‘New look’ on the way for The Late Late Show

The Late Late Show will be given a "new look" in January. RTÉ Television managing director Glen Killane said the changes on RTÉ's flagship chat show would include a redesigned set and "possibly" the introduction of new regular items into the mix.

Mr Killane praised the ratings performance of the Friday night programme last year under executive producer Kathy Fox, saying that its share of the audience watching television as it went out was "consistently above 40 per cent".

Ms Fox and host Ryan Tubridy are "a really powerful team", Mr Killane said, adding that it was "such a difficult show to put together week in, week out".

He singled out the popularity of The Late Late Toy Show, which secured an average of 1.5 million viewers and a 70 per cent audience share. It was also the most-watched programme on Irish television last year, eclipsing the 1.1 million viewers who tuned into the finale of the fourth series of Love/Hate.

Speaking at the launch of RTÉ One’s new season, Mr Tubridy said he was pleased with how the show - “an old-fashioned chat show in a modern world” - had gone last season and that he had come to terms with the fact that the format differed from the comedy-based chat shows that dominate UK and US television.

"I thought we upped the game. It was the beginning of a Late Late Show reboot for me," he said, adding that he was "fizzing with ideas and enthusiasm, even though my face might belie that."

The Saturday Night Show, hosted by Brendan O'Connor, will also return next season, while after a successful pilot, RTÉ One is set to broadcast the first full series of The Imelda May Show, in which the Dublin rockabilly and blues singer interviews and introduces a line-up of musicians.

“Imelda May has a really warm personality and she’s just made for TV,” said Mr Killane, who believes May’s show will bring “a Jools Holland type approach to a wider audience”.

Elsewhere on RTÉ's roster of entertainment programmes, there will be some changes to the format of Sunday night singing competition The Voice of Ireland. The adaptations are being made in consultation with Talpa, the production company run by Dutch producer John de Mol, who originally created The Voice.