RTE 1 to launch 24-hour schedule in autumn

RTE 1 will operate a full 24-hour schedule from September 4th, according to plans announced yesterday. €1 and Network 2.

At a lavish promotional launch in Montrose, chiefly targeted at potential advertisers, the station emphasised the importance of its home-produced programming, major new Irish-themed drama series and premieres of blockbuster movies in advance of the opening of its competitor TV3 on September 21st.

Big names like Gay Byrne and Pat Kenny will be remaining in their traditional slots on Friday and Saturday nights, and there will be new vehicles for younger faces like Carrie Crowley and Ray D'Arcy.

"RTE will continue to be number one, will continue to dominate the airwaves, and continue to command the loyalty of Irish audiences throughout the land," said Mr Joe Mulholland, managing director - television, commenting on a schedule clearly designed to fend off the challenge from TV3's largely imported programming.

A new Drama Premiere slot for Sunday nights on RTE 1 aims to bring Irish-related drama to viewers throughout the autumn and winter, beginning with the miniseries Falling for a Dancer, based on the best-selling novel by Deirdre Purcell and filmed in west Cork.

Other Sunday night dramas include the Irish-Australian co-production Kings in Green Castles, the story of an Irish family who emigrated to Australia during the Famine and became the world's biggest landowners, which stars James Fox, Fionnuala Flanagan and Stephen Dillane, and Flesh and Blood, about the rivalry between two French-Irish brothers who share a passion for harness racing.

Adrian Dunbar plays Theobald Wolfe Tone in The Officer from France, which will be broadcast on the bicentenary of Wolfe Tone's death. RTE will also screen the BBC-produced series The Ambassador, with Pauline Collins as the British ambassador to Ireland, while Trinity, about the lives and loves of an Irish-American family living in New York's notorious Hell's Kitchen, is produced by the creators of ER, which returns for another series along with other popular American imports such as Friends.

Home-produced comedy - always a problem area for the station in the past - is represented by Couched, a new show written and performed by Barry Murphy of Apres Match fame, with Mark Doherty and Ian Carpenter, and appearances from other Irish comedians.

Beastly Behaviour, a new series about exotic and domestic animals, and the people who share their lives, is presented by Shay Healy and Fiona McShane, while Ray D'Arcy is reunited with returned emigrants Zig and Zag for a series called 2Phat.

Blackboard Jungle, the schools' quiz programme which Ray D'Arcy has presented for several years, is replaced by Gridlocked, a new programme composed of noughts and crosses, word games and general knowledge questions, presented by Derek Mooney. The footballer Jason Sherlock will host a youth-oriented sports programme called Rapid.

Paddy O'Gorman transfers his Queueing for a Living format from radio to television for O'Gorman's People, Eamon de Buitlear explores the nature and wildlife of Britain and Ireland in Wild Islands, and pianist John O'Conor presents Hands Across the Keys, introducing some of the best of Ireland's classical musicians.

Subjects from the attempted hijack of an Aer Lingus plane to the adoption of Chinese orphans by Irish parents, and a nostalgic look at the golden days of Butlin's holiday camp at Mosney are among the offerings in the True Lives documentary series, and a new series called Big Science promises to tackle subjects from DNA to comets in a fresh and innovative way.

Major film premieres include Braveheart, Apollo 13, Goldeneye, Babe and While You Were Sleeping. A new film slot on Thursday nights on Network 2 will offer second-run titles like Cliffhanger, Single White Female and The Crying Game, with premieres of Loch Ness, White Fang II and Operation Dumbo Drop in the Saturday evening family slot.