A THREE-PART DRAMA “charting the emergence of modern Ireland through the mesmeric figure of Charles J Haughey” has been awarded almost one-quarter of the total funding of the latest Sound and Vision Scheme.
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland released the list of projects to be funded yesterday – while a total of 64 radio and 15 TV projects will be supported by the fund this time, €1m of the €4.5m total will go to the production of Citizen Charlie. The drama will be shown on RTÉ One and will be produced by Element Pictures and English company Touchpaper.
RTÉ Commissioning Editor Jane Gogan told TheJournal.ie:
We are very pleased that the BAI has agreed to finance the project with RTÉ. Charles J Haughey is a figure in Irish life which everyone has a point of view, but this drama will be as much about Ireland as it is about one man.
The series is being written by Colin Teevan (Vera, Single-Handed) and goes into production next year.
Another big winner in the funding stakes is a drama for TG4, Corp + Anam, which was awarded €775,000 for its second series, produced by Magamedia Teo. Maria Doyle Kennedy and Diarmuid de Faoite starred in the first series, about a TV crime correspondent (de Faoite) who is “too busy to notice that the world of crime is coming closer to home every day”.
Several other series/programmes are being supported to the tune of over a quarter of a million euro. RTÉjr, RTÉ’s children’s channel, is getting €400,000 to produce a bilingual animation series called Inis Spraoi (produced by Magpie 6). An educational series, In Your Shoes, by Yellow Asylum for RTÉ2′s children’s programming is getting €250,000 while Sideline Productions were awarded €350,000 to produce Tales of Irish Castles, a documentary for TV3. Mind the Gap Films were awarded €260,000 to produce Glaoch an Cheoil music programmes for TG4.
Most of the other programmes funded under this round are aimed at local and community radio stations (as well as State broadcasters and bigger commercial players like Newstalk). Some interesting projects include a documentary on the sinking of the Lusitania, the diagnosis of dyslexia in adulthood, faith healers in Ireland, science programmes, an exploration of working as Santa Claus, the Kennedy family’s ‘Irish mafia’ and an intriguingly-titled project subtitled, ‘Tipperary’s Most Hated Family’.
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