The Riordans

The Riordans was the second Irish soap opera made by Radio Telifís Éireann (then called Telifís Éireann). It ran from 1965 to 1979 and was set in the fictional townland of Leestown in County Kilkenny. Its use of Outside Broadcast Units and its filming of its episodes on location rather than in studio, broke the mould of broadcasting in the soap opera genre, and inspired the creation of its British equivalent, Emmerdale Farm (now called Emmerdale) by Yorkshire Television in 1972.

RTÉ in the 1960s - a reputation for innovation

RTÉ's revolutionary method of making The Riordans was also matched in its revolutionary The Late Late Show, a chat show which unlike other shows worldwide included full audience participation, a flexible contents list and other innovations. RTÉ, through The Riordans, The Late Late Show, and other shows like 7 Days earned a reputation for innovation throughout the broadcasting world in the 1960s, with many international broadcasters sending people to study and copy RTÉ's ideas. Some of RTÉ's most successful staff members, both broadcasting (Terry Wogan and Gay Byrne), and administrative, (Eamonn Andrews), either had returned from working on British television, worked simultaneously in both British television and RTÉ or, in the case of Wogan, ended up working with the BBC, again adding the international flavour of the station. John Cowley, who played Tom Riordan, had prior to the role acted in both Z Cars and The Avengers, two cult television shows in Britain in the 1960s.

Related Topics:
The Late Late Show - 7 Days - 1960s - Terry Wogan - Gay Byrne - Eamonn Andrews - BBC - Z Cars - The Avengers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~