of the year.
Relive the best bits from this year’s Electric Picnic festival in Electric Picnic 2014 Highlights with main stage performances from Foals, The Pet Shop Boys, Chic, Paolo Nutini and Hozier.
Ed Sheeran Up Close – an exclusive with the hottest star of the moment, in conversation with Eoghan McDermott and featuring special music performances of his best loved hit songs from his recent 2FM concert.
Racing from Leopardstown is the highlight of RTÉ2’s sporting Christmas featuring four day’s live coverage of the Christmas Festival alongside a look back at Ireland’s thrilling Six Nations win in Paris which sealed this year’s title. The Thank GAA It’s Friday team take a look back at Championship 2014 in a special programme Thank GAA It’s 2014.
Irish movie premières on RTÉ2 this Christmas include War Horse, Happy Feet Two, The Dark Knight Rises, Snow White and the Huntsman and Anna Karenina plus classics, old favourites and critically-acclaimed movies including the Harry Potter series, E.T., Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, What Richard Did, Iron Man 2 and Tron Legacy.
RTÉjr
Christmas on RTEjr sees the schedule packed full of old classics and new favourites sprinkled with films and songs about the holiday season.
Following on from a public callout, 12 children from around the country were selected and brought to the studios to be filmed in the RTÉjr Winter Song, our winter warming animated video that will broadcast throughout the Christmas schedule.
We have all the ingredients to make a very special Christmas on Twigín. The tree house will be transformed into a magical winter wonderland with lots of seasonal fun. We have a long list of fun lined up, we will be making yummy cookies to leave out for Santa, while decorating the Christmas tree the fairy goes missing and Muc has his first visit to Santa. Muireann and Bláithín will be busy in the flower patch helping Santa and the elves wrap all the presents for Christmas. Séamus is having a laugh writing the jokes for all the Christmas Crackers.
Dive into the holiday spirit with RTÉjr viewers as they take us into their world of winter magic in Christmas Baubles. This series of sixteen two minute films dips into a range of activities which excite and delight children around the country in the run-up to the Christmas season.
Do you have a theatrical ambition? Well, if so, RTÉjr is the place for you! Watch our mentors work their magic with child performers from all over Ireland in this long-running arts performance series. Especially for the Christmas the Beo Show Virtuoso brings special celebratory and Around the world themed shows including Clap Dance, Gospel Music and Norwegian Harps featuring artists like Fiachna Ó Braonain, Celine Byrne and Finghin Collins.
This Christmas is all about giving on RTÉjr – gifts ‘made with love’ by you and delivered to someone who did something special. Sixteen small slices of love and feel-good this Christmas on RTÉjr, Made With Love is touching, funny and a celebration of the joy of giving and of saying thank you.
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.
Other specials this Christmas include Julia Donaldson’s Gruffalo’s Child, Room On The Broom and the much loved family movie Land Before Time, along with special Christmas editions of all our favourites including Gigglebiz, Fluffy Gardens Christmas, The Cow that Almost Missed Christmas, Octonauts, The Great Christmas Rescue and Peter Rabbits’ Christmas Tale.
RTÉ Player
Over the Christmas Season viewers can catch up on all their favourite shows on RTÉ Player and find a huge range of RTÉ’s Christmas special programming in the RTÉ Player Christmas hub. For international audiences, they can ‘come home for Christmas’ with a selection of Christmas content available internationally on RTÉ Player
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Contact: Tara O’Brien, RTE TV Communications Manager, 01 2082287/0863544481