RTÉ One

Hanging with Hector is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. It is presented by the Irish personality Hector Ó hEochagáin. The show centres on Ó hEochagáin's exploits as he meets a different well-known individual for each episode and spends the day "hanging out" with them, engaging in their lifestyles and partaking in their chosen pursuits in a manner deemed entertaining for the Irish television viewing public. It has been criticised for being "about as original as washing your teeth each morning". It is very similar to its more recent female equivalent Livin' with Lucy, although Ó hEochagáin, unlike Lucy Kennedy, does not actually live with the celebrities. The celebrities are largely male, with the most recent season including the chef Richard Corrigan, the former Irish rugby union international Trevor Brennan, the rugby analyst and radio presenter George Hook and, most recently, the horse trainer Aidan O'Brien. However, the female athlete Derval O'Rourke has featured in the past. The second season featured the comedian Jon Kenny and snooker player Ken Doherty. The first season included the fraudulent banker-turned CEO of Galway United F.C., Nick Leeson, the footballer Niall Quinn and Ó hEochagáin's schoolboy friend and future radio partner Tommy Tiernan.

Nationwide is an Irish television programme broadcast on RTÉ One every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening at 19:00, around 35 minutes long. It is currently presented by Anne Cassin and Mary Kennedy. The programme focuses on human interest stories and cultural events across the island of Ireland, generally but not solely outside of Dublin. The show is produced by RTÉ Cork. It, along with Capital D, a programme featuring Dublin, serves a similar purpose to the occasional RTÉ attempts to regionalise news and human interest content in the past, albeit without the increased technology and transmission costs, which would likely require total re-engineering of the country's transmission and cable television networks. Nationwide itself was the sole programme regionalised in recent times, but this has now ceased. Nationwide is the brainchild of Michael Ryan. On 20 December 2011, Anne Cassin was announced as Michael Ryan's replacement as presenter following his retirement.

The Meaning of Life is an Irish television programme, the first series of which was broadcast on RTÉ One in 2009. It is presented by the veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne. Each episode involves Byrne interviewing a well-known public figure. The series is broadcast each Sunday night at 22:20. In 2010 The Meaning of Life returned for both a second and, later, a third series. Interviews with former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and actors Gabriel Byrne and Brenda Fricker during the second series attracted media attention when they spoke of their religious habits and child sexual abuse respectively. Gay Byrne appeared on The Late Late Show on 18 December 2009 to discuss the programme. A fourth series soon followed. Then a fifth series from January 2012. And a sixth in October 2012. And a seventh in January 2013.

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.

Dublin Fire Brigade and ambulance services receive around 133,000 calls a year. Whatever the emergency, whenever it happens, the firefighters are first to respond, putting themselves in danger to save lives. And it’s not just fighting fires. Every member of Dublin Fire and Rescue is a trained paramedic, and whether it’s ambulance services, rapid river rescues, marine emergency response or high line rescues that are called for, they're equipped and trained to give people in need of rescue the best chance of survival. Using state of the art technology including vehicle and helmet mounted cameras this series will bring viewers deep into the heart of the fire scene with the firefighters themselves to witness and experience a level of danger, drama and emotion never before seen on Irish television.

Five Women Go Back to Work is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. The series follows five mothers, of differing professional backgrounds, as they make their return to the workforce after several years spent at home rearing their children. The five are employed by the publishing house, Ashville Media, with their mission being to compile a glossy magazine aimed at working women. The five have twelve weeks to complete their task. The series was filmed between October 2008 and January 2009. It is a creation of Vision Independent Productions.

The Great Escape is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One each Tuesday night at 22:15. It follows Irish families who leave Ireland to travel across the world in search of a better life. Two series have thus far been produced, with each series documenting four families who leave Ireland in search of a better life. The series details how they cope in their new surroundings, without any support from friends or family as they set up businesses, develop new careers, meet new friends and overcome cultural differences. Produced by Coco Television, it has thus far featured Irish families who have relocated to such countries as France, South Africa, Spain, Australia, Austria and Italy. The second series in 2009 was part of a group of programmes dealing with the topic of emigration. Others included J1 - Summer in the Sun, Death or Canada, Blood of the Irish and Who Do You Think You Are?.

Three-part series following Dublin GAA star Philly McMahon and comedian Rory O’Connor (Rory Stories) as they run a unique educational and sports programme in Mountjoy Prison.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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".

Little White Lie is a feature length IFTA-nominated Irish television romantic comedy drama broadcast on RTÉ One on 4 August 2008 at 21:30. It stars Andrew Scott and Elaine Cassidy. The drama follows the journey of a dejected actor as he searches for love after being discarded by his highflying girlfriend. The title comes from the fact that the main character tells one to his new girlfriend - that he is a psychiatrist instead of an actor. Little White Lie is written by Stuart Carolan and Barry Murphy and directed by Nick Renton. It is produced by Element Pictures, which previously produced Bitter Sweet and Prosperity for RTÉ. The drama featured music from the artist Julie Feeney. The song "You Broke the Magic" was taken from the Choice Music Prize-winning 13 songs.

Guerrilla Gourmet is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. The series features professional chefs from various backgrounds, such as Dylan McGrath and Kevin Dundon, who each take on a new challenge. Each episode sees a different chef try to construct a temporary "guerrilla restaurant" out of nothing, taking on the task of locating a premises, composing a menu, cooking the food to serve to the customers and finding the actual customers themselves. The six-part series began broadcasting on 11 February 2008 at 20:30. Locations featured include Blackrock College, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and the Rock of Cashel.

Sex & Sensibility is an RTÉ television series which reflects on changing attitudes to sex in Ireland. The four-part series was presented by Simon Delaney. Directed by Imogen Murphy, it was filmed in April and May 2008 on location in Dublin. It was broadcast in June and July 2008. Features included some commentary from Bill O'Herlihy, Mary O'Rourke, Michael McNiff, Claire Tully, John Kelleher and night club owners Valeria Roe and Maurice Boland. The series reflected on the changes that had taken place in Ireland since the 1960s, an era when the sexual revolution had not yet reached the shores of the island. It showed how television had played a major part in "loosening everyone up" and altered Irish society "from a gloomy 'Irish Taliban'-style theocracy to the nation of fun-loving sex maniacs we are today". Terry Prone demonstrated her view that soaps, rather than "dusty old current affairs programmes", had been central to social change. The Riordans caused scandal when one of the characters, named Maggie, went on the pill. The "contraceptive train" to Belfast was also focused on, evoking memories of an era when the devices were illegal in the Republic of Ireland, prompting people to travel to Northern Ireland to stock up on their contraceptive needs. Also featured was The Late Late Show and the uproar it caused when it gave airtime to a group of lesbian nuns, Bill Hughes, who spoke about the underground gay scene in Ireland, Senator David Norris having his sexuality called into question when he was asked if he was "sick" by a TV presenter, the Leeson Street clubbing scene in its early years and Toni the Exotic Dancer, a housewife from Tallaght, Dublin who flashed her ample bosom for the crowds who thronged the urban pubs after mass. Video of protesters with portable Virgin Mary statues at work outside the RTÉ studios were also shown.

Kathryn Thomas looks at the almost overnight emergence of weight loss medications and explores their huge impact.