RTÉ TV will no doubt hope to replicate the success of the recent home-produced drama series, Bachelors Walk and On Home Ground, with three new drama series.
First off the blocks in January is No Tears - a four-part drama based on the controversial events surrounding the Hepatitis C scandal in the mid-1990s. It stars Brenda Fricker and Maria Doyle Kennedy as two women who discover they have been infected - and how they deal with their predicament. Next up is Fergus's Wedding, a six-part comedy drama from the same team behind the well-received Paths to Freedom. The cast includes Michael McElhatton, Julia Ford, Deirdre O'Kane, Peter McDonald and Conor McPherson. Incidentally, for those who missed out on the first showing of Paths to Freedom, the series gets a second airing on Network 2, beginning this week. Later in the year, a six-part comedy drama series about three thirtysomething women, Any Time Now, focuses on life, love and relationships in contemporary Ireland. Starring Angeline Ball, Zara Turner and Susan Lynch, the series was written by Deirdre O'Kane, Lesley McKimm and Kathy Downes. From abroad on the drama front, RTÉ will be showing Steven Spielberg's second World War epic, Band of Brothers. The 10-part mini-series is said to be the most expensive television drama made, at a cost of around $10 million per episode. New series of Friends and ER, both in their eighth seasons, will also begin this week.
Documentaries to be screened on RTÉ this year include Tommie Gorman's personal account of his successful battle with cancer, a profile of the former Republic of Ireland soccer player, Denis Irwin, and a programme on the life and times of Conor Cruise O'Brien. A series documenting the lives of Irish people who have settled on the island of Majorca, Home From Home, begins this week. A new series dealing with love, sex and relationships in Ireland today, Love Bites, begins later this month. In spring, a fly-on-the-wall series will take a look at life in the wards and delivery rooms of the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street in Dublin. From the entertainment stable, a new series of the Internet-dating travel show, Wanderlust, will start this month. Later in the year, second series of both Treasure Island and The Fame Game will be shown.
A recent TV series made by an Australian production company in association with RTÉ has picked up two broadcast awards Down Under. Grey Voyagers, which was shown on RTÉ last April, is a six-part travel and adventure show focusing on the stories of "older" travellers. The subjects ranged in age between 65 and 86 years old. One of the programmes, Cyber Sisters, followed 72-year-old Cork woman Catherine Walshe who overcame agoraphobia to travel overseas. Catherine did not leave her Cork home for eight years, but access to the Internet helped her regain contact with the outside world and conquer her condition. The programme followed Catherine on her journey to the US to meet the friends she met on-line in seniors' chat rooms. Other travellers in the series included a 75-year-old man who motorbiked his way around India and Nepal, and an 86-year-old woman who travelled to East Timor to help local women set up a sewing co-operative. The series collected awards from both the Commonwealth Media and Advertising Awards and the United Nations Association of Australia Media Awards.
A new series beginning today on RTÉ Radio One promises to bring us the history of the world since the beginning of time - but not quite as we know it. Henderson's History of the World, a six-part comedy series, sends up the traditional format of the "serious historical" documentary. The spoof begins with the story of Alan the Amoeba, who faces a slagging at school when he begins to evolve at a faster rate than his single-cell mates. Throughout the series, there are interviews with long-dead historical figures - and those who knew them - including the would-be first man on Earth, Adam, who is exposed by Charles Darwin as nothing more than the original pub bore. The series is written by comedian John Henderson and produced by Alf McCarthy. It features John Henderson, Tara Flynn, Paul Tylak and is narrated by Brendan Dempsey. The script editor for the series is Barry Murphy. Henderson's History of the World starts today at 11.02 a.m.
For the first time in its history, BBC1 had higher overall annual viewing figures than its commercial rival, ITV1, last year. Figures released this week show BBC1 with an overall share of 26.8 per cent for the year 2001 - just shading ITV1 on 26.7 per cent. BBC bosses were quick to celebrate the narrow victory, with BBC1's controller, Lorraine Heggessey, saying it was fantastic to see public-service broadcasting could be so strong in a competitive multi-channel world. "This shows the first fruits of rebuilding BBC1 with extra investment . . . allowing us to afford more drama and more landmark factual programmes to strengthen BBC1 schedules," she said. But ITV responded by accusing the corporation of dumbing down and abandoning the cultural high ground. Controversial measures undertaken by the BBC last year, such as moving the main evening news to 10 p.m. and adding a fourth weekly episode of EastEnders, undoubtedly helped boost BBC figures. But in the crucial peak-time period between 7 p.m. and 10.30 p.m., ITV1 was still ahead of the BBC with 35 per cent to 29 per cent.
mkearney@irish-times.com