Television


About RTÉ Television
Whistleblower
WhistleblowerRTÉ One, Sunday 31 August & Monday 1 September 2008 at 9.30 pm.

Production Biographies

Dermot Boyd (Director)

Dermot Boyd is one of Ireland's most successful TV drama directors. After directing half of the second series of Ballykissangel (BBC) he went back to England to do the period drama The Hello Girls (BBC). He then did a 4 part serial Four Fathers (ITV) starring Tom Bell, Tony Doyle, Neil Dudgeon and Eva Pope. Two series of Playing The Field (BBC) and three series of Two Thousand Acres of Sky (BBC) followed. Dermot returned to Dublin to shoot a single drama for ITV called The Return (Julie Walters and Neil Dudgeon) - it was nominated for an IFTA, whilst Feather Boy (BBC 2004), starring Sheila Hancock & Thomas Sangster, was awarded a BAFTA for Best Children's Drama. Johnny and the Bomb (BBC 2006) with Zoë Wanamaker and Frank Finlay was nominated for an International Emmy Award as well as a BAFTA. Recent work includes 2 series of Drop Dead Gorgeous, Rough Diamond, Waterloo Road and New Tricks for BBC1.

Rob Heyland (Writer)

Based in Skibbereen, Rob is a well established and successful TV writer and his drama credits include Ultimate Force (ITV episodes for series 1,2,3 and 4); Foyles War - They fought in the fields; Promoted to Glory (ITV); Without Motive (United); Bomber (ITV); The Scarlet Pimpernel (BBC1) Heartbeat (Granada Series 8); Kavanagh QC (Carlton), Have Your Cake and Eat It and Robin Hood (BBC). He won a BAFTA as well as a Writer's Guild and TV Society Award for Between The Lines (BBC).

Siobhán Bourke (Producer)

Siobhan is a co-founder and director of Saffron Pictures. She was a co-founder of Rough Magic Theatre Company and had a successful career in Irish theatre before moving into television and film. TV and film credits include the award winning shorts A Ferret Called Mickey (2003), The Case of Majella McGinty (1999) and Heartline (1991). The award winning hour long dance drama Hit and Run (2001) with CoisCeim Dance Theatre for Irish Film Board and RTÉ. More recently she produced the critically acclaimed TV drama series Love Is The Drug for RTÉ Two which won an IFTA for Best TV Drama Series 2005. Whistleblower (2008) is her latest production.

Peter Norris (Producer)

Peter has a long established career as a television producer and his credits include: Casualty (BBC 1989/90); A Young Person's Guide to becoming a Rock Star (Channel 4 1998);The Darling Buds of May (Yorkshire Television 1991); Between The Lines ( BBC 1992/93); No Bananas (BBC 1995); Falling for a Dancer ( BBCNI 1997); My Uncle Silas (Yorkshire Television 2000-01); Ultimate Force (ITV 2001); Ny-Lon (C4, 2004 ) Messiah (BBC 2004/5) and Rough Diamond (BBC1/RTE 2006).

Kathryn Lennon (Executive Producer)

Co-founder and director of Saffron Pictures, Kathryn's career spans a variety of film and television projects. With a background in Arts Administration she progressed into various roles in feature film production: co-producer Ailsa (Temple Films 1993); line producer Reeper (Temple Films 1993). In Saffron Pictures she has produced: The Case of Majella McGinty (1999) and A Ferret Called Mickey (2003) and Hit and Run (2001). In 2004, she was executive producer of the award winning RTE Two drama series Love is a Drug. Whistleblower is her most recent production.

Lesley McKimm (Executive Producer)

Lesley McKimm is an independent Producer who has been working in Film & TV for 17 years. Her producing credits include the 6 part drama series Any Time Now for BBC 1 & RTÉ One, the 4 part drama No Tears for RTÉ One, Relative Strangers for RTÉ One & ZDF and the historical documentary series In Search of Ancient Ireland for RTE & PBS. Lesley is a co-director of the production company Newgrange Pictures, whose most recent film was Kings starring Colm Meaney. She is currently producing the feature film Happy Ever Afters starring Sally Hawkins.

Sheila Ahern (Researcher)

Sheila worked in various aspects of TV and radio production in RTÉ from 1987-2000. Her last programme in RTÉ was as researcher on the acclaimed series States of Fear. Since 2000 she has been working as a freelance researcher specialising in documentary and current affairs programmes - mainly in the Hidden History and Prime Time series. In 2002 she was the researcher and reporter on a special Prime Time programme about Dr Neary. In 2007 she won a Media Justice commendation award for a Prime Time programme about injustices experienced by people who had been abused in primary schools.