RTE has launched its new season of programmes in a flurry of slick pics and breathless descriptions. Over 50 new shows have been announced, but away from the lifestyle chaff and historical retreads, there are a few new morsels to whet the appetites of business viewers.
Staples such as Prime Time and The Week in Politics return, while Claire Byrne Live’s current affairs programme will also continue. Nationwide and RTE Investigations Unit complete the news and current affairs arsenal.
Economist David McWilliams is slotted in for a one-hour programme called ‘Ireland’s Wealth Revolution’, which looks at the growing disparity between rich and poor in post-recession Ireland. McWilliams will expound on how the increasing concentration of wealth is reversing social mobility and limiting opportunities for a growing section of the population.
Another new two-part programme will look at the Irish in Silicon Valley and Dubai, with George Lee exploring what draws them there and what life is like for them once they get there.
A curious offering will arrive on RTE in the form of ‘Farmer in Charge’, which will transplant an experienced rural farmer into a failing urban business, where said farmer will adopt “a no-nonsense approach” to getting the firm back on track.
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Food startups have a feast of national competitions to enter of late and an eight-part series on RTE’s new programme follows one of them. Called ‘Taste of Success’, the prize for entrants is seeing their stock on the shelves of 140 Lidl supermarkets nationwide. Mentors for the startups include Catherine Fulvio, JP McMahon and Martin Shanahan.
Joe Duffy gets a new programme entitled ‘Call Back’, which reheats past Liveline stories heard on his radio show, while a six-part series called ‘Inside the Paper’ goes behind the scenes at three family-owned regional newspapers to see how they’re coping in the digital age.
The centenary of the Easter Rising brings with it a glut of new RTE historical programmes, including four factual shows focusing specifically on 1916, as well as a five-part drama set around that time, starting Brian Gleeson and Charlie Murphy.
Other new programmes planned for RTE’s new season variously focus on life in Crumlin hospital, life in Shannon Airport and life in schools. Comedy offerings come in the form of Pat Shortt, who will sift through RTE’s archive for unusual music footage, while variations on a theme of cookery programme, fashion show and interior design are also scheduled.
Shannon Airport CEO Neil Pakey and director Niall Moroney let cameras film life in the airport over the course of a year
