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Benjy Joins The Jet Set

'The Riordans' was a popular rural soap opera, which inspired controversy and debate during its twenty-year run. In this letter of complaint from 1975, twenty Clonmel parents accuse the character of Benjy Riordan of joining the jet set and giving a very bad example.

In the two episodes referred to, the married Benjy, played by Tom Hickey, kisses and flirts with the character Colette Comerford played by Deirdre Lawless.

This document is part of the RTÉ Archives document collection.

Handwritten sheet, 1 page.

'The Riordans' was Ireland's first rural soap opera. Writer James Douglas set it on a midlands farm and centred it around the owner Tom Riordan, his family, friends and neighbours.

The production was ground-breaking in that it was shot using television's Outside Broadcast Unit on a real farm: Flat House in Dunboyne, owned by Mr William Connolly. This innovation would be copied by other broadcasters around the world.

The popular weekly drama was broadcast on television from 1965 to 1979. In 1979 'The Riordans' was taken off television and became a radio drama until it finally finished in 1985.

Communications, Media, Television Drama, Radio Drama, The Riordans, James Douglas, William Connolly, Flat House, Deirdre Lawless, Colette Comerford, Benjy Riordan, Tom Hickey, Documents, Document

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