RTÉ Television has announced full details of its new season, with over 60 new home-produced programmes and series for viewers in addition to returning favourites.
Launching the new season, Noel Curran, Managing Director, RTÉ Television, said: "The scale and ambition of this new schedule reflects the huge energy that RTÉ Television, our programme makers and commissioning editors, along with our colleagues in the independent sector, have brought to the task of making home-produced programmes for an Irish audience."
New Dramas
Among the new dramas coming to RTÉ Television are 'Raw', which follows the lives and loves of the staff of a Dublin restaurant, and 'Whistleblower', a two-part story about a young midwife who exposes the conduct of a senior consultant.
The award-winning 'The Clinic' is back with new characters and the third story in the rural police mini-series 'Single-Handed' will also be screened.
New Lifestyle Shows
'Off the Rails' is back on RTÉ One with a new look and two brand-new presenters, Brendan Courtney and Sonya Lennon.
'Seoige' brings sisters Gráinne and Síle Seoige together for their own daily show.
'Living the Dream' chronicles the adventures of six families as they try to run a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan, a flotilla in Greece, a campsite in Normandy and a boutique hotel in Provence, while 'The Great Escape' follows four families who leave Ireland on a permanent basis.
Closer to home, 'How Low Can You Go Reality Check' shows viewers what happens when the stars of the RTÉ Two series return to Dublin.
The new series 'At Your Service' stars hospitality professionals John and Francis Brennan as they work with B&B, guest house and small hotel owners to transform their businesses.
'Ballet Chancers' gives prima ballerina Monica Loughman the challenge of turning a group of hip-hop dancers into disciplined ballet dancers for a performance of 'The Nutcracker' at the National Concert Hall.
Other programmes for viewers to look forward to include: the return of 'The Afternoon Show'; 'The Eurovision Dance Contest'; 'The Restaurant'; 'No Frontiers'; 'How Long Will You Live?' and 'About the House', and a new home-building series, 'Designs for Life'.
A Feast for Food Fans
As part of RTÉ's Lifestyle programming, there are a number of new food shows.
In 'Rachel Allen Bakes' the chef travels around Ireland and the UK in search of the finest chocolates, breads, cakes and pies.
In the Spring, 'Clodagh McKenna' follows 'The Fresh from the Farmers' Market' presenter as she visits coastal communities around Ireland and samples their produce.
Neven Maguire's new eponymous show features the chef recreating recipes Irish people have discovered on their travels abroad.
Richard Corrigan returns with 'Corrigan's City Farm', in which he helps a group of urban dwellers transform a plot of wasteland into a smallholding.
'Trish's Paris Kitchen' is back for a new series and 'Kitchen Millionaire' pits amateur cooks against each other as they try to get their recipes on the shelves of Irish supermarkets.
New Entertainment Shows
RTÉ Entertainment has a number of new shows and six returning home-produced series for 2008.
Favourites back on screens include: 'Killinaskully'; 'The Late Late Show'; 'Tubridy Tonight'; 'Class Act'; 'Ryan Confidential' and 'The Panel' (moving to RTÉ One).
New shows include: the animated humour series 'Langerland'; the interactive quiz series 'Next'; 'J1 Summer', a documentary about Irish students working in the US; 'Winning Streak - Dream Ticket', presented by Kathryn Thomas and Aidan Power; and after the success of 'Katherine Lynch's Working Girls', the comic is back with 'Katherine Lynch's Wonderwomen'.
New Factual Programmes
RTÉ Factual will screen over 40 brand-new home-produced series and documentaries in the new season.
'Bertie' is a three-part documentary series on the life and work of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Presented by Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú of Trinity College Dublin, 'Cromwell in Ireland' is a major three-part series featuring expert interviews, battle recreations and CGI.
In 'Who Do You Think You Are?' Ardal O'Hanlon, Charlie Bird, Joe Duffy, Dana Rosemary Scallon and Pamela Flood trace their family trees.
'Blood of the Irish' traces the origins of Irish people, while 'Death or Canada' explores the lives of the Irish who escaped the Famine to settle in Toronto.
'The House' follows a family selling their mother's home after her death.
'Broken Tail's Last Journey' stars 'Living the Wildlife' presenter Colin Stafford Johnson as he recounts the story of one tiger in India.
Other factual programmes being screened include: 'Charlie Bird's Arctic Journey'; 'The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce'; 'Treasure of the Bogs'; 'Where Was Your Family During the Famine?'; 'The Master's Apprentice'; 'The Investigators'; 'Would You Believe' and 'Flesh & Blood'.
New programmes from the Archive Unit include: 'Remembering Ryan's Daughter'; 'A Little Bit Showband'; 'On the Street Where You Live', which travels down some of Ireland's main thoroughfares and meets the people who lived and work on them; 'Anew McMaster', which looks at the life of theatre impresario Anew McMaster; and 'A Little Bit Funny', which finds comic performances from the vaults.
Arts Programmes
Among the arts programmes will be the return of 'The View' and 'The View Presents...', while the new series of 'Arts Lives' will look at Irish soap 'The Riordans', writer Hugh Leonard and painter Patrick Collins, among others.
Shows for Young People
There will be nine new series and 11 returning series for younger viewers on RTÉ.
'Aisling's Diary' is a new drama which follows a 16-year-old who returns from America to Ireland with her parents, while 'My Generation' looks at teen issues in depth.
Among the other new programmes are: 'The Art Factory'; the animated series 'Ballybradddan'; the multicultural dance show 'Dance Party'; the spoof TV show 'Sweded' and 'On Trial', where hopefuls get to become a TV presenter.
Returning shows include: 'Eye2Eye'; 'Jam the Musical'; 'No Experience Required: Transition Year'; 'Sattitude' and new episodes of the pre-school animated series 'Grabby Bag' in English/Polish, English/Mandarin and English/Swahili.
Diversity
Among the new educational and multicultural shows on RTÉ in the new season will be 'Welcome to My World', which looks at what happens when people bring someone important in their life - a wife, husband or workmate - back to the country they hail from; and 'Balbriggan', which focuses on the lives of people in one of Ireland's most diverse towns.
Psychologist David Coleman returns with a new series, 'Teens in the Wild', and 'An Bhfuil Cead Agam?' finds children nominating their parents for a week in the Gaeltacht.
In 'Africa A-List', 'You're a Star' winner Lucia Evans travels to Africa to find out more about media and culture throughout the continent.
'1968' explores the tumultuous events of 40 years ago, while 'George Lee Behind the Wall' finds RTÉ News' Economics Editor travelling to the former Eastern Bloc countries.
The 'Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures' will once again be screened and 'Scannal' and 'Garda Ar Lár' will both return.
US Shows
Among the returning US shows will be: 'Lost', 'Desperate Housewives', 'Prison Break' and 'Damages'.
New series from America will include '90210', 'The Mentalist', 'Harper's Island' and 'Mad Men'.
Movie Premieres
Among the films which will be screened are: 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', 'Munich', 'Walk the Line', 'Syriana', 'Les Choiristes', 'Russian Ark', 'The Barbarian Invasions' and '4 Months, 3
Weeks and 2 Days'.
