Radharc Explained

Genre:Documentary
Country:Ireland
Network:RTÉ Television

Radharc was an Irish television documentary series broadcast by RTÉ Television from 1962 until 1996. The documentaries were created by a film unit funded by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, in anticipation of the inauguration of television broadcasting in Ireland by RTÉ in December 1961.[1]

History and operations

Initially founded in the late 1950s by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin,[2] the Radharc film unit was staffed exclusively by Catholic priests, including the founders Joe Dunn and Desmond Forristal (1930-2012),[1] as well as Peter Lemass. The Irish language word radharc means vision, view, or panorama.

Radharc produced over 400 programmes, with filming occurring in over 75 countries.[3] [4] It was also the first independently produced series on RTÉ Television.[3]

Fr. Dermod McCarthy, editor of RTÉ Religious Programmes from 1991 to 2008, worked as a producer for Radharc from 1965 to 1982.[5] Others who worked for Radharc include Fr. Liam Swords, Fr. Tom Stack and Liam O'Rinn. Others who featured in producing some of the films include, the actor Cyril Cusack who introduced and narrated a number of radharc films, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, the broadcaster Andy O'Mahony and journalist Richard Crowley.

Radharc Films ceased production following the death of Joe Dunn in 1996.[6] [7]

Awards

The series won its only Jacob's Television Award in 1963, as Most Enterprising Programme.[8]

Influence and archive

Radharc has been the subject of academic research, including about the changing representation of priests on Irish television.[10] The Radharc Squad produced and directed by Ruán Magan for Tyrone Productions in 2013, was a two part documentary on Radharc. It was shown on RTÉ and won the Irish Film & Television Academy "Best Current Affairs" prize in 2013.

The Radharc Trust is a charity which was formed to maintain and oversee the archive of Radharc materials.[11]

Documentaries

Irish documentaries

International documentaries

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1378-radharc/ Radharc A Celebration
  2. Web site: Family film wins Radharc award . Irish Times . irishtimes.com . 21 October 2010 . 10 July 2020 .
  3. Web site: Forty years a sowing . CatholicIreland.net . 30 November 1999 . 12 November 2014 . McCarthy, Dermot.
  4. Web site: Matthew McAteer - University College Dublin . Academia.edu . 12 November 2014.
  5. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/rt%C3%A9-head-of-religious-programmes-to-retire-1.1207842 RTÉ head of religious programmes to retire
  6. Web site: Radharc (TV Series) . IMDB . 12 November 2014.
  7. Web site: Radharc sets up film company . Irish Times . irishtimes.com . 26 March 1997 . 10 July 2020 .
  8. The Irish Times, "Presentation of television awards and citations", 4 December 1963
  9. https://www.rte.ie/about/en/how-rte-is-run/awards/2007/1207/292380-page1176369/ Awards Archive
  10. A Scandalous Repression: Clerical Portraits in the Irish TV Documentary Series Radharc . McAteer, M.
  11. https://ifi.ie/preserve/online-exhibitions/the-radharc-film-and-document-collection/ The Radharc Film and Document Collection
  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfip96k1cE0 The Black Irish of Montserrat Irish accents in the Caribbean

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Radharc".

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