RTÉ: What We Made in 2021
Entertainment and Music
RTÉ’s entertainment content and programming were central to RTÉ’s mission to engage audiences in another difficult year under the shadow of Covid-19.
The year got off to a strong start with another successful series of Ireland’s Fittest Family. This hugely popular family favourite reached a large audience and is one of RTÉ’s strongest home-grown entertainment formats. The series featured many new and exciting events, inspirational families and our committed coaches who support and encourage our brilliant competitors.
The Late Late Show continued to tell Irish stories and to host the national conversation in a very different Ireland. With studio audiences missing for much of the year and much of the arts and entertainment world forced to close, The Late Late Show brought the work of the charity sector into sharp focus.
Throughout 2021, viewers donated over €6.8 million for causes including suicide prevention, cancer research and homelessness. The Toy Show Appeal returned for its second year and cemented itself as part of another massively successful Late Late Toy Show, raising another €6.6 million to help change children’s lives for good across Ireland.
St. Patrick’s Celebration was a special one-hour programme commissioned in lieu of RTÉ’s coverage of the St. Patrick’s Day parade which was cancelled in 2021. The programme captured the performance, pageantry, and spectacle of the wider St. Patrick’s Festival. It featured creative, visually stunning and original outdoor entertainment events from all over the country.
2021 saw a newly commissioned family focused entertainment quiz series, Home Advantage, presented by Jennifer Zamparelli come to RTÉ One. This innovative Irish quiz show made a virtue of COVID-19 -related restrictions with families competing from their own homes.
Last Singer Standing was a warmly received, newly developed eight-part singing game show format. Presented by Nicky Byrne, contestants sang their hearts out to reach the final episode, and a chance to win the big money prize and become the Last Singer Standing.
Celebrating Established and Emerging Talent
RTÉ’s support of Ireland’s established and emerging talent was once again very much to the fore in 2021.
The Heart of Saturday Night presented by Loah and Úna Healy gave important television exposure to many established and upcoming names from the Irish music scene. Produced by South Wind Blows, the show brought together the crème de la crème of performers in Ireland for rousing musical sessions, many of whom had not performed on stage since the beginning of the pandemic. Irish Women in Harmony, Mick Flannery, The Saw Doctors, Soda Blonde, Niamh Regan, Rhiannon Giddens, and many more entertained viewers from the beautiful surrounds of the Round Room at the Mansion House.
Autumn brought a new format to Saturday nights on RTÉ One as Angela Scanlon’s Ask Me Anything delivered quite a different side to many of its celebrity guests. With Covid guidelines allowing a small studio audience, the show, which had been delayed by 18 months due to the pandemic, shone an entertaining light on a diverse and eclectic selection of guests under the guardianship of Angela Scanlon, who hosted such a show for the first time on RTÉ.
Christmas 2021 saw the arrival of a new entertainment show, Big Night In. Presenters Dermot Whelan and Doireann Garrihy brought us a fresh one hour of laugh-out-loud celebrity pranks, studio games and surprises for the audience.
United in Music
Cultivating Irish talent is the key driver of music programming on RTÉ One and RTÉ2. In 2021, a very different Other Voices returned for its 19th series. Filmed under Covid restrictions, behind closed doors, the St James Church in Dingle still managed to host the best in Irish music. This ten-part series featured several of Ireland’s top artists including Denise Chaila, Hozier and Damien Dempsey.
The RTÉ Choice Music Prize Highlights programme returned to RTÉ2 to celebrate the nominees and announce the winners of Irish Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year. Due to restrictions, this normally live event from Vicar St in Dublin was instead simulcast on RTÉ 2fm and RTÉ Player, with performances coming from Dublin’s Windmill Lane Studios. Adam Clayton announced Denise Chaila as the winner of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album Of The Year.
RTÉ 2fm
Shining some much-needed light on Ireland’s new music scene within the darkness of a Covid winter, 2fm Rising introduced audiences to top quality new acts such as Shane Codd, Gemma Dunleavy and For Those I Love along with seven other acts who all received regular play on daytime 2fm throughout the year.
In March, with no live shows on offer, the RTÉ Choice Music Prize re-imagined itself as a simulcast on 2fm and the RTÉ Player, presented by daytime 2fm presenter Tracy Clifford. Niall Horan won Song Of The Year which was a public vote while U2’s Adam Clayton announced Denise Chaila as this year’s recipient of Album Of The Year.
To help cheer up the nation on St. Patrick’s Day, Jennifer Zamparelli co-presented her show with her two favourite fellas, The 2 Johnnies. Later in the year, Johnny Smacks and Johnny B filled in for Jennifer while she took holidays. That association has led to a much bigger partnership between 2fm and the two lads from Cahir, Co. Tipp.
Alongside her daily show on 2fm, Jenny Greene co-presented Europe’s Biggest Dance Show, an EBU initiative bringing the continent together for five hours of fabulous dance music on a Friday night in October from different European DJs.
Just when we thought the nation had run out of money, 2fm’s new Breakfast Show with Doireann, Donncha and Carl started running 100Ks on three treadmills in the radio studio to raise €100,000 for Focus Ireland in December. They went on to raise €150,915 and some very achy limbs.
