TG4 HAS LAUNCHED its new autumn schedule ahead of its 25th anniversary.

On Halloween, TG4 is set to mark its 25th anniversary at the Gradam Ceoil TG4 (music awards) in Belfast. 

TG4 Director General Alan Esslemont said its 25 years have been “instrumental in bringing about a change of image for the Irish language”, but that Irish language media needs more support from the government.

“When compared to the way Welsh is supported in Wales, the Irish state continues to display a clear lack of ambition for the Irish-speaking communities and for Irish language media,” Esslemont said.

“The present public service media ecosystem in Ireland is monolithic. Public service media in Ireland after the pandemic needs to be sustainable but it also needs more diversity and plurality,” he said.

Go mBeirimid Beo, one of the programmes in its new schedule is “inspired by the “coronavirus pandemic and takes a “tongue-in-cheek look at apocalypses past, present and future, and how we as a nation have prepared for them”. 

Documentaries feature heavily in the new line-up from the Irish-language station.

Misneach, a documentary series, will dive into the treatment of workplace whistleblowers in Ireland, while An Cuan takes a year-long look at Dublin Bay and its ecosystem.

Áille ar Airgead, a history documentary, follows Mary Cunningham from the Donegal Gaeltacht who became the face of America’s Golden Dollar and Hazel Lavery, born in the US, who was on the first banknote of independent Ireland.

The stories of the Irish woman who almost assassinated the Italian dictator Mussolini and of Saint Colmcille will also feature in documentaries.

For the first time, TG4 will have live coverage of the Women’s Interprovincial Rugby Series.

It will also show 26 games from the new United Rugby Championship from the end of September and GAA Beo will continue its GAA Football and Hurling coverage.

Dramas produced abroad and airing on TG4 this autumn include Stateless (co-created by and starring Cate Blanchett), Small Axe, and Why Women Kill (by Marc Cherry, the creator of Desperate Housewives).

New children’s shows will cover engineering in Na hInnealtóirí, nature in Timpeall Orainn, big questions in An Bhfuil Fhios Agat? and a life-swap entertainment show called Mo Shaol Do Shaol.