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Has RTE Ever Done A History Of Ireland Documentary Series?

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  • 10-11-2015 9:21pm
    #1
    mikefoxo
    Registered Users Posts: 458 ✭✭


    Been looking at some documentaries about Ireland recently. Most of them are quite good but very few of them are Irish made. Was wondering if RTE or an Irish production company ever made a series on Ireland, from prehistory to the present.

    I quite liked Fergal Keanes "History of Ireland" and I see a series called "A Nation Once Again" on youtube which I'll get around to. They're good, but a little Anglo-centric. I completely understand of course - they're paid for by the British taxpayer, but there wasn't much on Brian Boru, the Vikings, the Confederation of Kilkenny etc.


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    #2
    landofthetree
    Registered Users Posts: 2,301 ✭✭✭landofthetree


    Robert Kee done a pretty brilliant one.

    It was shown on RTE.

    It even has interviews with British soldiers from 1916 and Black and Tans in the war of independence.
    Quite a brilliant one.

    From his wiki page.

    Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown both in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following the series' transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.


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    #3
    landofthetree
    Registered Users Posts: 2,301 ✭✭✭landofthetree


    It wasnt an RTE production btw. It was done by the BBC.


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    #4
    KingBrian2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,363 ✭✭✭KingBrian2


    mikefoxo wrote: »
    Been looking at some documentaries about Ireland recently. Most of them are quite good but very few of them are Irish made. Was wondering if RTE or an Irish production company ever made a series on Ireland, from prehistory to the present.

    I quite liked Fergal Keanes "History of Ireland" and I see a series called "A Nation Once Again" on youtube which I'll get around to. They're good, but a little Anglo-centric. I completely understand of course - they're paid for by the British taxpayer, but there wasn't much on Brian Boru, the Vikings, the Confederation of Kilkenny etc.

    I'm sure they have, we have lots of history documentaries of 20th century Ireland. If they didn't I would most certainly be interested in viewing those sorts of programmes provided they are good of course.


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    #5
    mikefoxo
    Registered Users Posts: 458 ✭✭mikefoxo


    Apologies, only just realised that the series I talked about "A Nation Once Again" is actually the Robert Kee documentary.

    It does seem strange for there to have never been such a series made in Ireland


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    #6
    KingBrian2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,363 ✭✭✭KingBrian2


    mikefoxo wrote: »
    Apologies, only just realised that the series I talked about "A Nation Once Again" is actually the Robert Kee documentary.

    It does seem strange for there to have never been such a series made in Ireland

    A lot of cool stuff comes from the diaspora who travel back and fort to the UK. Father Ted and a lot of programming came here from the UK, likewise many Irish struck gold over there and came to live over here. Are tv channels our interchangeable along with other English media from Australia, US and Canada.


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    #7
    mikefoxo
    Registered Users Posts: 458 ✭✭mikefoxo


    KingBrian2 wrote: »
    A lot of cool stuff comes from the diaspora who travel back and fort to the UK. Father Ted and a lot of programming came here from the UK, likewise many Irish struck gold over there and came to live over here. Are tv channels our interchangeable along with other English media from Australia, US and Canada.

    I suppose in a lot of ways you're right. I guess I'm just lamenting the dearth of programming on Ireland pre-Famine. You'd think they'd be onto a goldmine with a series like that


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    #8
    KingBrian2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,363 ✭✭✭KingBrian2


    mikefoxo wrote: »
    I suppose in a lot of ways you're right. I guess I'm just lamenting the dearth of programming on Ireland pre-Famine. You'd think they'd be onto a goldmine with a series like that

    Ireland has so much history as does all of Western Europe, we could fill up so much tv time with all the history we have. It would cost a lot but just imagine documentaries on the War of the Three Kingdoms England, Scotland and Ireland. The Confederate wars of Ireland. Neolithic Ireland. Viking Dublin. The time of St Patrick and the early Gaelic period.


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    #9
    Apogee
    Registered Users Posts: 3,769 ✭✭✭Apogee


    For modern Irish history, Seven Ages was quite good.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Ages


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    #10
    KingBrian2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,363 ✭✭✭KingBrian2


    Apogee wrote: »
    For modern Irish history, Seven Ages was quite good.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Ages

    I have it on DVD, great collection.


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    #11
    robp
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,934 ✭✭✭robp


    mikefoxo wrote: »
    Been looking at some documentaries about Ireland recently. Most of them are quite good but very few of them are Irish made. Was wondering if RTE or an Irish production company ever made a series on Ireland, from prehistory to the present.

    I quite liked Fergal Keanes "History of Ireland" and I see a series called "A Nation Once Again" on youtube which I'll get around to. They're good, but a little Anglo-centric. I completely understand of course - they're paid for by the British taxpayer, but there wasn't much on Brian Boru, the Vikings, the Confederation of Kilkenny etc.

    Fergal Keanes "History of Ireland" was quite good. It presented one or two outrageous things but mostly it was good.

    As mentioned, there is a dearth of coverage on earlier history but there is a few examples and some are Irish made The Secrets of the Stones and Secrets of the Irish Landscape and Tales of Irish Castles.


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    #12
    DarkyHughes
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭DarkyHughes


    Apogee wrote: »
    For modern Irish history, Seven Ages was quite good.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Ages
    Programme 7. Haughey and FitzGerald - Great Adversaries of the Eighties

    More like the two biggest ejits of the 80's featuring boats & islands. And Liam Cosgrave is in it, imo the worst leader the state has ever had, he was a cold hearted monster just like his father. The Hidden Hand documentary did a good job of exposing how useless he was to react to the states worst attack the the Dublin & Monaghan bombings & the way the victims families were treated by his administration was a national disgrace..


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    #13
    DarkyHughes
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭DarkyHughes


    There's no series of documentaries of Irish History from early Irish History to modern Irish History on RTE or TV3 & TG4 but there is some very good individual documentaries of modern Irish History.

    TG4 has done a few on the Easter Rising, they did a documentary about each of the people who did not sign the proclamation of the Irish Republic for example they did one documentary on Con Colbert, one documentary on John MacBride, one on Sean Heuston, on Willie Pearse etc...they also did a documentary on the leaders of course.
    They also did a documentary about Kilmichael, ones on individual IRA leaders like Dan Breen, Tom Barry, Sean Treacy etc...

    RTE did one on the Ballyseedy Massacre during the civil war. They did a pretty controversial one about the killings at Coolacrease by IRA Volunteers in 1921 against alleged spies or informers.
    RTE also did a pretty one sided documentary but was very good & interesting called The Year London Blew Up. About the PIRA unit who exploded about 50 bombs in London between October 1974 - December 1975 starting with the infamous Guildford Pub bombings & ending with the siege of Balcombe Street.
    Also one about the Stardust fire that's interesting & very sad, surprised TG4 didn't do one about Dublin & Monaghan, I doubt RTE would do one about it as the state doesn't want people asking questions about it.


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    #14
    Arsemageddon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,129 ✭✭✭Arsemageddon


    DarkyHughes wrote: »
    ...........very sad, surprised TG4 didn't do one about Dublin & Monaghan, I doubt RTE would do one about it as the state doesn't want people asking questions about it.

    Er, that would be none apart from this one broadcast a few months ago...

    http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2015/0615/20797135-rte-documentary-investigates-collusion-in-dublin-and-monaghan-bombings/


    Any chance you could do us all a favour and post your nonsense in another forum?


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    #15
    paddylonglegs
    Registered Users Posts: 3,519 ✭✭✭paddylonglegs


    I remember that documentary a couple of years ago alright, always wanted to find it on rte player.

    Any suggestions for online documentaries on irish history on YouTube etc?


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    #16
    DarkyHughes
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭DarkyHughes


    Arsemageddon wrote: »
    Er, that would be none apart from this one broadcast a few months ago...

    http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2015/0615/20797135-rte-documentary-investigates-collusion-in-dublin-and-monaghan-bombings/


    Any chance you could do us all a favour and post your nonsense in another forum?

    Attack the post not the poster I made a mistake please don't hang me. And if you want me to go somewhere try making me,. teppum

    And it's not even about the Dublin & Monaghan bombings it's about collusion in general & it was no where near as hard hitting as the Hidden Hand documentary about the bombings. Do me a favor & post incorrect posts somewhere else.


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    #17
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    DarkyHughes wrote: »
    Attack the post not the poster

    That's rich.


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    #18
    jonniebgood1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭jonniebgood1


    Keep to the topic folks
    Moderator


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    #19
    Aimeee
    Registered Users Posts: 499 ✭✭Aimeee


    Saw a documentary years ago called Bringing it all back home about our musical history. Lots of interesting stuff re famine, emigration etc. Do not know who made it though. I think it comes up on YouTube there, if you search add the words irish music to programme title (otherwise all you find is Bob Dylan album).


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