Hector Ó hEochagáin has revealed that himself and his film crew were lucky to get out alive after filming his latest TG4 travel series in Central America's bandit country.
Navan's favourite son takes himself off the beaten track again for Hector Central, in which he goes on a pretty hair-raising adventure.
"We've been to a hundred countries in the last 16 years on TG4," he told RTÉ Entertainment at the launch of TG4's new Autumn schedule on Tuesday. "We took a journey through Panama, Costa Rica, Nicuragua, into Honduras, El Salvador, into Guatemala, and we finished on the Caribbean coast in Belize.
"Have you ever seen Narcos?" he said. "This is Pablo Escobar country. This is jungle country. This is Sandanistas, revolutionaries, bloody feuds, political corruption, police corruption, all types . . . and we were lucky to come out of there alive."
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Among the other highlights of the new TG4 schedule are Fir Bolg, a new four-part comedy drama series looking at the world of traditional music that promises to be "Spinal Tap with a bodhrán" and new US import, the critically acclaimed, Mr Robot.
At the Autumn launch, which was held in Smock Alley in Dublin, TG4's weather girls, Cáitlín Nic Aoidh and Mairéad Ní Chuaig, said the forecast for the station is looking good with the new additions.
"I'm so excited that we're getting Mr Robot," Cáitlín said. "It could be as big, if not bigger, than Breaking Bad."
"TG4 is always ahead of the groove," said Mairéad. "We also have a new comedy-drama series, as gaeilge, called Fir Bolg, starring Hollywood actor Patrick Bergin. And we've Amy Huberman, Caroline Morahan agus Marty Morrissey."
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Other highlights of the TG4 new season include the Anamnocht series of documentaries which take an in-depth look at people such as Clareman John Phillip Holland, the inventor of the submarine, and Mary Elmes, the Cork-born humanitarian heroine of the Spanish Civil War and World War II.
And of course there's plenty of music to look forward too, including Hup, a "high-energy live-performance traditional music" show which will showcase some of the biggest names in trad music.
And last but definitely not least, the popular soap Ros na Rún returns on Tuesday next for its 21st season with promises of heaps of drama including "a wedding, a funeral and another fire".
