The Works Presents returns to RTÉ One on October 14th, with a new ten-part series in which John Kelly meets key Irish figures from the arts.
The series was filmed throughout 2021, from total lockdown to easing of the restrictions to the hope that the vaccinations brought and the slow re-opening of the country.
Interviewees featured in the new series include filmmaker Jim Sheridan, poet and essayist Doireann Ní Ghríofa, renowned Mezzo-Soprano Tara Erraught, Hothouse Flowers singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Liam Ó Maonlaí, sculptor Rachel Joynt, master musician Martin Hayes, choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan, Lankum vocalist Radie Peat and visual artist John Gerrard.
In conversations with John, these key creative forces, share insights into how and why they work in their chosen fields. John explores what inspires them and how it drives them to create the works they make.

In the first programme, John talks to acclaimed filmmaker Jim Sheridan. From Sheriff Street in Dublin, Jim Sheridan is a playwright, screen-writer, producer and, of course, one of our best known movie directors – his films receiving no less than sixteen Academy Award Nominations. His first feature My Left Foot was nominated for five of them - including Best Director and Best Picture - and winning acting Oscars for Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker. Many landmark movies followed, including The Field, In the Name of the Father, The Boxer and In America – all of them displaying a real commitment to Irish themes and Irish stories. But Jim Sheridan had been playing a very significant role on the Irish cultural scene from long before he ever saw the bright lights of Hollywood – and for him it all began on Sheriff Street.

The Works Presents, RTÉ One from October 14th - watch the best of The Works Presents on demand now via RTÉ Player.