PEAKY BLINDERS star Charlene McKenna plays a woman with a dark past in gripping new Irish drama CLEAN SWEEP. There’s some good writing in this twisty drama which follows the interconnecting stories of the large cast, including teen son Derek (Rhys Mannion) who is developing a fondness for reefer, daughter Caitlin (Katelyn Rose Downey) on the edge of adolescence, and precocious and sickly Niall (Aidan McCann), who is wiser than his tender years.
The second season of the popular crime drama series is on the way later this month on RTÉ One. The returning cast for season two includes Charlie Cox as Michael, as Amanda, Aidan Gillen as Frank, Sam Keeley as Viking, Emmett J. Scanlan as Jimmy, Maria Doyle Kennedy as Birdy, and Yasmin Seky as Nikita. Ciarán Hinds as rival gang leader Eamon Cunningham will naturally not be back, for reasons that will be clear to those who’ve watched the debut season.
OTHER VOICES is finally returning to Irish television screens on April 14th, primed and ready to celebrate its twentieth series. The show will run for six weeks on RTÉ2 and will be packed with exclusive interviews and performances from the world’s most exciting musical stars. Annie MacManus, MayKay, and Huw Stephens will also be returning as hosts. Week one kicks off with Irish superstar Dermot Kennedy, RTÉ Choice Music Prize nominee Orla Gartland, and Dublin rock band Sprints.
THE LATE LATE TOY SHOW was this year watched from 152 countries and has raised €6,601,895 million for Irish charities. An average audience of 1.8 million tuned in to the show across the weekend, making it one of the highest rating television programmes on a single channel on record in Ireland.
It’s off-beat, it’s real, it’s funny and it brings the characters to life. The new RTE drama series, HIDDEN ASSETS, focuses on family, power and the corrosive effects of boundless greed – a story set in Co Clare, small town Ireland and the world’s diamond capital, Antwerp.
People watching CRIMECALL on RTE One last night were quick to take to social media with their witty observations of the long-running show. While the show’s topics are very serious and involve real-life perpetrators and victims of crimes, viewers could not help but share their light-hearted reactions to some of the content, particularly the reconstructions.
The GREAT FAMINE VOICES ROADSHOW is returning with what producers describe as “a brand new series of standalone short films and online discussions beginning with Black Abolitionists in Ireland”. The first program, airing Sunday May 2, features a short film and online discussion and focuses on the story of Sarah Remond’s visit to Ireland in 1859 to win support for anti-slavery, even as her own country was hurtling towards a bloody civil war.
A new documentary, which includes an expedition by a group of Irish explorers on a special research mission to Iceland, received it’s premiere on RTÉ One this past weekend. Filmed by filmmaker Tony Whelan, the film is about a group of Irish whales and dolphins traveling to Iceland in May 2018 on a unique research expedition.
New noir thriller SMOTHER, starring Dervla Kirwan and Seána Kerslake and filmed in Lahinch, County Clare, debuts on RTÉ One on March 7th. Kirwan plays family matriarch Val Ahern – a devoted mother who is determined to protect her family and particularly her three daughters Jenny, Anna, and Grace, at any cost.
PULLING WITH MY PARENTS (Mondays, RTÉ) is a show in which young people attempt to “pull” with their parents. This involves various progenitors, siblings and family friends reading through the volunteering youngsters’ Tinder chats and puppeteering their dates, Bergerac style, from a nearby “spy van”.
Marking the Irish public broadcaster’s sales division’s first push into kids programming, RTÉ Programme Sales has announced its first ever slate of kids programming available to the global market with a new lockdown programming block.
Irish audiences have praised the Tommy Tiernan Show as the best chat show on RTE. The Saturday night talk show returned this weekend for its fifth series with guests Andrea Corr and Sunday World crime reporter Nicola Tallant.
As the Holiday Season gains momentum, it’s time to bring a bit of festive cheer into our homes. Here’s what’s playing on RTÉ this Christmas – there’s something for everyone!
RTÉ has announced the launch of a landmark new series to commemorate 175 years since the start of the Irish Famine. Ballymena native, LIAM NEESON, will narrate the series, which will provide a comprehensive overview of one of the most significant periods in the history of Ireland.