Ryantown was an RTÉ Television light entertainment show hosted by Gerry Ryan that was broadcast on Saturday evenings for one season between 1993 and 1994. It was set in Gerry Ryan's house in the fictional Ryantown. The show was broadcast during the autumn-spring season.
Ballet Chancers is an Irish television programme broadcast on RTÉ One in late 2008. Featuring the ballerina, Monica Loughman, it began on 16 November 2008. In the show Loughman attempts to turn six streetwise hip hop dancers into elegant ballet dancers over a period of four months. At the end of the show they may, if successful, partake in a performance of The Nutcracker with Loughman's own company, The Irish Youth Russian Ballet Company which took place in the 21 December finale.
Seoige is an Irish television chat show. The show, hosted by sisters Gráinne and Sile Seoige, was broadcast live on weekdays at 16:30 on RTÉ One, with a hiatus in the summer months. Episodes were repeated at 08:20 the following weekday morning on the same channel. The programme was originally launched in 2006 as Seoige and O'Shea with Grainne Seoige and Joe O'Shea at the helm. It followed a similar format to ITV's This Morning programme. Moving between serious issues and lighter subjects, content included interviews, debates and musical performances. Viewers could call, text or e-mail the programme's studio to give their opinions on topics. The presenters chatted with four sets of guests, which consisted of interviewees, discussion groups and musical artists. The show was rebranded Seoige in August 2008 after Joe O'Shea announced he was leaving RTÉ to pursue a career in radio broadcasting. RTÉ announced on 21 April 2009 that the show would be cancelled and that the last show would air on Friday the 24 April 2009. A new series will not be commissioned for the autumn of 2009.
Boom! Boom! The Explosion of Irish Comedy was a four-part Irish television programme broadcast on RTÉ One in 2008. Presented by Colm Meaney it focused on the positive changes that occurred in Irish comedy during the Celtic Tiger years. It combined rare and memorable performances from the archives with contemporary interviews with the featured comedians to explain how this transformation came about and who the people responsible for it were. Boom! Boom! was broadcast on Thursdays at 22:15, beginning on 10 July 2008. The series was filmed from May through early July 2008 around various Dublin locations including the Comedy Cellar, the Gaiety Theatre and Vicar Street. The series was directed by Cormac Larkin. Producer Catherine Munro told IFTN that the series was a review of the last 25 years in Irish comedy. "We interviewed comedians including Kevin Gildea, Ann Gildea and Sue Collins from "The Nualas", actor Michael McElhatton, Brendan O'Carroll, PJ Gallagher and new talent Jarlath Regan. We also talked to Father Ted writer Arthur Mathews and producer Shay Healy, who both contributed to Irish comedy's success."
On the 50th anniversary of the death of the man they called The Chief, David McCullagh authors a landmark two part documentary about the rise and rule of Éamon de Valera.
Documentary charting the national coronavirus vaccine campaign in Ireland, beginning in late February as the rollout to the over-85s got under way.
Bull Island was an Irish television and radio satirical comedy show broadcast on RTÉ One and later on RTÉ Radio 1 from 1999 until 2001. Featuring a cast of seven Irish comedians and impressionists, the show, which aired for half an hour weekly, satirised many aspects of Irish life. Bull Island was created by RTÉ Producer/Director John Keogh who brought Michael Sheridan, Alan Shortt & Gary Flood together to devise & co-create the format. Some of the notable women in power at the time, such as the then Cabinet Minister, Mary O'Rourke, and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's partner Celia Larkin were played by a man, and there were regular depictions of deception and skulduggery in the Dáil bar. The opposition were usually portrayed as bumbling incompetents. Other sketches included a regular pastiche of Paddy O'Gorman and his shows which consist of interviewing people at random - Bull Island's Paddy O'Gormless would do similar, but with ever more inane interviews. A favourite sketch, which became known as the show's signature, was an impersonation of a long-running ad for Irish discount electrical retailer PowerCity, where actors looking surprisingly like those in the adverts, wearing the same bright red jumpers, would wax enthusiastic about prices ending in 99 pence in "Bull Island City". This evolved into a stream of products costing "99.99.99" as the series progressed. As a result, PowerCity removed the pence from all their prices, and regularly charge round tens or hundreds for products instead of 99s.
PM Live is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's former live flagship daytime show. It ran from Autumn 1997 until May 1999. Replacing the long running daytime chat show Live at 3, it also replaced RTÉ One's midday show 12 to 1, merging much of the content of both shows into a long three-hour show which was interrupted at 4pm by Emmerdale. The series started at 15:00 and finished at 17:30. The television show was presented by Thelma Mansfeild, Marty Whelan and Ciana Campbell. Derke Davis decided to leave daytime television as he was also presenting his prime-time series Davis. Ciana Campbell also hosted a jobs show on prime-time Network 2 which was a "PM Live production". This was RTÉ's last in-house daytime production. In 1999 the series was replaced by Open House, produced for RTÉ by Tyrone Productions.
Tonight with Craig Doyle is an Irish chat show hosted by Craig Doyle that was broadcast on RTÉ One for one series in 2010. The show featured guest interviews, audience participation and live music. Tonight with Craig Doyle was broadcast every Saturday night during the spring season directly after the main evening news.
The Big Money Game is an Irish game show, broadcast on RTÉ One on Saturday nights during the summer months of June, July and August as a seasonal replacement for Winning Streak. The successor to Fame and Fortune and The Trump Card, The Big Money Game was first broadcast on Saturday, 14 June 2008. As with Winning Streak, production costs for the programme are paid by RTÉ and the prize money is funded by the Irish National Lottery. Entry to the game show is based on getting three "lucky stars" on associated National Lottery scratchcards and submitting them for a televised drawing. Contestants can win cash prizes up to €250,000, as well as cars, holidays, and other prizes. The first series was hosted by Laura Woods. The Big Money Game returned on 13 June 2009 for a second 13-week series with Derek Mooney as host. The third season, also with Derek Mooney hosting, commenced on 5 June 2010. -Returned in 2011-
How Long Will You Live? is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. Presented by Mark Hamilton, it has so far run for a total of four series. Each week Hamilton examines a different individual with an unhealthy lifestyle, estimates their lifespan and attempts to increase that lifespan by implementing his own techniques into a plan to improve that person's lifestyle. The fourth series began airing on 7 January 2009. The series is sponsored by Flora.
Open House is an Irish afternoon television show broadcast on RTÉ One between 1998 and 2003. The last episode was broadcast in 2004. It was presented by Mary Kennedy and Marty Whelan and focused on lifestyle, cookery and human interest issues. Presenters included Dermot O'Neill, the popular gardening expert. The show was broadcast five days a week, and was also transmitted to the United Kingdom via Tara Television. Open House replaced Live at 3, and was itself replaced by The Afternoon Show. It was popular with students and rapper Coolio laughed when two of the show's researchers replaced missing dancers.
Charlie Bird Explores is the title of a series of documentary films shot by RTÉ News and Current Affairs chief news correspondent Charlie Bird, in which the reporter sets off to explore some of the most beautiful and remote places in the far corners of the planet Earth and moans about having to do so. The series broadcast over a number of years features Bird's adventures in the Arctic, the Ganges and the Amazon. The documentaries are produced by Crossing the Line Films. For his Amazon journey, Bird crossed South America from ocean to ocean, tracing the course of the Amazon River and, somewhat annoyingly to many viewers, complaining about everything associated with the Amazon along the way. En route he tells the story of this region and how it plays a crucial role in global warming and environment change. For his Ganges trek, Bird took a path from the sea to the river's source, battling from the Bay of Bengal to the Himalayas along the river. In the Arctic, filmed in 2008, Bird met the Inuit community in Grise Fiord, Nunavut.
Buyer Beware! is an Irish television consumer affairs series. The show, hosted by Philip Boucher-Hayes, is broadcast on Thursdays at 20:30 on RTÉ One. It follows a similar format to BBC's Watchdog. The first episode aired on 6 November 2008. Enable Ireland responded to the feature in the first episode on bogus plastic bag collectors by issuing a press release.
Winning Streak: Dream Ticket was a weekly Irish game show in which five contestants play a number of games to win cars, holidays, and cash prizes up to €500,000. Broadcast on Saturday nights between 13 September 2008 until 6 June 2009 on RTÉ One, the game show is among the channel's most popular programmes, often ranking among the top five in the ratings. However, there was a significant drop in viewership in the 2008/2009 series. Prize money for the show is funded by the Irish National Lottery, with entry to the game based on National Lottery scratchcards. In 2008 the show was revamped and rebranded Winning Streak - Dream Ticket. There were new presenters, Kathryn Thomas and Aidan Power, a new set, new games and a completely new and updated format. The set is now bright and modern, but is inspired by a retro 1970s style, with a light up "disco style" floor, and a "funky" glittered backdrop. There are viewer text competitions and audience prizes, with five players being guaranteed at least €20,000 for their participation and one of these has the chance of winning €250,000. The programme is now available to watch worldwide online. With these updates the show has gone through the most changes in its history.
Questions and Answers is a topical debate RTÉ television programme in Ireland, similar in format to the BBC television programme Question Time, that was broadcast from 1986 until 2009. The show typically featured politicians from the major political parties as well as other public figures who answered questions put to them by the audience. The first two series were presented by Olivia O'Leary; however, John Bowman took over as chairperson for all subsequent series. Originally broadcast on RTÉ One Sunday nights, the show later moved to Monday nights where it was usually shown at 10.30pm. The final show was broadcast on 29 June 2009. Director-General of RTÉ Cathal Goan described the programme as an "integral part of the national conversation for over 20 years". It was replaced by The Frontline, a series hosted by Pat Kenny.
