The backstage drama behind RTÉ's new season

Some shows have been dropped, and many old faces are back, but the schedule isn't as bare as expected. MICK HEANEYlooks at what it says about RTÉ's cash troubles, and BERNICE HARRISONgives a critic's view

FOR ANYONE wondering how RTÉ has changed in the face of fiscal rectitude, the annual announcement of the new television season provides a telling barometer. In August 2008, as the network’s management team unveiled the line-up for the coming year, they sounded a bullish note. Noel Curran, the then-managing director of television, spoke of the “scale and ambition” of the new schedule and the “huge energy” around RTÉ, while Clare Duignan, the then-director of programmes, highlighted the “strength of commercial income”. It was the last hurrah for such confidence: the following month, the cataclysmic banking crisis struck.

With the network nursing a deficit of €34 million, yesterday’s launch of the 2011-12 television season had a more sober and reflective tone, compared to the back-slapping celebrations of yore. Glen Killane, the current managing director of television, talked in his speech about the “very substantial challenges” facing the cash-strapped national broadcaster, while re-affirming RTÉ’s commitment to its core programming functions.

Despite the sombre sentiments, however, the latest TV schedule is not nearly as threadbare as one might expect. The season promises 49 new home-produced documentaries and series, with a further 64 shows returning to our screens. there are surprisingly few high-profile casualties among the new schedule.

The station's drama slate remains largely intact, even if there are now only 72 hours of home-produced fare, down 10 hours on last season. Fair City, Rawand Love/Hateall return, the latter with more episodes. There is no sign yet of crime drama Single-Handed– negotiations with co-producers ITV are ongoing – while one-off television dramas, such as last year's acclaimed, When Harvey Met Bobare similarly absent. Nor are there any new drama series on offer.

Some big names are less evident too. Pat Shortt, previously responsible for ratings juggernauts like Killinaskully, has had his sitcom Mattietruncated to a Christmas special, though new projects are promised. Lucy Kennedy's fly on the wall show Livin' With Lucyis also finished, but once again new vehicles are in the pipeline. Grainne Seoige lost The All-Ireland Show, but has been compensated with two new shows plus a berth on the revamped Crimecall.

On the factual front, output is palpably down. One-off and two-part documentaries with a markedly contemporary slant feature, as do new participatory shows such as Genealogy Roadshow, in comparison to the lavish historical series of the past, like Cromwell.

The lifestyle department, rumoured to be facing tough culls, actually features five new series this year, down from 10 in 2010, though old dependables such as Off The Railsand Operation Transformationare back. Nor is it only mainstream shows that remain. Cult series like Hardy Bucks, The Savage Eyeand Republic Of Tellyreturn. Along with new series like Masterchef, such programmes are part of a drive to ensure that RTÉ 2 has a lighter flavour during the week.

In keeping with Curran's desire to preserve the network's core public service functions, there has been no visible diminution of the current news and current affairs output, though budgets there have been cut in line with other departments, leading to less resources behind the scenes. The arts output seems particularly slim, with The Viewthe only such cultural show promised for the remainder of 2011. But there is a promise of a much rejuvenated artistic schedule in the new year, under the aegis of incoming arts commissioning editor Sarah Ryder.

The new season betrays a certain caution, however. There is an irony that at a time when RTÉ is slashing the pay of its top stars by 30 per cent, its television output is still dependent on such figures to host popular programmes such as The Frontlineand The Late Late Show.(Similarly, within radio, presenters such as Pat Kenny and Joe Duffy are still responsible for large audiences.) Meanwhile, some of the biggest new shows – Masterchef, The Voice Of Irelandand The Secret Millionaire– are formats licensed from international production companies.

Such shows may be popular – important when advertising plays such a huge part in RTÉ's revenue – but offer none of the potential long-term re-sale value of original formats such as The Lyrics Board, which was successfully exported abroad.

RTÉ's large raft of acquired, mainly American, drama has also been given more emphasis. And while many shows have returned, many have shorter runs than before, for example RTÉ 1's daytime programming Four Liveand The Daily Show. Ultimately, those paying the licence fee are getting less for the same money. "Something has to give," says Killane.

“There will be an impact on screen, but we wanted to minimize that as much as possible.” Still, it is a decent programming slate, given how circumstances have changed.

Despite warnings in an opinion piece in The Irish Timesearlier this year by Curran, now the network's Director General, that the situation had reached "a tipping point", RTÉ has managed to shield its programming from the worst cutbacks, at first glance anyway. "When the whole crisis hit," says Killane, "We took the decision to always put the audience first. We sought to prioritise output above all."

But while the new season has an outwardly healthy sheen – and some intriguing new attractions – it masks deeper problems.

From 2003 to 2008, RTÉ’s original programming expanded massively, with the expenditure on TV growing from €120 million to €199 million. The collapse in advertising revenue since then has obviously led to budget cuts, with RTÉ saying all production budgets have been squeezed by 5 per cent to 10 per cent from 2008 levels.

Throughout Montrose there is a sense that the most dramatic quakes have yet to come, in output, organisation and employment, as RTÉ seeks cuts of €17 million this year and the same again in 2012. In this context,

More severe cuts remain in the offing, however. Since 2008, RTÉ has made cuts of €82 million in its entire budget, thanks to measures such as 2009’s salary reductions. But the network’s fiscal problems have persisted, exacerbated by last year’s Budget, which RTÉ says took nearly €20 million more away from its coffers, while spending €70 million on its digital broadcasting obligations by setting up the Saorview network has not helped. While it is currently seeking 70 voluntary redundancies in the hope of saving €5 million a year, most of the low-hanging fruit has been trimmed.

The very shape of the network potentially faces change. A strategic review is underway, with insiders saying that everything is on the table for discussion. (However, the sale of outlets such as RTÉ 2 and the future of institutions such as the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra have not yet been discussed.)

In the radio sphere, where no concrete programming decisions have yet been announced, there is a similar feeling that the entire radio set-up is under review: selling the commercially-viable 2FM may seem an obvious option, but RTÉ is loath to part with such a lucrative asset with money so tight.

As it is, the financial shortfalls have already had a severe impact beyond Montrose, with the independent sector feeling a proportionally greater pinch to date. The sector’s dynamism contributed hugely to RTÉ’s surge in quality, commanding an ever bigger chunk of the budget during the boom – the network’s spend on such productions grew from €46 million in 2003 to €79 million in 2007. But such producers have suffered from big cuts recently, with RTÉ’s independent budget falling to an estimated €54 million last year. RTÉ’s counter-argument is that while the independent budget grew by 70 per cent in the peak years, spending on in-house output only increased by 40 per cent, hence the former sector is bound to experience more pain.

The pain can only spread. Within RTÉ there is an expectation that 2012 will bring more dramatic developments, with previously invulnerable “big ticket items” (to use the nebulous phrase of one RTÉ insider) set for radical overhaul, be they departments, stations or shows. For its new season, RTÉ has overcome its perilous financial state to produce a set of programmes that reflect its public service commitments and its duty to serve its audience, albeit in reduced form. How long the national broadcaster can defy the odds is another matter.

Plenty to set the timer for

ONCE YOU get past the whiff of recession hanging over RTÉ's new season schedule – no new dramas, several chat shows, talk being cheap – and a disappointing over reliance on familiar faces, there's plenty to set the timer for. And it's a testament to managing director of television Glen Killane's diverse schedule that two of the programmes that instantly leap out as "must sees" for me are so profoundly different: Mary's Raftery's Behind the Walls, a new two-part documentary exploring the history of Irish psychiatric hospitals – which on the strength of her previous investigative work is bound to be disturbingly revelationary and Pan AM, a glossy new retro-themed American drama series starring Christina Ricci and set in the 1960s when air travel was the last word in glamour, a sort of Mad Menin the sky.

The factual/documentary listings look promising, particularly Hostile Environment, a two-parter in which actor Liam Cunningham explores the secretive world of the international private security industry; Property Shock – Where To Now?Richard Curran's follow-up on his prescient Futureshock: Property Crash; The Secret Millionaire,the Irish version of the Channel 4 series which sees three millionaires (why only three? Is that all that's left?) immersing themselves in poor communities in Cork, Dundalk and Dublin and giving a helping hand, and Two for the Road, a travel and adventure series which pairs "six well-known public figures" with six people with disabilities.

Let's hope the various programme researchers have beefed up their contact books because there's a huge reliance in the new season – between reality and interview shows – on "well-known public figures" to provide the entertainment. The Late Late Showand Brendan O'Connor's Saturday Night Showare back and even though last season's poor-to-hopeless guest line-ups on those shows proved that there really isn't enough sofa fodder on this small island to sustain two chat shows, there are new ones from Craig Doyle and back out of telly-retirement Mike Murphy – though like Gay Byrne's show which also returns (presidential aspirations permitting) his show is billed as a one-on-one interview.

Series that promise to be entertaining of a dark November night include Francis Brennan's Grand Tour,where the hotelier takes a group of 16 holidaymakers on a 12-night coach trip across Europe; Masterchef Ireland, with judges Dylan McGrath and Nick Munier and The Voice of Ireland– the home-grown version of a singing competition that pitches itself as a more up-market X-Factor.

The new season's arts coverage is very poor with only the cheap and cheerless late night The View filling that yawning gap. I couldn't spot any new front of camera talent in the listings either, which is disappointing – surely someone other than Joe Duffy, Derek Mooney, Gay Byrne, Craig Doyle et al could present a programme. And a face that is going to become even more familiar is Gráinne Seoige who is very much back in Montrose though there's a sense that they don't know quite what to do with her – she's presenting three very different programmes: Gráinne Seoige's Modern Lifewhich "looks at a range of different aspects of modern Irish society"; a made-over Crimecall, where she's been paired with Philip Boucher Hayes (what was wrong with the old Crimecall?) and most intriguingly of all a sports quiz, Put 'Em Under Pressure.

Though maybe that’s RTÉ’s way of getting value for money.

– BERNICE HARRISON