Old RTE programming that was good

GM228 · 12-05-2018 06:40PM

Define "old".

A more recent (no longer produced, so old?) production which could qualify as good "old" RTE stuff could be Love/Hate, personally my favourite Irish TV show ever. I know it was actually produced by Octagon but RTE had (initially) the exclusive rights to it.

Other than that has Bosco or Wanderly Wagon been mentioned?

12-05-2018 09:18PM

The Den was a pile of sh1te

Dempseys Den on the other hand....:pac::pac::pac:

Harry Palmr · 12-05-2018 09:28PM

I'd quite forgotten about the Burke Enigma.

Waterways with Dick Warner was a bucolic delight.

cml387 · 13-05-2018 05:38PM

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I'd quite forgotten about the Burke Enigma.

Waterways with Dick Warner was a bucolic delight.

Waterways was an absolute delight. The later series got a bit carried away with lyricism, but the early ones were pure magic.

The brilliant young people's series "Nothing To It" introduced Pauline McGlynn to the wider world, and Nighthawks on a good night was genuinely unique in Irish television history.

Duckworth_Luas · 13-05-2018 05:56PM

cml387 wrote: »

The brilliant young people's series "Nothing To It" introduced Pauline McGlynn to the wider world, and Nighthawks on a good night was genuinely unique in Irish television history.

I actually remember Pauline McGlynn on Nighthawks talking to Shay Healy about a new TV show she had just filmed with Dermot Morgan.

Tom Mann Centuria · 13-05-2018 05:58PM

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Waterways with Dick Warner was a bucolic delight.

Slow-ish TV at its best.

Duckworth_Luas · 13-05-2018 06:02PM

DoozerT6 wrote: »

Who remembers this being shown on RTE in the 80's when they had a few spare minutes to fill between programmes??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaNII5aLiOM

That or this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFgcx76RIg

TheRiverman · 13-05-2018 06:09PM

The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne.

Rechuchote · 13-05-2018 06:09PM

7 Days - a brave, well-researched current affairs and documentary series

Amuigh Faoin Spéir with Éamon de Búitléir and Gerrit Van Gelderen - super nature programme wandering from English to Irish, eccentric and wonderful, with mad little drawings

The Riordans and Bracken and the radio soaps like The Kennedys of Castleross and the one about the taxi driver written by Lee Dunne - and his Harbour Hotel. But that was when RTE had a repertory company and used to do something like 20 hours of radio and TV drama a week. https://www.rte.ie/archives/category/arts-and-culture/2015/0401/691321-harbour-hotel/

Now their admins just buy in junk from abroad that you can see anyway on the British channels.

When they actually do drama it improves rapidly; it starts with that squeaky RTÉ specialty of people offering each other cups of tea and overacting, but quickly moves into noir territory as the actors get comfortable. If they did more drama it could be really good and sell as Irish Noir. Parts of Love/Hate were superb, and the photography of Dublin was magical.

A lot of the children's programming was good - and it's a cliche of national psychology is that you can judge how much a country cares for its children by what TV and radio and stage programmes and books it produces for them.

TG4 has consistently produced far better programming than RTÉ - Ros na Rún being a case in point http://nolanmuldoonagency.com/actors-male/macdara-o-fatharta/ and its many excellent travel documentaries, political documentaries, etc.

cml387 wrote: »

In the late 1970's RTE had a drama series called The Burke Enigma.

It was a story about corruption in high places and the shadowy connections between an organised crime gang and high up politicians.
Very high production values, shot on film,starring John Kavanagh and Ray McAnally as detectives investigating the sordid details,directed by Michael Feeney Callan.

Never repeated, for some reason.

This rings a faint bell! No sign of any extracts online that I can find. anything with Ray McAnally is usually brilliant.

MikeyTaylor · 13-05-2018 06:16PM

DoozerT6 wrote: »

Who remembers this being shown on RTE in the 80's when they had a few spare minutes to fill between programmes??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaNII5aLiOM

He of Deep Purple?

diomed · 13-05-2018 07:16PM

Ziz and Zag during World Cup 1990 doing their Amoan Grumpy and Jolly Styles routine (Eamonn Dunphy and Johnny Giles).
They were so good Dunphy got the hump and refused to appear on RTE.

Amberjack · 13-05-2018 07:23PM

I loved Pure Mule & Bachelors Walk, not really old, but probably 15+ years

Fred Swanson · 13-05-2018 07:25PM

This post has been deleted.

branie2 · 13-05-2018 08:37PM

The Last Picture Show - films shown every Friday Night, and were introduced by Brian Reddan

cml387 · 13-05-2018 09:51PM

Definitely off topic but forgive me, if you are a Beatles fan you may think that Butterfly Ball is somewhat familiar.
You would be correct, as the animator was a man called Alan Aldridge who worked for Apple back in the day and did the illustrations for the book "The Illustrated Beatles Lyrics" of which I had a copy somewhere once.
Roger Glover was indeed him of Deep Purple fame.
Both Butterfly Ball and the Kraftwork Autobahn cartoon were shown on RTE back in the seventies as part of a competition final, I dimly remember.

RTE were the first in Europe to dedicate a full three hours to music video, as mentioned before MT USA was where you were on a Sunday afternoon or more likely spaced out on a Friday night for the repeat.

doolox · 13-05-2018 09:55PM

It was a series about craft trades in Ireland featuring boat building, weaving, leather work etc.

1978-1989 David Shaw Smith.

banie01 · 13-05-2018 10:01PM

The Family in the mid 90's really shook the core of a few mailbag writers and was a real departure from RTE's usual fare.
Another one that's well worth a look is Strumpet City from the early 80's.

I always enjoyed To the waters and the wild, as well.

Rechuchote · 13-05-2018 11:27PM

I love the Angelus programmes - and I haven't seen the inside of a church, apart from funerals, christening and cultural events, since the auld gods' day. I just love that calm couple of minutes of meditation that ends the workday and starts the evening.

RTÉ used to have a great review programme with the unlikely combination of Tom McGurk and Paddy Gallagher - it was really good on new Irish books, etc; there was also a great radio book review show produced by Donal Flanagan for years. Can't remember the name of either one.

_Brian · 13-05-2018 11:31PM

How about the Hands series of crafts programs, were they an RTE program?

I honestly don’t think that there has been one I’ve caught that hasn’t been interesting to watch.

JupiterKid · 13-05-2018 11:31PM

Hands was certainly one of the best. Ran from the 1970s to the mid 80s. Before my time but I really enjoyed the re-runs.

Nighthawks
Don't Feed The Gondolas

Rechuchote · 13-05-2018 11:41PM

Nighthawks really was great. I particularly liked a series of episodes where the beautiful girl from Eastern Europe was learning to speak Southside.

Autosport · 13-05-2018 11:43PM

Candid camera with Mike Murphy, Mail bag with a guy called Arthur I think

Loved these shows

AllForIt · 13-05-2018 11:45PM

The Late Late Show

Atlantic Dawn · 13-05-2018 11:46PM

Hands is on DVD in most public libraries, well worth a watch, great craft work of old in the country, most now not financially feasable to do on any commercial scale.