In 1985, Gay Byrne interviewed two lesbian ex-nuns on 'The Late Late Show' while a protest was waged outside the Montrose studios. The two Americans, Nancy Manahan and Rosemary Curb, were in Ireland to promote their book 'Breaking Silence: Lesbian Nuns on Convent Sexuality'. The programme had RTÉ's then highest TAM rating.

Here is a sample of the type of correspondence received afterwards: one handwritten letter congratulating Gay on the programme and one typed letter of objection.

This document is part of the RTÉ Archives document collection.

Handwritten sheets, 2 pages.
Typed sheet, 1 page.

'The Late Late Show' is a Friday-night chat show. It was first broadcast on 6 July 1962 with Gay Byrne as presenter. Pat Kenny replaced him in 1999 and remained in that position for 10 years until it was taken over by the current presenter Ryan Tubridy.

'The Late Late Show' became an important forum for the airing and debating of many issues in a changing Irish society.

This episode was first broadcast on 13 September 1985.

Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives.

If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us.

RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us.