Donal's Road Trip 2022
Donal Skehan sets off on a food-filled road trip around Ireland, ticking off some culinary hotspots on his foodie bucket list.
Donal Skehan sets off on a food-filled road trip around Ireland, ticking off some culinary hotspots on his foodie bucket list.
The Riordans was the second Irish soap opera made by Raidio Telefís Éireann. It ran from 1965 to 1979 and was set in the fictional townland of Leestown in County Kilkenny. Its use of Outside Broadcast Units and its filming of its episodes on location rather than in studio, broke the mould of broadcasting in the soap opera genre, and inspired the creation of its British equivalent, Emmerdale Farm by Yorkshire Television in 1972.
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.
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.
The All Ireland Talent Show is a Raidió Teilifís Éireann television series which was billed as Ireland's biggest-ever talent contest. It was first announced in November 2008 and the first series commenced broadcasting on 4 January 2009, completing on 15 March 2009. Modelled on Britain's Got Talent, it is produced by Tyrone Productions. Airing on RTÉ One, it was hosted by Daybreak features editor and Irish media personality Gráinne Seoige. Five judges take part and each regional judge, with the assistance of two other personalities who then disappear from the show, select five acts to be put forward to the live studio heats. In the second season this was changed to eight acts. Louis Walsh was approached to act as a judge before series one but refused to commit. On the opening night of series one, The All Ireland Talent Show had over 500,000 viewers, with Ireland only having a population of over 4 million people.. The opening is similar to the Got Talent series. The twenty-five finalists in series one competed for a first prize of €50,000, which was eventually won by the Mulkerrin Brothers of the Aran Islands.
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.
A two part series focusing on the team of collectors, researchers and historians at The National Folklore Collection in UCD who have set out to record memories of the Irish Civil War that were passed on through families and communities throughout Ireland.
Today Tonight was an Irish news and current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis, robust cross-examination of senior politicians and investigative reporting. The programme was brodacast on RTÉ One for the first time on Monday 6 October 1980. Brian Farrell, Barry Cowan and Olivia O'Leary were the three original presenters. They were subsequently joined by others such as Pat Cox, John Bowman and Pat Kenny. All of these presenters later went on to hold other positions in RTÉ Television. Today Tonight was broadcast from Monday to Thursday on RTÉ One after the main evening news and restored the station's reputation for current affairs broadcasting following the demise of 7 Days in 1976. The last edition of the programme was broadcast on 27 August 1992 and was replaced by Prime Time. It won a number of Jacob's Awards. An in-depth report into the 14 February 1981 Stardust fire broadcast by Today Tonight on 16 February 1981 led to a senior adviser of Taoiseach Charles Haughey accusing RTÉ of undermining the Stardust Tribunal.
The Restaurant is a successful Irish reality television programme broadcast on RTÉ One. The seventh series began on 16 November 2008, running on Sundays at 20:30. In each episode a celebrity head chef takes on the culinary challenge of producing a top class, three-course meal with two value-for-money wines. This is then served to the restaurant's customers and the resident critics, Tom Doorley and Paolo Tullio, who are joined each week by a guest critic. The chef's identity remains a secret to those being served their food until the end of the show when all has been eaten. The critics give the meal a star rating of between one and five, which is then pulled from an envelope after the head chef joins the critics' table. The Restaurant is voiced over by Seán Moncrieff and the restaurant is manned by John Healy, Maitre'D; the kitchen staff, chefs David Workowich, Stephen McAllister and Louise Lennox and food researcher, Stephen Quin, and waiting staff, waitress, Elaine Normile and waiters, Lee Bradshaw and Vivian Reynolds. Following on from the success of the television show, RTÉ published The Restaurant - The Magazine, which includes images and recipes from the series. The format is sold internationally by Vision Independent Productions under the title The Secret Chef. It has had 3 seasons in Italy.
Bryan Dobson and Dearbhail McDonald chart the unique evolution of the Irish missionary movement, from religious colonialism to heroic acts of self-sacrifice and philanthropy.
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".
Follow the staff of Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel as they uphold exacting 5-star standards of service during the hotel's busiest season.
The Late Late Tribute Shows are a series of special editions of the world's longest-running chat show, The Late Late Show broadcast on RTÉ One in Ireland each Friday evening. Over decades the shows has featured a broad range of well-known public figures including Micheál Mac Liammóir, Joe Dolan, Maureen Potter, Michael O'Hehir, Brian Lenihan, Jimmy Magee, Christy Moore, Mike Murphy and Paul McGrath. In 1999, there was a special programme marking six months since the Omagh bombing and there was also a special show in the wake of 9/11. There were also tribute shows celebrating Irish music and a Late Late Show special devoted to Irish comedians. Individual bands and musicians to have been given a tribute show include The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, The Chieftains, The Dubliners, U2, Westlife and, most recently, Ronnie Drew himself. The Tribute Shows, along with the Toy Show, tends to be one of the few editions of The Late Late Show to require advance preparation before the week of broadcast.
Documentary series on Kieran Kelly, who became infamous as the London underground serial killer. This final episode reveals the truth about Kelly's alleged crimes in the 1970's.
Cromwell in Ireland is a two-part RTÉ documentary to be broadcast in September 2008. It is produced by Irish television production company Tile Films and is described as an examination of "that great nemesis of Irish history: Oliver Cromwell". The series stars Owen Roe as Oliver Cromwell, Declan Conlon as Hugh Dubh O'Neill and Catherine Walker as Elizabeth Price. The show's airing coincided with the 350th anniversary of Cromwell's death on 3 September 1658 and will begin on Tuesday 9 September at 22:15 on RTÉ One. It will later be broadcast on the History Channel in November. It is directed by two-time IFTA winning director Maurice Sweeney and presented by the leading historian, Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú. The series consultants included John Morrill, Professor of History at University of Cambridge, Jane Ohlmeyer, Professor of History and Vice Provost at Trinity College, Dublin, Pádraig Lenihan, Lecturer in History at University of Limerick, Nicholas Canny, Professor of History at NUI Galway and Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at University of Bristol. Cromwell in Ireland was commissioned by RTÉ Television in association with The History Channel, supported by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. It was produced by Tile Films. The series was shot on high definition with large-scale reconstructions combined with CGI, provided by Sue Land and Warren Osbourne of the UK's Red Vision visual effects company, recreating the sieges and battles that took place in that era. Composer and Stellarsound producer, Steve Lynch teamed himself with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra to record the soundtrack for the series.
Broadsheet was a Telefís Éireann television current affairs programme presented by John O'Donoghue, Brian Cleeve, and Brian Farrell and broadcast in Ireland live on weekday evenings from 1962 to 1963.
RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock is the flagship evening news programme of Irish television station RTÉ One. It is Monday to Sunday at 9:00pm.
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.
A two-part tale telling the astonishing story of the role played by Irish Americans during the conflict in Northern Ireland.
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.