| Genre: | Documentary, biography |
| Runtime: | 24–27 minutes |
| Director: | David Shaw-Smith |
| Producer: | David Shaw-Smith |
| Composer: | Jolyon Jackson, Paddy Glacken, Matt Molloy |
| Narrated: | Benedict Kiely |
| Country: | Republic of Ireland |
| Language: | English, Irish |
| Network: | RTÉ1 |
| Num Episodes: | 37 |
Hands was an Irish television documentary series broadcast by RTÉ between 1978 and 1989, covering traditional Irish crafts.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Creator David Shaw-Smith began with Telefís Éireann in the 1960s, working as a cameraman with Gerrit van Gelderen and became an independent filmmaker in the early 1970s. he and his wife Sally, an illustrator, travelled Ireland in a VW van recording traditional craftsmen.[5]
| Broadcast date | Title | Narrator | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 April 1978 | Seamus Ó Catháin | ||
| 2 | 3 July 1981 | Seamus Ó Catháin | ||
| 3 | 11 April 1983 | Irish Lace | Mairead Reynolds | |
| 4 | 11 May 1989 | Linda Ballard | ||
| 5 | 18 March 1980 | Donegal Weavers[6] | Ray McAnally | |
| 6 | 19 June 1981 | Ray McAnally | ||
| 7 | 24 April 1979 | Ray McAnally | ||
| 8 | 15 May 1979 | Benedict Kiely | ||
| 9 | 4 March 1985 | Alec Taylor | ||
| 10 | 1 May 1978 | Seamus Ó Catháin | ||
| 11 | 1980 | Benedict Kiely | ||
| 12 | 5 June 1981 | Ray McAnally | ||
| 13 | 11 March 1980 | Chair Maker John Surlis | Benedict Kiely | |
| 14 | 1988 | Éamonn Mac Thomáis | ||
| 15 | 1989 | Harp Making | Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin | |
| 16 | 1983 | Diarmaid Ó Muirithe | ||
| 17 | 1991 | Irish Spinning Wheel Making | Ben Kiely | |
| 18 | 1988 | Ben Kiely | ||
| 19 | 1980 | Carley's Bridge Potteries | Ray McAnally | |
| 20 | 1987 | Benedict Kiely | ||
| 21 | 1983 | Diarmuid Ó Muirithe | ||
| 22 | 1980 | Éamonn Mac Thomáis | ||
| 23 | 1989 | Powers of the Metal | Diarmuid Ó Muirithe | |
| 24 | 1981 | Stone | Éamonn Mac Thomáis | |
| 25 | 1983 | Éamonn Mac Thomáis | ||
| 26 | 1979 | Ray McAnally | ||
| 27 | 1981 | Dr. Maurice Craig | ||
| 28 | 30 May 1983 | The Saddler | Brian McSharry | |
| 29 | 1978 | Seamus Ó Catháin | ||
| 30 | 1989 | Seamus Ó Catháin | ||
| 31 | 1978 | Andy O'Mahony | ||
| 32 | 1981 | Diarmuid Ó Muirithe | ||
| 33 | 1980 | Fermanagh Country | Benedict Kiely | |
| 34 | 1978 | Stoneground | Andy O’Mahony | |
| 35 | 1982 | Éamonn Mac Thomáis | ||
| 36 | 1983 | Diarmuid Ó Muirithe | ||
| 37 | 1989 | Lighthouse Crafts[7] [8] | Dick Warner |
Hands has been described as one of "Ireland’s favourite" television programs, and has been rebroadcast several times to the extent that it is one of the "most broadcast" RTÉ productions.[9] [10]
Harvey O'Brien, in his The Real Ireland: The Evolution of Ireland in Documentary Film (2004), said "The series was marked by its close-up observation of the techniques involved, and though lacking an explicit social commentary always gave the sense that these skills were gradually disappearing.".[11]
For over 20 years, the original film sat in tea chests in a barn in Creagh, County Mayo. In March 2013 archivists packed all 1,800 film cans into storage containers and brought them to the RTÉ Archives.[10]
In 2013, it was revisited in the series In Good Hands (TV series).[12]
From Christmas 2021 all programmes online at RTE Player to celebrate 60 Years of Television.