Annual Reports - RTÉ

RADIO TELEFÍS ÉIREANNOperational ReviewRTÉ Television continuedMost watched TV programmes (000’s of viewers)TOP 10 PROGRAMMES* IN 2007Base: National, Individuals aged 4+Rank Programme Channel Day Date Time TVR 000s Share1 Late Late Toy Show RTÉ One Fri 30-Nov 21:35 - 23:40 29.2 1161 67.82 Six Nations Rugby - Ireland v England RTÉ Two Sat 24-Feb 17:22 - 19:44 25.4 1010 67.83 Prime Time RTÉ One Thu 17-May 21:39 - 23:02 23.7 941 63.34 The Rose of Tralee 2007 RTÉ One Tue 21-Aug 21:33 - 23:16 21.7 861 58.15 Coronation Street TV3 Mon 08-Jan 20:30 - 20:56 19.7 781 47.26 Eurovision Song Contest 2007 RTÉ One Sat 12-May 20:00 - 23:12 19.6 780 537 Killinaskully: The Last Round RTÉ One Tue 25-Dec 21:41 - 22:08 19.4 772 45.58 All Ireland Football Final: Cork v Kerry RTÉ Two Sun 16-Sep 15:28 - 17:30 19.3 769 68.69 All Ireland Hurling Final: Limerick v Kilkenny RTÉ Two Sun 02-Sep 15:30 - 17:34 19.1 759 66.710 RTÉ News: Nine O’Clock RTÉ One Sun 21-Oct 21:01 - 21:20 18.7 743 46.2Source: AGB Nielsen Media Research* Highest ranking programme. Programme ranked on TV Rating (TVR). Universe changes May and September.Averaging Option: Any Day, Any Time (Best Episode). News programmes are included. Min duration 15 minutesDesperate Housewiveswas one of RTÉ’s most popular acquiredprogrammes for the third successful year.ProgrammesThroughout 2007, RTÉ Television hascontinued to reflect and enrich the lives andinterests of Irish people.Among RTÉ Daytime and Lifestylehighlights for 2007 were Diarmuid’sPony Kids in which six youngsters fromthe outer suburbs of Dublin were givena chance to train intensively with JessicaKurten and Diarmuid Gavin, culminatingin an appearance in the main arena ofthe RDS during Horse Show week.Corrigan’s Challenge: Richard Corriganchallenged himself to work outside hisMichelin-starred kitchen, working in foodoutlets in Croke Park during the All Irelandfootball final, providing meals for inmates inMountjoy Prison, improving the Irish armyration pack in Kosovo and bringing kitchentherapy to a centre for London/Irishhomeless.During the year RTÉ Factual had a numberof major successes including significantfeature-length documentaries in At HomeWith The Clearys, on controversial priestFr Michael Cleary and his ‘secret family’relationships, and Bloody Sunday: A DerryDiary, following the long proceedings of theSaville Inquiry.Other programmes of note from RTÉFactual included observational series TheHospice, which journeyed with hospicepatients during the last days of their livesand Surgeons, shadowing some eminenthospital doctors from the wards to theoperating table, dealing with the personaland professional issues at the cutting edgeof medical care.The award winning Arts Lives and HiddenHistory series returned. The former featuredPaul Durkan, Donal Lunny, Michael Colgan,Eileen Grey, Lady Powerscourt, the artspatronage of Charles J Haughey, bestsellingfemale fiction and a richly visualtreatment of Irish landscape painting bySean O Mordha. Hidden History hadacclaimed episodes on Ireland’s Nazis,Michael Collins’ espionage operation, theCatalpa international Fenian prison rescue,the controversial magnate William MartinMurphy, and a widely-discussed episodeon the Coolacrease killings in the War ofIndependence in 1921.The RTÉ Television Archive Unit strives totell the stories of modern Ireland throughthe eyes of ordinary Irish people and theircommunities. In 2007 the Archive Unit hadconsiderable success with the eight partseries Disasters which included stories asvaried as the oil tanker explosion in BantryBay to the loss of three trawlers in Donegalduring the 1970’s. Take Two, the ArchiveUnit’s restoration strand, which uncoversand freshens RTÉ gems of old, offered anumber of programmes including Murphy’sAmerica, I Live Here, Breathing Spaceand Summer Pride. A six-part domestichistory of Ireland from the 1960’s to today,Home, was an audience winner and the unitalso produced a programme to mark theTelethon.Killinascully not only achieved highaudiences on RTÉ but was in the Top 5in the Irish DVD charts.10