Further details of RTE television's autumn schedule were released yesterday. It includes a documentary history of the papacy, a six-part co-production with S4C International (Wales) and La Cinquieme (France). Another documentary, The Madness from Within, will look at the Irish Civil War in 1922.
The documentary, Ballyseedy, concerns an episode in the Civil War in which prisoners died in controversial circumstances in Co Kerry. Dr John Harbison, the State Pathologist, will be the subject of yet another documentary.
On Sunday nights, the journalist and broadcaster, Mr Vincent Browne, will present a series of interviews with well-known personalities such as Senator Edward Kennedy, Michael Smurfit, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Nell McCafferty, Garret FitzGerald and Edna O'Brien.
Major movies on RTE this autumn will include Forrest Gump, Speed, Pulp Fiction, Beverly Hills Cup 2, Wolf, City Slickers 2 and Interview with a Vampire.
Independent productions commissioned by RTE will include 13 half-hour programmes from Emdee, Legends of the Isles, which will explore themes such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, St Patrick, Queen Maeve and the Loch Ness Monster.