Autumn line-up to build on RTÉ Television’s successful year
RTÉ Television today (Thursday 10 August) revealed just some of the highlights viewers can look forward to in its new autumn schedule. With the emphasis on new home productions, RTÉ Television aims to build on its powerful performance over the summer, where an invigorated range of home-produced programming reached unprecedented audiences. New commissions like Diarmuid Gavin’s I Want a Garden, along with returning programmes like Charity You’re A Star, are routinely pulling in audience shares in excess of 35% and 38% respectively, raising combined channel share in prime time (6-11.30pm) by 2.9% points year-on-year.
Launching the new schedule at a photocall at the RTÉ studios in Donnybrook today, Managing Director of Television, Noel Curran, outlined a range of new lifestyle, factual, arts, drama and entertainment programming which will see RTÉ One and RTÉ Two further strengthen their position as Ireland’s number one and number two most-watched channels.
Legend, a new six part drama featuring Padraic Delaney, star of the recent Palme d’Or winning The Wind that Shakes the Barley, will air on RTÉ Two in September. A major new production set in West Dublin, Legend will play alongside returning dramas like The Clinic and Fair City, while Bachelors Walk is back for a once-off Christmas special.
RTÉ reconfirmed its commitment to the arts with a range of Arts programming including a new two-part documentary Landscape Painting of Ireland by Emmy-Award winning Sean Ó Mordha and a film dedicated to the ‘James Joyce of the Irish language’, Mairtin Ó Cadhain; to be shown alongside a range of new one-hour Arts Lives documentaries featuring, among others, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Donal Lunny, Michael Colgan and Eileen Gray. The View will return for another series with John Kelly while the critically-acclaimed True Lives factual series will continue to deliver strong documentaries to television audiences in Ireland. Details were also released on several new stand-alone factual series, ranging from David McWilliam’s three-parter In Search of the Pope’s Children to Junior Doctors, a new fly-on-the-wall medical series filmed in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin.
RTÉ’s Lifestyle strand will feature a broad range of new commissions and formats, including Dealers, a new antiques programme for RTÉ One. Eddie Hobbs returns with 30 Things to Do With Your SSIA, while The Great Escape follows four Irish families as they set up home on the continent. Closer to home, Community Challenge will work its magic on six Irish communities in need of a makeover. Gráinne Seoige’s brand new, early evening talk-based show will be a fresh, energetic and issue-driven, studio-based show, featuring special reports and a high level of audience involvement. Grainne will follow The Afternoon Show, which is back for a third season.
Building on a record season in 2005/2006, RTÉ’s popular chat shows will return with The Late Late Show, back on RTÉ One, Tubridy Tonight, back for an extended series run, and The Podge and Rodge Show, which will return to RTÉ Two on Monday and Tuesday nights. Other key entertainment programmes include the return of The Ex-Files, Just for Laughs (this year with comedian Neil Delamere presenting), and Killinaskully.
Autumn will also be a bumper season for sport on RTÉ Television, with two nights of Champions League, The Premiership highlights programme and live games, and the Euro 2008 qualifiers, alongside RTÉ Sports comprehensive coverage of Gaelic games, rugby, racing, and golf – all on RTÉ Two. On the same channel, younger viewers can expect a full schedule of new, innovative and engaging indigenous programming. No Experience Required Transition Year will offer five lucky students the chance to road-test their dream job, while RTÉ has also commissioned a brand new Irish animation series from Oscar-nominated Brown Bag Films.
RTÉ News & Current Affairs will continue to bring over 1,000 hours of home-produced coverage of national and international events to the screen.
”2006 has been a great year already for Irish television viewers,” said Noel Curran. “Viewing shares for the first six months of the year are up in the three main demographics – national all-day, national peak and multi-peak – for both RTÉ One and RTÉ Two combined year-on-year [39.5%; 46.4%; 39.9% respectively]. Viewers embraced a re-invigorated RTÉ Two in particular, making it Ireland’s second most-watched television channel within the first six months of the year. I’m confident that this very strong autumn schedule will build on these audiences. We’re introducing new formats and programming as well as bringing key favourites back to the schedule. We look forward to bringing viewers more of the best of Irish and international programming this Autumn.”
Further Information: Cathriona Edwards, Communications Manager, 01 208 3160 / 087 647 1120; Joseph Hoban, Senior Press Officer, 01 208 2399 / 086 8128662
Please Note: Full details on the upcoming schedule, for all genres, are now available at the RTÉ Press Site: presspack.rte.ie. The username is ‘release’ and the password is ‘moonwalk’.
Details are available on the RTÉ Press Centre site in plain text document, full-colour PDF and audio-visual promo.