Inspired by the spirit of adventure of early explorers like St Brendan the Navigator, Irish underwater cameraman Ken O'Sullivan voyages out into the open North Atlantic in search of the great sea monsters described in the explorers' early texts which may well have been large whales. Over the course of the film, such encounters reveal how enlightenment and awareness dispel the myths and damage of the darkness of our historic perceptions.
Blood of the Irish is a two-part documentary miniseries broadcast on RTÉ One and presented by the professional gardener Diarmuid Gavin. It commenced airing on 5 January 2009 and completed broadcasting seven days later. In the documentary, Gavin sought 'the truth' about Irish genealogy. Genetic research into a selection of Irish DNA and its origins was undertaken for the programme at Trinity College, Dublin and EthnoAncestry. They revealed some previously unheard ideas. An attempt was also made to extract ancient DNA from some of the oldest human remains that have to date been located within the boundaries of Ireland.
Saturday Live is an Irish chat show hosted by various guest presenters and was broadcast live on Saturday nights. The show was broadcast during the autumn-spring season and was created to fill the vacant Saturday night slot after the departure of The Late Late Show from Saturday to Friday nights. It was first broadcast on RTÉ One on Saturday 25 October 1986. Saturday Live featured guest interviews and live music from guest music groups and featured a mix of serious discussion and light chat aimed at a younger audience than its main rival, The Late Late Show. The original programme ended on 11 April 1988. Saturday Live had a series of guest presenters, including the leader of Fine Gael Alan Dukes, Rhonda Paisley, soccer pundit Eamon Dunphy, industrialist Tiede Herrema and current affairs broadcaster Pat Kenny, whose own first attempt at a chat show, The Pat Kenny Show had failed. Kenny proved such a success in the Saturday Live show that he was subsequently given his own chat show under the name Kenny Live. Following Kenny's take over of The Late Late Show in 1999 and the ending of Kenny Live the Saturday Live formula was revived to fill the vacant Saturday night slot yet again. The second coming of the show proved unpopular and was ended after only one series.
Every year in Ireland, about 120 people donate their bodies to medical science and education. Unlike organ donation, the person decides to gift their entire corpse to one of Ireland's six medical schools; becoming 'silent teachers' after death. In the Anatomy Department at Trinity College Dublin, the Body Donation programme is overseen by Joint Chief Technical Officers Siobhan Ward and Philomena McAteer. Their job is to look after each new donor, as well as their bereaved families. A PARTING GIFT follows 1st year medical students as their education is enriched by direct contact with the donor remains. The documentaries encompass science & medical history, cultural attitudes towards death & bereavement and the big questions of mortality & spirituality.
Premier Soccer Saturday was formally the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ. In June 2013 RTÉ Sport confirmed that due to cost cutting initiative's to save the station up to €1.3m a year, it will no longer have the Irish rights to television coverage of the Premier League, with the 2012-13 Premier League season being the final season shown on RTÉ Sport. It was broadcast on RTÉ Two every Saturday evening between 19:30 and 21:00 and occasionally on Sunday during the English league soccer season, showing highlights of Premier League football matches. When the show was aired on a day other than Saturday, it used the appropriately customised title. The programme only showed English association football, as Monday Night Soccer covers Irish association football. The most recent theme tune for the show was a cover of the Republica song, "Bloke".
Kennedy is an Irish chat show show hosted by Mary Kennedy. The show aired live on Saturday nights as a summer "filler" between 14 June and 23 August 1997.
General knowledge quiz hosted by Claire Byrne in which contestants face a series of rounds, with winners of the heats progressing in the tournament structure. Each show features three contestants, who face a series of rounds before one is elimnated, with the final pair facing a quickfire decider to determine who goes through to the next stage.
Upwardly Mobile was an Irish television sitcom that was made and broadcast by RTÉ. Three series, including three Christmas specials, were originally broadcast on RTÉ One between 8 September 1995 and 26 December 1997. The programme starred Joe Savino and Catherine Byrne as northside couple Eddie and Molly Keogh, who win the Lotto and move to the exclusive Belvedere Downs estate on the southside of Dublin. Backed by a strong supporting cast, the series chronicles their highs and lows in life, in particular the contrast with their upper-class neighbours.
Kathryn Thomas looks at the almost overnight emergence of weight loss medications and explores their huge impact.
The Brendan Grace Show is an Irish variety show presented by Brendan Grace. The studio-based show aired on Friday nights between 29 October and 10 December 1982.
Highly Recommended was a six-part Irish lifestyle game show broadcast each Sunday on RTÉ One at 20:30. Presented by Joe Duffy, the premise was that members of the general public would compete each week to convince a panel of consumer experts that their deal ought to be "Highly Recommended". The panel, consisting of Ben Dunne, Conor Pope and Barbara McCarthy, scrutinised the deals placed before them whilst Duffy embarked on a trek into the studio audience to ask its opinions. A debate ensued and, if the deal stayed strong and the panel remained convinced, the consumer in question won a total of €2000. Topics incurred ranged from health insurance, medical and dental holidays, electrical goods, online shopping and weddings. The public could also give their opinion by voting on an online poll to determine whether they "Highly Recommended" the featured deals. The results were then featured at the beginning of the next show. The show aired in November 2007.
Teens in the Wild is an Irish observational documentary television series broadcast on RTÉ One. The series was presented by the clinical psychologist David Coleman, who previously appeared in the television series Families in Trouble. The first series, broadcast in four parts over four weeks, followed six male teenagers, each with their own individual behavioural difficulties, as they undertook a three-week activity programme at Delphi Adventure in Connemara, County Galway during September 2008. It commenced broadcasting on 2 February 2009, airing each Monday at 21:30. The series producer, Christine Thornton, was reported as stating that the series would demonstrate "often dramatic and emotional insights" in relation to teenaged behaviour. The camp was declared a "once-off" experience by Coleman in a live web chat held on RTÉ.ie on 11 February 2009. He also claimed that he would be open to doing a similar series involving teenage girls, since this one involved boys exclusively. To supplement the show, Coleman initiated a regular slot focusing on teenage issues each Wednesday on the daytime television programme, Seoige. A second series aired in 2010, this time involving an all female cast.
Ear to the Ground is a weekly television programme broadcast in Ireland on RTÉ One on Thursday evenings at 19:00. The show consists of reports about various countryside, rural environmental issues. It is currently in its sixteenth season and is produced by Independent Pictures. Ear to the Ground is presented by Ella McSweeney, Darragh McCullough and Helen Carroll. Previous presenters include Maeve Dineen, who left after the fifteenth season and the long-running Mairead McGuinness, who has since become a Member of the European Parliament for Fine Gael. The show is repeated on RTÉ One after the lunchtime news each Sunday.
"Mission to Prey" is the title of an episode of the RTÉ programme Prime Time Investigates broadcast in May 2011. It was presented by RTÉ's Aoife Kavanagh. The programme contained allegations which defamed Fr. Kevin Reynolds, an Irish Catholic priest, and caused uproar across Ireland when the truth was later revealed. Kavanagh falsely accused Fr. Kevin Reynolds of raping a teenage girl and fathering her child in Kenya. As a result of the broadcast, Fr. Reynolds was removed from his home and from his parish ministry and his reputation was destroyed. It subsequently emerged that the allegations were baseless and that RTÉ had therefore defamed Fr. Kevin Reynolds. Director-General of RTÉ Noel Curran admitted the broadcasting of "Mission to Prey" was "one of the gravest editorial mistakes ever made" in RTÉ's history.
Building engineer Kieran McCarthy is travelling around Ireland, checking out homes that are getting energy upgrades.
Winning Streak is a popular Irish game show that airs on RTÉ One, where five contestants compete for prizes up to €500,000. The show began in 1990 and has been hosted by various presenters, including Mike Murphy, Derek Mooney, Kathryn Thomas, Aidan Power, Marty Whelan, and currently Geri Maye. The show is funded by the Irish National Lottery and has been a top-rated program, although it experienced a drop in viewership in 2008/2009.
Colm and Jim-Jim's Home Run was an Irish game show broadcast on RTÉ One each Sunday at 18:30. It was presented by, respectively, Colm Hayes and Jim-Jim Nugent, the duo's first foray into the world of television. It was first broadcast on 16 November 2008. It was a creation of Vision Independent Productions, responsible for the popular television shows Showhouse and The Restaurant. Contestants could win €25,000 without answering a single question. To promote the show the presenters appeared on chat show Tubridy Tonight the night before the first episode was broadcast. The programme received mostly negative reviews from critics. However the format of the show was purchased by Fremantle Media, and is now available for international distribution, with interest from the UK and US, with Colm and Jim-Jim receiving interest to host a UK version The show was axed due to RTÉ cutbacks in June 2009.
Donal Skehan sets off on a food-filled road trip around Ireland, ticking off some culinary hotspots on his foodie bucket list.
In the 1840s, a catastrophic famine brought about the decimation of Ireland’s poor and the exodus of millions from the island. This major, ground-breaking documentary, narrated by Liam Neeson, explores the famine’s international origins and development in Europe, Britain and Ireland and charts its long-term legacy as it plays out for much of the century that follows. Today the Irish famine is recognised as the worst humanitarian disaster of the 19th Century but what is less recognised is that the crisis impacted far beyond Ireland’s shores. The story of the Blight pathogen that killed the potato crop, starts in the Andes of South America and then reaches into the heart of northern Europe where the collapse of potato crops causes the deaths of 100,000 people adding further fuel to social tensions that lead to Europe’s year of revolutions in 1848.
Customs is a six-part Irish documentary television series that examines the role of customs officers, focusing on their daily lives and their regular encounters with the illegal drug trade and other difficult situations. It is the first time such a filming sequence has been carried out. The series was originally broadcast in editions of 30 minutes each on RTÉ One at 19:30 on Sunday evenings. The first episode aired on 14 September 2008. The makers of the series gained unprecedented access to the daily operations of Ireland's customs officers, allowing viewers to see first hand the way the authorities deal with the increasing level of illegal materials and substances being imported. For example, the first episode featured a suspicious passenger making haste for a nearby exit, a live snake found in luggage at Dublin Port, an undercover operation that halted a cigarette smuggling scam at Dublin Airport and the customs anti-evasion unit chasing down UK registered cars in Cork. A spokesperson for the show was quoted as saying: "They find shipments of drugs in the strangest places: a doll's house; picture frames; the bottom of a massive cargo ship. Large quantities of money, cigarettes and cars are regularly seized, as well as a myriad of other illegal goods and substances."
