The best drama is local.
This is a great time for drama lovers in Ireland, not only in terms of welcome new quantity, but in terms of quality as well. And it's a great time for drama on RTÉ too: Kin, Smother, and Hidden Assets – big hits with you - garnered 26 IFTA nominations and two Royal Television Society Ireland best drama nominations between them. In the IFTAs, we saw Kin win Best Drama, with a host of wins for scripting and acting. The success of these dramas is hugely welcome not only for RTÉ, but for you, our audience. They provide powerful testament to the amazing talent of everyone involved. For Ireland, they showcase our writers, actors, directors, producers and crews, and prove that we can make Irish dramas that audiences love, and that can travel the world.
For RTÉ, as a public broadcaster, it is hugely important that we showcase these unique Irish talents – and the unique perspectives they offer – not only to Irish but also to global audiences. The purpose of drama is to tell the lives of people; the purpose of drama on RTÉ is to tell the lives of the peoples who live on this island, and share them with the world.
We all remember, of course, Stuart Carolan’s Love/Hate – with it, the nation jumped together in shock, and laughed together too. Rooted in an uncompromising reality, it was a truly shared experience. On Sunday nights at 9.30pm, everyone was watching RTÉ One - we all came together as a community to experience the power of world-class drama, expertly realised.
Kin was a worthy successor to this landmark cultural moment. From Sam Keely’s electric portrayal of Eric to Ciaran Hind’s terrifying Eamonn, Charlie Cox’s enigmatic Michael and the sheer power and honesty of Clare Dunne’s Amanda, and the rest of the cast, Peter McKenna created characters with instant appeal, characters who will endure and become part of the fabric of RTÉ drama. Series two of Kin starts shooting in the summer, and we can’t wait to share it with Irish audiences.
Smother, a family saga set in Lahinch with a cast of amazing actors, is a very different but equally compelling offering to Kin. And Hidden Assets, starring Angeline Ball and Simone Kirby as an international money laundering thriller, is in a wholly different genre again. This genre-spread is intentional, and crucial as we build out a drama slate that appeals to all those who love great stories. Season three of Smother is shooting at the moment, and Hidden Assets is in development for its next series.
If anything epitomises the value of local stories, it’s Fair City. Despite the strict protocols of social distancing, mask-wearing and PCR testing for cast and crew, it delivered compelling storylines across 175 episodes during the pandemic, and attracted an average 26.1% share of audience and 3.4 million streams on RTÉ player in 2021. The power of Fair City lies not only in its storytelling, but in its unique role as the only continuing drama of scale in Ireland – Fair City’s support across for the full professional range of Ireland’s dynamic creative sector cannot be under-estimated.
And of course, RTÉ’s commitment to the drama sector doesn’t rest solely with television. Last year RTÉ Radio 1’s Drama on One employed 23 Irish writers, 72 actors, five directors, three composers and two sound designers, and broadcast 23 new Irish radio plays, both shorts and full length. The strength of Drama on One as a curator of the best of Irish radio drama is truly evident with its preservation and popularisation of the work of James Joyce. With Bloomsday 100 just around the corner, its epic dramatisation of Ulysses should not be missed; equally, the first streamed broadcast of all 15 stories from Dubliners will be a compelling showcase of the power of drama on radio.
RTÉ’s ambition is to increase the amount, range and variety of original drama for our audiences: to do this, we are investing in our writers and our producers, and getting more projects into development than ever before.
For example, in 2021, RTÉ entered a co-development initiative with Screen Ireland to develop new dramas for RTÉ2. This partnership will be crucial for the Irish independent production sector. By the end of June, RTÉ will have 15 new dramas fully developed, ready to take to market and compete for commissions for RTÉ2. These will come from Irish companies, some of whom have never made drama before, enabling RTÉ to develop exciting new relationships with new Irish writers working as primary authors of their material for the first time. Already the range and scope of the writers is incredible. They all have something to say about contemporary Irish life.
In addition to all this, the hugely successful Storyland is now moving to television for the first time. We had over 200 applications on the back of this exciting development, the most we’ve ever had. The creative sector in Ireland is hungry for work, and hungry to express itself: RTÉ is doing all it can to be the engine, and platform, for that work and that expression.
As Ireland’s national public service media, RTÉ’s ambition is to utilise Ireland’s talent, to harness the power and opportunity of international partnerships, and to identify, source and nurture new home-grown voices. We are what we see. We, as a nation, are the stories we tell.
