The reality show, Haunted House, originally intended for broadcast last month, will now be shown on TV3 for three consecutive nights beginning on April 16th. Twenty-seven contestants took part in the production, which involved spending three days and three nights in a "haunted house" where, according to producer Louis Maguire, "they went through absolute hell." Over the course of the 72 hours, 15 of the contestants left the house - most of them because they couldn't handle the terror, according to Maguire.
The first-time TV producer ran into his own difficulties with the production, which he describes as a financial nightmare. "It is going to be spectacular TV, but it gobbled money," he says. Maguire wouldn't confirm how much the production cost, but he claims it ran into millions of euros. He says 185 people worked on the show and pays tribute to the crew's tolerance - even when they weren't being paid.
The producers attempted to find out each contestant's greatest fear - and then used it to torment them. In one incident, four contestants were left under a bed while three live snakes were set upon them. "People will say I'm the sickest, most evil man in Ireland when they see this show," says Maguire.
The winning contestant, who will receive €20,000, is to be chosen by viewers during a show at City West Hotel, presented by Keith Duffy of Boyzone, on April 22nd. Tickets, priced from €35, are available for this event from Ticketmaster. Haunted House begins on TV3 on April 16th at 10.30 p.m.
Clubbing in Ibiza may not be every- one's cup of tea for their 85th birthday celebration, but Sir Jack Leslie says it was one of the best experiences of his life. A relatively recent convert to dance music, Sir Jack is now a regular at such Co Monaghan clubs as the Oasis and the Four Seasons. But for his birthday last September, the biggest club in Ibiza, Manumission, invited him over to the island to celebrate in style.
His story is told in a documentary to be screened on RTÉ next week, Uncle Jack and the Boom Boom Music. Sir Jack, the fourth Baronet of Glaslough, Co Monaghan, is the son of the Irish nationalist, Sir Shane Leslie. He joined the Irish Guards after studying at Cambridge University and was later among those captured at Dunkirk, spending most of the second World War in German prisoner-of-war camps. After spending time in Rome, he returned to help his niece Sammy run Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan as an upmarket hotel. It there that he discovered dance music and, as he tells director/producer Roy Esmonde in the documentary, "when I hear that boom-boom music, it gets me inside and I have to dance".
Word of this unusual clubber spread and eventually resulted in the invitation from Manumission to celebrate his birthday at the club. Here he was introduced on stage to the 10,000-strong crowd and, according to Esmonde, he "took it all in his stride".
"There's a lot more to him than dance music. He's a very rounded person with an intriguing history," says Esmonde. "The reaction he gets to his interest in dance music says a lot about our attitudes towards ageing."
Uncle Jack and the Boom Boom Music is on RTÉ1 on Tuesday at 10.40 p.m.
Production on a new Irish comedy drama series for RTÉ/BBC Northern Ireland has just wrapped, with the series due for broadcast in May. Any Time Now stars Susan Lynch, Zara Turner and Angeline Ball as three long-time Dublin friends who are reunited when Nora (Angeline Ball) returns to Dublin after five years in New York, following the death of her father. According to producer Lesley McKimm, the story is about female friendship and the pressures it comes under from work, men and life in general. First-time writer Ali White, who is better known as an actor, wrote the six hour-long episodes, which were directed by John Woods, Brian Kirk and Declan Recks.
mkearney@irish-times.com