FOR NEARLY 40 years, Mastermindhas been a constant bulwark against those who dismiss television as "chewing gum for the eyes".
The programme has become synonymous with the type of serious-minded people you rarely see on the television answering questions on such esoteric subjects as “post-Socratic philosophy” , “the coinage of England 1066-1662” and the “life cycle of the bumble bee”.
Now the series is being brought to Ireland for the first time by TV3 as part of an autumn schedule which also includes slightly less highbrow programmes, most notably Hen Nights, Paddies in Paradiseand Sex Lives: More Sex Please, We're Irish.
Mastermind Irelandwill be presented by former government minister Nora Owen, now enjoying a new career as a stand-in television presenter following a stint on TV3's weekly programme Midweek.
“It’s a great thrill to do this,” Ms Owen said. “It is very exciting at this stage of my life to be having a new career. Irish people love quizzes of all sort. They may not have the slightest interest in some obscure king in the 18th century, but they will still tune in to see how a person gets on.”
Mastermind Irelandis another in a line of formats that have worked well abroad and which TV3 hopes will be a success here.
Come Dine with Meis returning for a new series, having achieved average audiences of 400,000 for the first series. Family Fortunes, another hardy annual which has been running on ITV for 30 years, will have an Irish version for the first time.
“I’m bringing me to it,” said presenter Alan Hughes, when asked how the Irish series will differ from its British counterparts.
TV3’s autumn schedule contains a familiar mixture of both highbrow and lowbrow television.
The serious-minded programmes including a three- part documentary on Fianna Fáil, which will be in competition with one being made by RTÉ; a series by Vincent Browne on religion, Challenging God;and Anatomy of a Car Crash, presented by Gay Byrne in his role as chairman of the Road Safety Authority.
It is also part-funding a four- part television series Titanic, to be broadcast on successive nights with the final episode coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the sinking on April 12th next. The programme will be co-made by ITV and is written by Julian Fellowes, creator of Gosford Parkand Downton Abbey.
TV3 is also seeking to capitalise on the latest reality television fashion which is to put buffed-up and beautiful people in scripted scenarios with unscripted dialogue.
Tallafornia, which follows the fortunes of seven young Tallaght people who live together, is similar to increasingly popular shows such as The Only Way is Essex, Geordie Shoreand Made in Chelsea. Producer Dara Tallon said the seven, who were chosen from 1,000 hopefuls, "sum up everything that is good about Ireland moving forward".
