RTÉ: What We Made in 2021
Drama and Comedy
With the substantial increase in SVOD streaming subscriptions in Ireland during 2020 and 2021, it was essential that RTÉ upped its volume and quality of scripted content. Drama and scripted comedy are the lifeblood of streaming services, and their share of the audience has increased due to the huge volume commissioned.
Drama and scripted comedy are also by far the most expensive genres to produce, employing as they do a huge range of talent, from writing and directing to acting and craft technicians. 2021 saw three substantial commissioned drama series, Kin, Hidden Assets and Smother. All three were hugely successful, and achieved significant audiences on television and on the RTÉ Player. Indeed, as audiences migrate to on-demand viewing, scripted has become the key genre with the longest tail in terms of viewing patterns.
All RTÉ dramas shown in 2021 were made with key partnerships. Screen Ireland contributed to all three, the WRAP fund helped to fund Smother, and international players like BBC Studios, Bron Studios, Acorn and DCD made the dramas happen and sold them all around the world.
Fair City continued to lead the way as a drama working within the government guidelines for a pandemic. While the productions adhered to strict protocols of social distancing, mask-wearing and PCR testing for cast and crew, Fair City still delivered compelling storylines across 175 episodes that attracted an average 26.1% share and 3.4 million streams on the RTÉ Player. The ‘Will and Cristiano’ story culminated in Will’s death and Ger taking the rap led the audience into more long-running story arcs, supported by an ‘Unlock The Drama’ August promotional campaign, which saw the show outperforming 2019 and 2020 levels in the second half of the year. Lucy Mallon returned to wreak havoc on the community, Paul and Orla began a tempestuous relationship, Zac involved himself in the seedy underworld of drugs and the plot was set in motion for Carol’s Cabs to be destroyed by a firebomb.
Smother, the six-part thriller set in Co. Clare and produced by Treasure Entertainment in partnership with the BBC, aired on RTÉ One, from Sunday 7th March to Sunday 11th April at 9:30pm. Directed by Dathaí Keane and written by Kate O’Riordan, Tom Farrelly, Daniel Cullen and Ursula Rani Sami, it centred around the Ahern family matriarch, of Val Ahern, and her three daughters as they try to unravel the mystery of the death of Val’s husband, Dennis, who fell to his death on the night of a party at their house. It stars Dervla Kirwan, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Niamh Walsh, Seána Kerslake and Stuart Graham as the Aherns. Smother achieved a 31.2% share and an average of 453,000 viewers across its season and over 500,000 streams in 2021 on the RTÉ Player. Smother has already been sold to Peacock in the USA and to Alibi in the UK.
The eight-part series, Kin, which aired on Sunday 9th September 2021 at 9:30pm on RTÉ One focused on the Kinsella family entrenched in the Dublin criminal underworld and was a ratings success, achieving a 44.6% share for the series and over 2.7 million streams on the RTÉ Player. Developed and produced by Bron Studios and Headline with Metropolitan Films, Kin details the life of the Kinsella crime family and their war against the rival international Cunningham cartel in a David and Goliath battle. The Kinsellas, however, have one big advantage: the unbreakable bonds of blood and family – they are kin. Utilising a wealth of Irish and international talent, Kin was written by Peter McKenna and directed by Diarmuid Goggins and Tessa Hoffe. The cast included Charlie Cox, Clare Dunne, Aidan Gillen, Emmett J Scanlan, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Sam Keeley and Ciarán Hinds and introduced new talent like Yasmin Seky and Cian Fitzsimons. The series was pre-sold to AMC+ in all their territories including North America, the UK and Australia and to Viaplay for all the Scandinavian territories. It has also recently been sold to NPO, the Dutch public broadcaster.
Hidden Assets is a six-part international crime thriller produced by Siobhan Bourke, Kathryn Lennon and James Mitchell by Saffron Pictures with investment partners from Screen Flanders, Streamz and Mediafront in Belgium, Facet 4 in Canada and Acorn with DCD as the international distribution partner. Airing on Sunday 7th November 2021 at 9:30pm on RTÉ One it saw the two female leads tangle in a complex psychological thriller – CAB detective (Emer Byrne) and an Irish heiress (Bibi Brannigan) meet at the heart of an international financial and political conspiracy. Shot on location in Limerick and Antwerp, the Hidden Assets cast brought together the exemplary Irish talent of Angeline Ball, Simone Kirby, Peter Coonan, Aaron Monaghan and Cathy Belton with Belgian actors, Wouter Hendrickx and Giles De Schryver and the international names of Charlie Carrick and Michael Ironside. It achieved an overall series share of 34% and 486,000 viewers. By the 19th of December, it had been streamed 598,000 times on the RTÉ Player. It was written by Peter McKenna and Morna Regan and was directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan and Kadir Balci. Hidden Assets has already been sold to the BBC and to SBS, the Australian public broadcaster. On Sunday 15th January, after episodes 1 and 2 had been shown on BBC4, it achieved over 2 million streams on BBC iPlayer.
After the success of Smother season 1, RTÉ commissioned a second season of the programme.
Coming in 2022
Filming for North Sea Connection took place from October to December 2021 in Galway and is in post-production. Shot against the backdrop of Connemara, this six-part series was produced with Mopar Media and Tristan Orpen-Lynch from Subotica with investment from Mopar, Viaplay and A+E International. North Sea Connection centres around the Kenny family who have fished the west coast of Ireland for generations. Ciara, the youngest, might very well be the last to do so. When her brother Aidan puts the family’s lives in danger by secretly agreeing to facilitate a drug run at sea to pay off debts, it is Ciara who must appease the Nordic cartel and find a way for the Kennys to stay alive. Written by Mark Greig, Francesca Harris and Conor Keane and directed by Paul Murphy and Hannah Quinn, it features Irish stars, Sinéad Cusack, Kerr Logan, Lynn Rafferty, Lydia McGuinness and Stuart Graham as well as high-profile Swedish actors Alida Morberg and Claes Ljungmark. It is planned to broadcast on RTÉ in 2022.
RTÉ’s flagship development initiative, Storyland is getting even bigger in 2022. With a partnership with Screen Ireland, a higher level of investment than ever before, it will be broadcast on RTÉ2 as well as RTÉ Player. This year we received 204 submissions which were assessed by four external readers and RTÉ’s drama department to create a shortlist of 15 projects who were interviewed. Eight have been chosen to go into development and from that three will go into production and be broadcast in autumn 2022.
In 2021, production commenced on the first series of The Dry, a brand-new eight-part dramedy from Element Pictures. Written by Irish writer Nancy Harris, it tells the story of Shiv’, who returns from London where she has been drinking far too much. She moves back home with her family in Dublin to go on ‘the dry’, believing a normal, less frenetic lifestyle will sort her out. However, her supposedly sound family turn out to be far from that, each and every one with their own issues. The Dry is a co-production between RTÉ and Britbox in the UK and has been supported by the BAI Sound & Vision scheme and Screen Ireland.
Element Pictures is also responsible for Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney’s first novel, which began filming in the spring of 2021 for a 2022 transmission. A BBC and Hulu co-production in association with RTÉ, like Normal People it is made up of 12 x half-hour episodes. True to the novel, it centres on four main characters, Frances and Bobbi, old school friends and previously lovers, who are now in Trinity College studying, and wife and husband Melissa and Nick, a journalist and an actor. The drama revolves around how these four characters’ lives intertwine. It has been written by Alive Birch and Sally Rooney and directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Leanne Welham. Like Normal People, the series should find its audience, not just on television, but in large numbers on the RTÉ Player, particularly with younger audiences.
The Tommy Tiernan Show returned for its fifth series. It continued to attract large audiences with interviews that are always hilarious and often very moving.
Comedy
RTÉ develops and produces a diverse range of comedy content across multiple platforms. In addition to key properties such as The Tommy Tiernan Show, Mrs Brown’s Boys, The Young Offenders and Callan Kicks The Year, we are committed to the development of new comedy voices, such as Joanne McNally and Doireann Garrihy.
Our strategy around scripted comedy production is to seek international partners, allowing us to leverage our investment and, crucially, to promote and expose Irish talent to an international audience and marketplace (The South Westerlies, The Young Offenders).
The comedy development slate continues to support scripted comedy, with several new projects in rolling development. In addition, our comedy development scheme in partnership with Screen Ireland launched in 2021.
Comedy on the RTÉ Player continues to engage well with our audience. The most recent series of The Doireann Project and brand-new talent from Darren Conway in Free Gaff were the most streamed RTÉ Player Originals in 2021.
On RTÉ One, The Tommy Tiernan Show returned for its fifth series. It continued to attract large audiences with interviews that are always hilarious and often very moving. As ever Tommy has no idea who his guests will be. Well-known faces and people with interesting life experiences are all subject to Tommy’s unique interviewing style.
In addition, on RTÉ One, after the success of his Christmas special, RTÉ Comedy commissioned a six-part series from Oliver Callan. Callan Kicks The Years was a satirical exploration of significant moments and themes from Ireland’s 100-year history. This was followed by a special one-hour satirical review of 2021, featuring contributions from Oliver’s most popular characters from the worlds of politics, entertainment and public life.
Comedy on RTÉ2 saw the launch of a new panel-based comedy show. Produced under COVID-19 restrictions, Clear History, presented by Kevin McGahern and Joanne McNally, was a new formatted series produced by Kite Entertainment. New talent from social media platforms joined more established commentators to decide which embarrassing moments from Ireland’s past should be deleted.
RTÉ continues to support and develop Irish comedy in both scripted and non-scripted content. 2021 saw the launch of a New Talent initiative specifically aimed at up-and-coming comedy voices. Content from this scheme airs in 2022.