What to watch on RTÉ Player this week? The RTÉ Player team share their top picks to watch on RTÉ Player this week.
What’s Trending?
RTÉ Player resurrected Irish Popstars from the archive and every Irish child of the 80’s and early 90’s rejoiced! Watch all thirteen episodes from start to finish and follow thousands of hopefuls as they hoped to step from complete anonymity to become the next Westlife or Samantha Mumba. Check out 90’s fashion at its finest with belly tops, trackie bottoms and bandanas galore. Binge on some of the most bizarre auditions, commiserate with those who’s nerves got the better of them and see if you can spot any familiar faces. Is that Úna Foden before she became a Saturday?! If that’s not enough to send you screaming with excitement to RTÉ Player – check out that famous moment where Gemini, Nadine Coyle sealed her fate with a major faux pas. Unlucky or lucky for her? You decide! Watch the complete series now on RTÉ Player.
What's new?
Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village
An apparition of the Virgin Mary. A multi-million euro restoration project. A plane full of American pilgrims en route. Thousands of faithful seeking a miracle. Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village explores the big question of faith, in a small Irish village. At first glance, Knock may appear to be little more than a relic of Ireland’s past, populated by dogmatic Catholics steadfastly clinging to the idea that the Virgin Mary once appeared in a backwater in the West of Ireland. But Knock is full of people with compelling stories, some of whom believe in The Miracle, some in smaller, everyday miracles. All who come here, come with hope. Middle-aged romantics seeking the perfect partner at the Knock Marriage Bureau, the Travellers for whom Knock has taken on a special significance, the Catholic pilgrims, the sick and recovering in search of a miraculous cure. This summer, the American faithful are due to land at Knock Airport. Can this tiny, rural Irish town go global? With references to “the scandals”, falling church attendances, and the modernisation of the shrine and the village itself, Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village presents a timely reflection on the position of the Catholic Church in the 21st century. For the faithful it celebrates a beacon of spiritual hope; for sceptics it opens an enticing window on an anachronistic but thriving world.
What not to miss?
Fair City Christmas Collection
It has been an epic year for Fair City with some of the biggest, tensest and thrilling storylines for the fair folk in Carrigstown. To cap it off, RTÉ Player has curated a very special collection of the most memorable scenes of 2016 while also resurrecting the ghosts of Christmas past as we journey back to the 1990 Fair City Christmas special for a serving of triple denim, cassette tapes and the ‘Real McCoys’. In the year of Mary Robinson’s Presidential Inauguration and Packie Bonner’s infamous save in Italia ’90, it was a Royal Doyle Christmas in Carrigstown as Bela (Jim Bartley), Rita (Jean Costello) and the kids had a terribly tense time of it. Prepare yourself for a serious dose of nostalgia in the Fair City Christmas Special from 26 years ago! Gain ‘Access All Areas’ with exclusive ‘Behind the Scenes’ interviews and footage from the cast and crew of Fair City as RTÉ Player chats to all involved in the making of this epic episode! The number one soap on RTÉ Player, Fair City fanatics can enjoy their favourite soap live and on demand on RTÉ Player in addition to a host of exclusive web only content including previews of the next Fair City episode directly after the current episode airs.
What’s coming up?
Christmas holidays - the perfect time to binge-watch some of your favourite series. RTÉ Player has got you covered with the likes of Bridget & Eamon, the Rubberbandits and more to keep you entertained as you recharge the batteries from the overindulgence that is the silly season. Watch Series 1 and 2 of our favourite unhappily married 80’s couple, Bridget & Eamon, as well as an exclusive web-only mini episode Bridget & Eamon's Marriage Guidance, or watch a host of Bridget & Eamon extras and best bits, exclusively on RTÉ Player including: Father Gabriel's 5 Commandments, Bridget & Eamon's Guide to Parenting and The Many Faces of Bridget. Missed Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope? The drama everyone was talking about this autumn, watch the darkly comic drama detailing the unravelling of a friendship between two co-dependent young women. As the hangover wears off, and their lives and priorities begin to radically diverge, these two young women are about to be hit with a hard dose of reality as one of them starts to spiral out of control. Set in contemporary Dublin and starring Séana Kerslake (A Date For Mad Mary) and Amy Huberman (The Clinic), Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope is one not to be missed! Watch it and more now on RTÉ Player.
