REBELS, RUGBY and a range of documentaries are among the highlights of TG4’s autumn schedule announced yesterday.
Its flagship series is a seven-part drama documentary 1916 Seachtar na Cásca. Each episode tells the story of one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Easter Proclamation.
The Irish language station has also highlighted the return of rugby to TG4 as it prepares to broadcast live coverage of the Magner’s League.
It previously showed live coverage of the competition when it was known as the Celtic League, before Setanta Sports bought the live rights.
TG4 has now secured a four-year deal to show the matches.
The station is also showing a new four-part history of Irish rugby – Gualainn le Gualainn– which includes previously unseen footage.
It announced a host of new documentaries yesterday, ranging from topics such as set-dancing in Ibiza to the demise of the donkey. Dídean ar an M50follows the story of the Roma families who camped in the middle of a roundabout on the M50 in 2007. The documentary-makers followed them back to Romania to see how their lives fared subsequently.
An Píopa, the documentary which followed the story of the Shell gas pipeline in Rossport for four years recently won best documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh.
Irish Timespolitical correspondent Harry McGee will present two programmes, a walking series Cóiscéimeanna, and Strócwhich outlines some famous political strokes of our time.
Hector Ó hEochagáin will be back on TG4 screens with his travels across eight of Canada’s provinces while Rose of Tralee presenter Dáithí Ó Sé takes a trip on Route 1, going from the Canadian border to Florida. He visits Stephen King’s house, shakes some pom poms with the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders and sings with the Naked Cowboy.
TG4 commissioning director Micheál Ó Meallaigh yesterday that said this was one of the strongest autumn schedules the station had ever produced which was notable, given the recession.
He said some TG4 programmes had been picked up overseas, such as Ros na Rún, which went to Philadelphia, and more recently , Rásaí na Gaillimhewhich has been sold to Maori Television and will air in New Zealand next month.
TG4 director general Pól Ó Gallchóir said the schedule celebrated “our identity, our music, our history, our language, our sport”.
“And our key objectives in the schedule is to inform and to entertain everybody with a lot of energy and a lot of freshness.”
