RTÉ Player has launched a new on-demand Culture collection, featuring an eclectic mix of documentaries and performances from the worlds of Music, Arts, Film & TV and Literature.
Each week, the RTÉ Player team suggest a ‘must-watch’ from the Culture collection. This week the focus is on The Riordans: Tea, Taboos and Tractors.
Thirty years ago, Ireland’s legendary television soap The Riordans came to an end after 15 years onscreen, causing a big outcry. Centred on a fictional Kilkenny farming family, it delivered domestic drama, high comedy, agricultural advice and broached controversial topics like contraception and marriage breakdown. And into the bargain, thanks to farming bachelors and bikinis, it made rural Ireland sexy.
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Michael Riordan, one of its main characters, was played by the late Chris O’Neill and in this documentary his daughter, actor Aisling O’Neill (AKA Carol in Fair City), journeys back into her father’s past to rediscover this cutting-edge drama series and social phenomenon.
With interviews from many of The Riordans’ cast and crew including Tom Hickey (Benjy), Moira Deady (Mary), Biddy White Lennon (Maggie) and writer Wesley Burrowes, as well as fans such as Pat Shortt, this documentary takes a revealing and entertaining look at the impact this groundbreaking series had on Irish television and on society at large.
Watch The Riordans: Tea, Taboos and Tractors now on RTÉ Player or browse through the many titles available in the RTÉ Player Culture Collection.
