RTÉ has announced a diverse array of special programming about the Irish Civil War and the revolutionary period in Ireland that will be available across television, radio and online.
Jim Jennings, Director of Content RTÉ:
“For the last decade, RTÉ has delivered a full and varied slate of content to commemorate key moments in the history of our country. Working with a number of different partners, we are proud to now launch a further chapter in the telling of the complicated story of modern Ireland from numerous perspectives.”
As part of its continuing commemoration of the Decade of Centenaries, RTÉ will mark significant moments in modern Irish history with broadcasts between April and June to reflect on Ireland’s past and how that past has determined the shape of our country today.
Coverage on RTÉ will include a powerful new series featuring fresh testimonies of family members of some of those who were involved in the Civil War, a special documentary looking at the role played by the GAA at the time, Michael Portillo examining the Civil War period through British State Papers and Tony Connelly’s personal family story of one of his grandfathers who served in the RIC. Coverage also includes a Nationwide special on the death of IRA leader Liam Lynch, special broadcasts on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland and The History Show, in addition, to live coverage of the State Commemoration of the 1916 Rising.
RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, will host a live programme from Tipperary on Easter Monday, 10 April, airing exactly 100 years to the day since Liam Lynch’s killing. This broadcast will also be simulcast on the RTÉ News Channel and accompanied by a two-part digital article series about the last days of Liam Lynch published on rte.ie/news over Easter weekend.
On Easter Sunday 9th April, the RTÉ News channel and RTE.ie will carry live coverage of the State Commemoration of the 1916 Rising. The annual commemoration, which will be held live in front of the GPO in O’Connell Street, Dublin, will involve military honours, prayers of remembrance, a reading of the Proclamation and the laying of a wreath by the President.
A two-part television documentary series, The Silent Civil War, will begin on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player on Wednesday 26th April. Based on the testimonies of family members of 80 of those who were involved in the Civil War, the series is produced in association with the National Folklore Collection in UCD and RTÉ Archives.
Over two parts, a team of collectors, researchers and historians gather to record memories of the Civil War that were passed on through families and communities throughout Ireland. The group unexpectedly uncovers a trove of audio recordings with men and women central to the revolutionary period in Irish history; these tapes have remained buried in an attic in the United States for fifty years.
In Taking Sides: Britain and the Civil War, Michael Portillo returns with an authored documentary on Wednesday 10th May, that uses British state papers to shed fresh light on key events and personalities during the Civil War period in Ireland. Ré Réabhlóide: CLG agus Cogadh na gCarad sees presenter Gráinne McElwain explore the role played by the Gaelic Athletic Association during the Civil War period in Ireland and is broadcast on Thursday 11th May.
Tony Connelly: A Hidden History on Monday, June 12th, RTÉ One is an intimate first-person account by RTÉ’s Europe Editor, Tony Connelly, that explores the life and career of one of his grandfathers, Michael Connelly, who served in both the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta will continue to mark the anniversaries of the Civil War in detail as part of their regular schedules. Specifically, The History Show will continue to cover this period up to the end of its current run, on April 30th and again, once it returns for a new series later in the Autumn.
A catalogue of history-based dramas and documentaries is available onRTÉ Player, among them the award-winning Bloody Sunday, 1920, Beyond the Bullets: Real Life During the Civil War, Treaty Live, Election ’18, The Irish Revolution (narrated by Cillian Murphy), The Irish Civil War (featuring Brendan Gleeson), Rebellion and Resistance.
