Irish horror, Sci-,fi, and fantasy television.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 11:24AM #1

OK, this is probably going to be a fairly short thread.

RTE never produced an equivalent of Doctor Who or Blakes 7, successful British sci fi series. They did show B7 but for some reason never picked up the Time Lord.

RTE did produce two live action series aimed at children which seemed to be partially inspired by Doctor Who.

Wanderly Wagon, ran (bar repeats) from 1967 to 1982.

With spinoff show Fortycoats & Co (1983-87) the Doctor Who influence is much more obvious, Fortycoats has a time travelling sweetshop that like the Tardis is bigger on the inside than the outside. He has two younger companions, occasionally went to outer space.

However cant think of an outer space set RTE sci fi show that was aimed at adults, or even, teenagers. Budget constraints obviously had a factor, maybe cultural factors as well.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 11:43AM

A couple of other RTE shows aimed at children with sci-fi themes.

C-P & Qwikswitch (1982, single series ?)

This cartoon was about two robots marooned on a planet called Junkus Minor, the episodes were short, about five minutes long. It has the distinction of being one of the few RTE productions to be picked up by the BBC, who used it as filler mid 80s.

Pajo & The Salty Frog In Space (1992?) Don't know much about this, I remember Pajos Junkbox but this passed me by.

Of course Zig & Zag of the Den came from the planet Zog.

head82 · 02-11-2025 11:46AM

Would the Morbegs qualify?

Mal-Adjusted · 02-11-2025 11:47AM

I think it's much more cultural. RTE, even if they had a budget, wouldn't do sci-fi, certainly not one that took itself even half seriously. They cater to an aging audience who don't have much interest in scripted television at all. Back when you could find science fiction, it was always much cheaper to import them create.

Many years back, RTE used to run a sci-fi block on Monday nights. Red Dwarf, voyager, Stargate, Earth: final conflict, could all be found there... Maybe First Wave if I remember correctly.

Other than that, I remember a Saturday block before the big big movie filled by Lois & Clark: the new adventures of Superman, seaQuest DSV and Space: above and beyond. They also ran Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade and Odyssey five, but good knows why as both shows aired at something like one in the morning.

It seems far more fashionable now to fill these slots with murder mysteries/ detective procedurals ( which to be fair, RTE do produce on occasion, otherwise the ever trusty re-run of DIY SOS.

As for fantasy, I remember Mystic knights of Tir na Nog, an ancient Irish based power rangers rip-off, but I don't think RTE were involved. I can't think of any horror that RTE had a hand in, unless you want to count A Scare at bedtime.

Long story short, they're too expensive to make, there's no interest within the organisation and a perception of no interest ( rightly or wrongly) in the audience.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 12:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956345#Comment_123956345

Yeah, they probably would. Dont know much about it beyond clips on YouTube but it seems to fit.

The Rimini Riddle, (1992- 95) ticks a lot of boxes. Ostensibly aimed at children but it seems to have had pretty complex storylines. Seems to have been a mix of horror, fantasy and sci-fi. UK tv has a long tradition of producing dark TV aimed at children that can also be appreciated by adults, Children Of The Stones etc. Rimini Riddle is a show that could have a big cult following if RTE ever got off their arses and made it available.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 12:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956349#Comment_123956349

Good call on A Scare At Bedtime. Obviously it had a healthy dose of black comedy but it came along at the right time. The League Of Gentlemen and the Chris Morris series Jam did a similar mix of horror and unsettling comedy.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 12:30PM

RTE co- produced the four episode horror anthology When Reason Sleeps in 1987, along with Channel 4 and Strongbow Productions. RTE did a lot of drama co- productions with Channel 4 in the latters early days but this is the only horror/supernatural entry that I can think of.

Employed a decent mix of Irish and British actors. There are two episodes up on YouTube, the quality isn't great but its better than nothing as the series was never made available on physical media or even streaming.

icdg · 02-11-2025 12:57PM

I read somewhere RTE at least informally told programme makers not to pitch sci-fi ideas because they won’t commission them; I can’t unfortunately find the source for this, but the only sci-fi I can recall them commissioning has been in the kids sphere (Wanderly Wagon and Fortycoats, both more really fantasy than sci-fi, and more recently Nova Jones). Apparently they would prefer crime dramas.

As regards acquisitions while they did show some series in the past (Star Trek TNG got a prime time slot in the late 1980s early 1990s, and later some stuff aired late night during the N2 era), the only recent thing I can think of is that they bought the rights to Doctor Who relatively recently and sent it straight to the Player (it appears to be gone now). Other than that nowadays you’ll mainly see sci-fi in terms of the odd movie and that’s about it.

as I said before, I wouldn’t keep touting Rimini Riddle as a masterpiece that RTE are keeping from a demanding public, I saw it first time around and it’s a puppet show of dubious quality to screen to anyone, let alone kids.

LambshankRedemption · 02-11-2025 01:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956402#Comment_123956402

When I saw this thread title, I came here to mention Rimini Riddle. Bits of it scared the bejaysus out of 9 year old me. Definitely Sci-fi / fantasy. Arguably horror to meek 9 year olds.

And I agree, it could gain cult level traction if it ever got released, but I suspect, like a lot of things RTE made, it has been lost.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 01:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956524#Comment_123956524

Not familiar with Nova Jones, Wiki says its a CBBC production but i see a few Irish names in the credits, including a David Byrne. That's not the same guy who was a presenter on Bosco?

Edit: this David Byrne is young chap. Bosco David Byrne must be in his 70s id imagine.

CastorTroy · 02-11-2025 01:22PM

Zig, Zag and Zuppy are from Planet Zog. Would that count?

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 01:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956565#Comment_123956565

Yes, definetly.

icdg · 02-11-2025 02:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956540#Comment_123956540

Nova Jones is a Belfast-made kids show about a singer on a spaceship, and that is really about as much as I know about it, but it’s the only tangently sci-fi show RTE have been involved with in the last couple of decades. Joint BBC/RTE co-commission from JAM Media.

SuperBowserWorld · 02-11-2025 02:16PM

Does Eurovision, Horse Racing, Fair City, property porn, celebrity chefs ... programming count as horror, Sci-,fi, and fantasy television ?

the_amazing_raisin · 02-11-2025 02:25PM

I could be wrong but did RTE go through a phase of importing kids sci-fi shows from Australia? I might have my channels mixed up but I'm pretty sure they were on an Irish channel

I seem to remember a bunch appearing around the late 90s, they were notable because they had some CGI when it was very rare

One was about a bunch of folks trying to get back to Earth from Jupiter after their colony blows up

There was another one about some girl who could talk to fish and they all lived in some underwater habitat (no it wasn't SeaQuest 😅)

I suppose for Irish made sci-fi, the only one I could think of would be Grabbers which was barely sci-fi to begin with

We have some decent sci-fi writers so it'd be nice if they got picked up for TV. Gerald M Kilby's books are pretty good for example

Can't imagine RTE has the budget for decent CGI or sets so they'll probably continue to buy them in

Mal-Adjusted · 02-11-2025 03:48PM

Those Australian kids/ teen shows were decent. RTE got a few of them around the same time.

The Tribe was the aftermath of a world ending virus that kills all adults, leaving kids and older teens to form their own society.

Spellbinder was about a teen who gets transported to a parallel world with a medieval-esque society ruled by the titular order of spellbinders, people who's technology harnessed static electricity to make their airships fly and shoot fireballs from their hands.

Ocean Girl was set in this undersea research center and centred around a teenage/early twenties girl who could breath underwater and communicate with whales. She's later revealed to be an alien and one of the nearby islands is the to of her parents crashed ship.

There was another show set in the future after an ecological disaster wipes out all animals and they go to the past to bring animals back to repopulate the future, but I don't recall the name.

adaminho · 02-11-2025 03:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956524#Comment_123956524

But Bishops love Sci Fi Ted!

adaminho · 02-11-2025 04:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956854#Comment_123956854

The girl from tomorrow was another one from Oz. Plus round the twist.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 04:28PM

The Island Of The Great Yellow Ox, a mini series from 1971, was a BBC / RTE Co production., filmed in Ireland with a largely Irish cast. Its hard to find out much info about it online. I have the Walter Maken novel on which its based but have yet to get round to reading it.

I think the storyline might have had some supernatural, occult leanings coupled with "children in peril". It was repeated on RTE in 1981 and again in 1985, since then its disappeared into obscurity.

Hangdogroad · 02-11-2025 05:16PM

As well as Wanderly Wagon and Fortycoats there were a few Irish children's shows that drew on Irish mythology and folklore.

Brógeen Follows The Magic Tune was another Eugene Lambert puppet show from the late 60's / early 70's. All episodes were wiped by RTE but it was shown in Norway and the series is preserved in the archives of NRK, albeit dubbed into Norwegian.

Lug (1981) a stop motion puppet series about a magician. Short episodes which used to be shown before the main evening news.

A series from about 1989/90 which I've never seen and I think was called Balor Of The Evil Eye (?). Have seen references to it down the years on Boards.

LambshankRedemption · 02-11-2025 07:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956854#Comment_123956854

RTE imported so many australian shows it's a wonder I didn't end up with an ozzie accent.

Ocean Girl I definitely remember. Arguably for all the wrong reasons.

The Girl from Tomorrow I could not stand.

There was one where they were a kind of international Spy network, and they all had these multi function smart phone type things, which basically was SciFi as it was around 1995 at the time.

There was a fantasy type show where a kid gets transported to this alternate world where its sort of medieval but they have flying ships, and it turns out their "technology" is based around magnets, so their flying ships were basically MagLevs.

Mal-Adjusted · 02-11-2025 08:21PM

I caught remember that at show but in my head it was British, not Australian, and I'm pretty sure the alternate works show is Spellbinder.

the_amazing_raisin · 02-11-2025 08:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956854#Comment_123956854

Yeah I remember Ocean Girl, I vaguely remember the time travel one as well

The spaceship one I was thinking of was called Escape from Jupiter

LambshankRedemption · 02-11-2025 08:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957381#Comment_123957381

Spellbinder! That was it.

Badly Drunk Boy · 02-11-2025 08:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957332#Comment_123957332

I remember another Australian programme about ten years ago, The Nowhere Boys, about four lads caught in a parallel universe or something.

There's a season of Irish short films shown on RTÉ2 every Monday before midnight (sometimes 11.30), but a recent one was sci-fi adjacent. Just a 20 minutes long, but at least it's something. Not an RTÉ production, but they showed it.

Wormhole in the Washer (Short 2021) - IMDb

con747 · 02-11-2025 08:31PM

Nightflyers. https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2019/0220/1031761-irish-sci-fi-series-nightflyers-axed-after-one-season/#:~:text=The%20Irish%2Dmade%20sci%2Dfi%20series%20Nightflyers%20was%20canceled,starred%20Irish%20actors%20Aoibhinn%20McGinnity%2C%20Eoin%20Macken%2C

con747 · 02-11-2025 08:40PM

Boy Eats Girl and Grabbers are there as well.

the_amazing_raisin · 02-11-2025 08:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957415#Comment_123957415

Does it count if it was produced outside Ireland?

That certainly expands it a good bit, plenty of Irish studios have contributed to sci-fi films. Didn't one win an award for Avatar 2?

And since fantasy is in the title, Game of Thrones featured a lot of Irish actors and was primarily filmed in Northern Ireland

If we're talking about series produced for an Irish TV station, then the list gets a lot shorter I think

con747 · 02-11-2025 08:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957440#Comment_123957440

I don't know, post #19 kinda threw me away from RTE only produced shows so the OP can clarify if it's RTE specific.

breezy1985 · 02-11-2025 08:55PM

Sci-fi and fantasy are very expensive to produce and with the rare exception are for small reward.

RTE would never have the money to produce something good. BBC don't either and I can't figure out how that heap of shte time travelling Alan Partridge is popular. I think a lot of people either pretend to like it because it's English or like it ironically in a so bad it's good way.

JohnFalstaff · 02-11-2025 09:02PM

Surprised nobody has mentioned 'The Unreal'. RTE are currently airing Season 2 and it would fall under the fantasy/supernatural remit. Its aimed at a younger tween audience, so maybe not surprising it is not on Boards radar, but it's one their better offerings of late.

Irish horror, Sci-,fi, and fantasy television.

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