RTÉ Television Announces Details of New Summer Schedule

RTÉ Television today (Sunday, 29 April 2007) announced details of its new summer schedule. Welcoming three new comedy series, five new factual series, four new music series, four new lifestyle series as well as all the top upcoming GAA fixtures, Noel Curran, MD of RTÉ Television, said: "In recent years RTÉ Television has significantly increased our investment in quality home-produced programming over the summer period. This trend will continue for summer 2007."

RTÉ Entertainment has confirmed that Saturday Night with Miriam will now come live from Studio 4 for the duration of its run. Meanwhile viewer favourites Hector Ó hEochagáin and Jason Byrne will both return with Hanging with Hector and Anonymous while, following current hit The State of Us with Risteard Cooper, RTÉ Entertainment will also launch three new short comedy series: The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty, Aul Wans and Soupy Norman. Class Clowns, new for RTÉ One, will send six well-known Irish comedians back to school. Laura Woods, meanwhile, fronts new National Lottery game-show The Trump Card.

RTÉ Television will offer a range of factual choice throughout summer 2007. New documentary strand Feud will accompany new documentaries in the Cracking Crime series, while Surgeons will conclude its four-part run at the end of May. RTÉ's Archive Unit will present a range of brand-new series, including Disasters, programmes looking at some of Ireland's worst catastrophes, as well as Home, a sociological history of home life in Ireland. The Estuary, a new four-part documentary series on the Shannon Estuary, will run throughout May. Storybook will follow four well-known Irish people, including DJ Tom Dunne and singer Lucia Evans, to four third-world countries in an attempt to uncover the real stories behind the staggering statistics. Future Shock will return in June.

RTÉ Television will also offer a broad range of new lifestyle programming for the summer, ranging from health and lifestyle strands Baby on Board and Fresh from the Farmers' Markets to new series Consuming Passions. Interior design enthusiasts, meanwhile, will enjoy a new series of Househunters as well as the brand-new practical design programme Room for Improvement. Home Salvage, also new for RTÉ One, will profile some challenging home restorations. Diarmuid Gavin returns with the hit of last summer, I Want A Garden, as does John Maguire for more I'm an Adult Get Me Out of Here, and there's another series of the popular Life without Me.

Following the success of Single-Handed and Maeve Binchy's Anner House, RTÉ Drama will present Damage, a new feature-length drama from Aisling Walsh, and of course Fair City will continue throughout the summer. RTÉ Two has become home to quality drama and viewers in Ireland will be first in Europe to see the final series of The Sopranos. Series three of Grey's Anatomy also comes back on Two, while hit HBO series Entourage will run throughout the summer alongside Prison Break.

RTÉ's Arts Lives series will continue throughout May and June, and viewers will have a wealth of music choice, from The Raw Bar Remix to The Living Bridge to a new series of The Symphony Sessions.

RTÉ Television will also deliver key sporting events to terrestrial viewers this summer, covering everything from boxing to soccer, GAA to rugby. In addition, RTÉ's Young People's programming will continue through the summer season with The Buzz returning for younger viewers on Two. There will also be new runs of hit home-produced animation series Crap Rap and Fluffy Gardens.

"The summer schedule on RTÉ Television has been evolving for a number of years now," says Clare Duignan, RTÉ Television's Director of Programmes. "Time was when the summer wind-down on RTÉ Television was clear to see: today, however, such is the scale of in-house and independent production that we have produced, in the last year alone, separate launch brochures for our autumn, Christmas and spring schedules. RTÉ Television's re-invigorated summer schedule requires no less. It promises to be a good summer on RTÉ Television and beyond."

ENDS

Sunday, 29 April 2007

NOTE

Photographs of key highlights from the summer schedule will follow in a separate mail, as will a PDF copy of The Summer Season on RTÉ Television brochure. A plain-text version is pasted below for information.

THE SUMMER SEASON ON RTÉ TELEVISION

In recent years RTÉ Television has significantly increased our investment in quality home-produced programming over the summer period. This trend will continue for Summer 2007.

It promises to be a full summer season on RTÉ Television. Saturday Night with Miriam will now come live from Studio 4 for the duration of its run. Viewer favourites Hector Ó hEochagáin and Jason Byrne both return with Hanging With Hector and Anonymous, while RTÉ Entertainment will also launch three new short comedy series: The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty, Aul Wans and Soupy Norman, while Class Clowns will send four well-known Irish comedians back to school. Our own Laura Woods, meanwhile, fronts new National Lottery game-show Trump Card. Charity You're A Star also returns.

RTÉ will also be offering a huge range of new lifestyle programming, ranging from health and lifestyle strands Baby on Board and Fresh from the Farmers' Markets to new series Consuming Passions. Interior design enthusiasts, meanwhile, will enjoy a new series of Househunters as well as brand-new home makeover shows Room for Improvement and Home Salvage. Diarmuid Gavin returns with the hit of last summer, I Want A Garden, as does John Maguire for more I'm An Adult Get Me Out of Here, and there's another series of the popular Life Without Me.

Following the success of Single-Handed and Maeve Binchy's Anner House, RTÉ Drama will present Damage, a new feature-length drama from Aisling Walsh, and of course Fair City will continue throughout the summer. RTÉ Two has become home to quality acquired drama and viewers in Ireland will be first in Europe to see the last and final series of The Sopranos. Series three of Grey's Anatomy also comes back on Two, while hit HBO series Entourage will run throughout the summer alongside Prison Break.

RTÉ Television will offer a range of factual choice throughout summer 2007. New documentary strand Fued will accompany new programmes in the Cracking Crime series, while Surgeons will conclude its four-part run at the end of May. RTÉ's Archive Unit will present a range of new series, including programmes looking at some of Ireland's biggest Disasters.

RTÉ's Arts Lives series will continue throughout May and June, and viewers will have a wealth of music choice, from The Raw Bar Remix to The Living Bridge to Symphony Sessions.

RTÉ Television will also deliver key sporting events to terrestrial viewers this Summer, covering everything from boxing to soccer, GAA to rugby. In addition, RTÉ's Young People's programming will continue through the summer season.

Three new comedy series, five new factual series, four new music series, four new lifestyle series as well as all the top GAA fixtures free-to-air, not to mention the return of new runs of last summer's hit home-produced programmes alongside all our ongoing output: there's a lot to talk about on RTÉ Television this summer.

Noel Curran

Managing Director, RTÉ Television

It's a Big Summer on RTÉ Television

The summer schedule on RTÉ Television has been evolving for a number of years now. Time was when the summer wind-down on RTÉ Television was clear to see: regular programmes took their well-earned summer breaks, and audiences waited for September, and the new season.

Today, however, such is the scale of in-house and independent production that we have produced, in the last year alone, separate brochures for our autumn, Christmas and spring schedules.

RTÉ Television's re-invigorated summer schedule requires no-less: from live chat shows to new comedy series, from strong factual strands to a range of brand-new summer lifestyle programmes, our summer schedule offers viewers in Ireland ongoing choice and diversity across a mix of genre and formats.

It promises to be a good summer, on RTÉ Television, and beyond.

Clare Duignan

Director of Programmes

RTÉ Lifestyle

Baby on Board 8 X 26' RTÉ One This brand new series for RTÉ One, presented by midwife and parenting coach Doreen Buckley (right), offers advice to parents of infants and toddlers in a positive, informative and entertaining format. The series looks at having your first baby, premature birth, single-parenting, sleep deprivation and nutrition, and features parents and families from Leitrim, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath Dublin and Cork.

Room for Improvement Ongoing RTÉ One A brand-new design series looks at how we can change how we live through design and adaptation. Presented by architect Dermot Bannon, each programme will involve the reconfiguration of an existing home to better suit the needs of the family living there.

Corrigan Knows Food 8 X 26' RTÉ One Richard Corrigan is back for a second series and this time he's celebrating all the great summer produce Ireland has to offer. Join Richard as he travels around Ireland finding the best artisan suppliers for his delicious recipes. He also helps some well-known people make their favourite dish.

Home Salvage 8 X 26' RTÉ One As the property market enters softer times, people are wondering should they now stay put and re-vamp their homes? Home Salvage will guide eight families and individuals along the rocky road to restoration. From a multi-million euro Georgian house in Blackrock to a cottage in Co. Clare, every owner is determined to restore their house using as much salvaged material as possible.

I Want a Garden 8 X 26' RTÉ One Diarmuid Gavin is back, offering his innovative design skills to create unique, high-impact gardens. As always Diarmuid's design, creative flare and planting advice are all free of charge. However, each participant sets the brief and dons the wellies as they set about creating the garden Diarmuid has designed for them, transforming humdrum backyards into vibrant outdoor living spaces.

I'm An Adult Get Me Out Of Here 8 X 26' RTÉ Two John McGuire returns to convince eight sets of adult children that now is the time to move out of Mammy and Daddy's place. This year features bickering Bray brothers, a Kilkenny couple currently living with the maid (ie: Mammy), and a 37 year old single woman who believes her single status could have something to do with her living arrangements.

Consuming Passions 8 x 26' RTE One Consuming Passions meets, among others, Joan. Living in a miniature world, Joan has just taken delivery of a €3,000 dining room table. No one will ever sit at it, because it's three centimetres high. Keith, a fireman by day, runs his life according to the lifecycle of his bees. Welcome to the world of consuming passions where people from all walks of life are truly fanatical about their pastimes.

More from RTÉ Lifestyle: Liz O' Kane returns with new copresenter Ian Lawlor for series three of Househunters . Off the Rails: The Complete Collection presents the best of the year in fashion with Caroline Morahan and Pamela Flood . No Frontiers: 3 Good Reasons features plenty more ideas for fantastic holidays, presented by Kathryn Thomas . Clodagh McKenna's eight-part Fresh from the Farmers' Markets runs from May through June . Meanwhile, The Afternoon Show Summer Countdown continues in a new extended format on weekday afternoons on RTÉ One: watch out for the OB of The Afternoon Show Wedding of the Year, live from Wexford, on Wednesday May 23 . Life Without Me returns for a second season in May and June.

RTÉ Factual

Storybook 4 X 30' RTÉ One Every year more than 10 million children die because they are poor - that's 28,000 a day, 1,150 an hour, 20 every minute, or one child every five seconds. Storybook aims to put a human face to these staggering statistics as four celebrity presenters travel to four different countries to see what life is like for children living there. Radio presenter Tom Dunne spends time in Sao Paolo to get to know the street children of Brazil; comedian Colin Murphy goes to Uganda, a country with one million AIDS orphans; Irish Times' journalist Kathy Sheridan visits Cambodia and meets children forced into child labour; and You're A Star winner Lucia Evans travels to Burkina Faso to see how young girls survive in a male-dominated society.

FUTURE SHOCK: Burn 1 X 55' RTÉ One Following the success of Future Shock: Property Crash, Future Shock: Burn will demonstrate just how vulnerable our entire lifestyle is to the affects of oil reserve depletion, and how our recent economic boom has set us up for an even greater fall. Our modern love of flying, our reliance on car-based urban planning, and our dependence on globalised trade leaves us highly exposed. Featuring interviews alongside hard statistical information, Future Shock will look at how a hypothetical crisis could play out in this country, assessing the chances of an energy crisis and looking at the main potential factors which could cause a shock.

Feud 6 x 25' RTÉ One Gangland murders, once rare, are now a commonplace. Yet the spark that ignites a feud is often, seemingly, innocuous. Feud looks at these innocuous origins, telling the true stories behind the destructive internecine power-struggles within crime gangs. Each episode presents a stand-alone narrative delivered through interview, dramatic reconstruction and archive. Looking at the fall-out for families and communities, Fued questions our collective willingness to stop such wanton and murderous behaviour.

Disasters 8 X 25' RTÉ One A brand new documentary series tells the stories of some of Ireland's most momentous disasters. Using news and documentary footage, the eight half-hour documentaries feature those whose lives were changed forever by disaster. Narrated by Doireann Ní Bhrian, the series covers, among others, the Beaujolais (1984) and British Midland (1989) plane crashes; the Buttevant train-crash; and the Loreto Convent fire in St. Stephen's Green in 1986.

Home 6 X 25' RTÉ One Looking back at the pleasures and agonies of home life in the Ireland of forty years ago, the series uses archive footage to reflect on a time when indoor toilets, croissants and coffee were unknown to many of us, and when the average family boasted at least six children.

Cracking Crime 4 X 40' RTÉ One The fourth series looks again at high-profile contemporary Irish murders. Made with the co-operation of the Gardaí, the Irish Forensic Science Laboratory and the State Pathologist's Office, this in-depth six-part series of half-hour documentaries incorporates dramatic reconstruction, expert witnesses, crime scene material, and news footage.

More from RTÉ Factual: New series Master and Apprentice runs throughout May, featuring six career hopefuls and six masters of their trade; The Estuary offers four half-hour documentaries on the Shannon estuary (right), running throughout May.

RTÉ Entertainment

Class Clowns 6 X 25' RTÉ One Taking six well-known Irish comedians, Class Clowns sends them back to school for a very special one-off gig in front of their former class-mates and teachers. Featuring Frank Carson, Jason Byrne, Niall Tobin, Jon Kenny, Karl Spain and Deirdre O'Kane.

Saturday Night with Miriam RTÉ One Miriam O'Callaghan returns for a new and extended run of her hit summer chat show. Now coming live from RTÉ's Studio 4 in Donnybrook, the new live show will air every Saturday night during July and into August. Viewers can expect another season of top guests, fronted once again with Miriam's easy style and down-to-earth humour. Season stand outs last year included Louis Walsh and Marian Keyes, while Daniel O'Donnell's infamous encounter with Germaine Greer was an undoubted highlight.

The Trump Card Ongoing RTÉ One Laura Woods presents RTÉ's brand-new summer game-show, in association with the National Lottery. A luck-based game that centres around a deck of cards and the element of chance. 52 scratch-card winners vie every week to shuffle the trump card and the chance to win up to a top prize of €250,000. Tension will mount as 52 are whittled down to five. Eventually, one lucky pair will step forward to the Big Wheel. Where will the ball land? Tune in and find out on Saturday June 2 at 8:20pm.

Auld Ones Ongoing RTÉ One RTÉ Two's popular octogenarian comedy duo Bernie and Mary are back. A pair of salt-of-the-earth auld ones, born and bred in the very heart of Dublin's fair City, Bernie and Mary are in the autumn of their lives. In series two, the girls return to tackle the burning issues of the day; from rampant organized crime amongst the over seventies to the correct way to cook a decent coddle, the Auld Wans have an opinion on almost everything .

Anonymous 6 X 25' RTÉ One Jason Byrne is back with six more celebs and a bag full of special make-up effects as some of the nation's favourite household names are catapulted into some pretty bizarre situations. The new series features Ronan Keating, Ken Doherty (pictured left, in disguise), Patrick Kielty, Pamela Flood, Keith Barry and Lucy Kennedy.

Charity You're A Star 10 X 55' RTÉ One Following two hugely successful series' Charity You're A Star returns with more well-known faces from the worlds of entertainment, sport and politics. Last year's series raised over 300,000 Euro for ten very deserving Irish Charities.

The Panel Election Special 4 X 55' RTÉ Two Popular regulars Colin Murphy, Neil Delamere, Andrew Maxwell, Mairead Farrell, Karl Spain and Aoibhínn Ní Shúilleabháin will be joined by new girl Taragh Loughrey Grant to cast a cold eye on the spirit level of Election Ireland. When the election happens, The Panel will be ready.

Soupy Norman 8 X 10' RTÉ Two "It's the funniest thing I've seen in a very long time," says Adam Buxton of Channel 4's Adam & Joe. Comedians Barry Murphy and Mark Doherty present this re-worked Polish soap-opera in handy ten minute bite-sized chunks for late night on RTÉ Two.

The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty 6 x 26 RTÉ Two A six-part comedy documentary series which follows the award-winning comedian as he ever so gently ventures forth to experience the extraordinary things that our ordinary life provides.

More from RTÉ Entertainment: series three of Hanging With Hector returns for May; Risteard Cooper's four-part The State of Us continues on One until mid-May. RTÉ will also transmit the finals of this year's Rose of Tralee 2007.

RTÉ Arts and RTÉ Music

Arts Lives RTÉ's season of Arts Lives documentaries continues throughout May and June with special one-off documentaries on Eileen Gray, Paul Durcan (right), Jinx Lennon and Thomas Lynch. For more details see the RTÉ Arts Lives brochure on-line at www.rte.ie.

The Symphony Sessions 8 X 26' RTÉ One Highlights this summer include the romantic delirium of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and the gypsy fervour of Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy. David Brophy conducts the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

One Fond Embrace 1 X 60' RTÉ One Re-screened to mark the awarding to Thomas Kinsella of the Freedom of Dublin City, this film by Sean Ó Mórdha features Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Heaney and Garret Fitzgerald.

Stone Mad A Portrait of Seamus Murphy RTE One This year is the centenary of Cork

sculptor Seamus Murphy's birth. Stone Mad will be re-transmitted to coincide with his birth-date on July 15.

Sculpting Life 1 X 60' RTÉ One The story of creation and hard-won vision, Sculpting

Life looks at the unique style of Rowan Gillespie.

The Full Set 4 X 26' RTÉ One Hosted by Daithí Ó Sé, the series features Glackin & O'Flynn, McGoldrick & Donnelly, O'Connor & McKeown, Molloy & Carty, Kinsella & Marsh, Ní Mhaonaigh & Byrne.

The Raw Bar Remix RTÉ One offers viewers the chance to see full performances from

this documentary series.

The Living Bridge 3 X 26' RTÉ One Profiling a number of musical dialogues, the series features composer Shaun Davey and singer Seamus Begley, as well as the Buckley family, who have worked with musicians as diverse as Van Morrison and Sharon Shannon.

The View RTÉ One continues on One with John Kelly, until the end of May.

Fair City Ongoing RTÉ One Carrigstown is sizzling this summer as affairs of the heart continue to rule where Paul and Fiona are concerned. With James knowing about their affair, and his illness progressing, there are a few surprising twists and turns on the way. Elsewhere, Lana's career as a taxi driver looks set to take off, but not before hitting a few bumps in the road, and Clare and Damien's relationship continues. But of course the love lives of Carrigstowns' residents are never straightforward .

Damage 1 X 85' RTÉ One Written and directed by Aisling Walsh, Damage is an absorbing contemporary drama set in Dublin. The Cahill family appear to have the world at their feet, particularly their daughter Emma, an emerging fashion model, whose 21st birthday party is looming. But the evening comes to an unexpectedly violent and traumatic end. Starring Brendan Coyle, Natalie Press and Olivia Williams (left). The Sopranos, Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break and Scrubs return for new seasons over the summer, while RTÉ Two also features hit HBO drama Entourage.

RTÉ Sport

The GAA Championships As part of its continued development of it's quality GAA coverage, RTÉ Television will broadcast more live GAA Championship matches than ever before this summer. In the Saturday and Sunday Game Live series over 50 games will be broadcast exclusively live on RTÉ Two. In addition, The Sunday Game makes its return on Sunday nights with news, views and a round-up of all the Championship action.

Soccer Soccer fans can look forward to live coverage of the Champions League Final as well as the Republic of Ireland's two summer internationals in the USA against Ecuador and Bolivia.

Racing The flat racing season will be in full flow on RTÉ Television this summer with live coverage of the Guineas meeting at the end of May, the Irish Oaks and Derby in July as well as all seven days of the Galway festival in August.

Golf RTÉ Television will broadcast live coverage of all four days of the Irish Open from Adare Manor starting on 17th May as well as highlights of the European Open from the K Club at the beginning of July.

Boxing Pro-Box Live, meanwhile, will continue to follow the fortunes of Bernard Dunne as the current European Super Bantamweight Champion makes his second title defence, live on RTÉ Two, in June.

Also on RTÉ Television this summer: The Moto GP season continues with expert analysis from Peter Collins and Eddie Laycock, while all four of the biggest days in the dog racing calendar are live on RTÉ Two, including the Irish Oaks, the Champion Stakes, the Derby and the Ladbrooks 600. In August, RTÉ's coverage of RDS International Horse Show will feature the Nations Cup Live.

OB Sport, RTÉ's fortnightly magazine programme, will continue throughout the summer months and include action from Ireland's rowers, hockey teams and showjumpers as they prepare and attempt to qualify for next year's Olympic Games. And as Ireland prepare for the Rugby World Cup, both warm-up games against Italy and Scotland are live on RTÉ Two in August.

Reaching for Glory: Inside Irish Rugby '07 1 X 60' RTÉ Two RTÉ cameras were  given unprecedented access to the Irish Rugby team's preparations for their RBS 6 Nations campaign as they followed the team over five months.

RTÉ Young Peoples

Your favourite morning programme Wakey Wakey with Simon runs to the end of May, while Den Tots with Emma and Soky will run throughout the Summer. May sees the DDN Star Search Final and the most talented young singer in Ireland will be selected by the voting public. Eager performers should start limbering up the old vocal chords this summer because Star Search will be on the look-out for more stand-out talent.

Also in May the home-grown Crap Rap gang return for a second series. The lads from Staneen are back, they still rap and they're still crap. Whoever said your teens are the best years of your life must be mental. Fluffy Gardens, the charming home-produced animated show for pre-school children, continues into June, joining new interactive daily show Ur Call.

The Café Select will feature highlights from the recent successful series, while Sattitude Reloaded will keep the kids happy on Saturday mornings. Meanwhile, The Buzz, our new summer show for young people running 9 to 5 daily on RTÉ Two, returns for July and August.

Join The Den gang for lots of fun and frolics during the lazy, hazy days of summer.