Larry Masterson obituary: RTÉ producer and social justice campaigner

Born June 3rd, 1949

Died April 14th, 2024

Larry Masterson, who has died aged 74, was a respected and influential RTÉ producer and social justice campaigner. He had an intuitive understanding of what made for compelling television and a natural affinity with audiences, whom he believed liked to be entertained and challenged.

At Montrose, Masterson forged a long and fruitful relationship with Mike Murphy, working with the presenter on the series The Live Mike. He later guided The Late Late Show through its difficult transition out of the Gay Byrne era, helping Pat Kenny and Ryan Tubridy adjust to the biggest job in Irish broadcasting.

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Alongside his achievements in light entertainment, he was a tireless advocate for the less well off. Masterson helped to establish the Simon Community in Ireland. He went on to work as the director of social services in Drogheda. While he eventually made his career in television, he continued to have a keen interest in current affairs and believed that “light entertainment” such as The Late Late Show should have a political component. His formula for the perfect chatshow was simple: it ought to contain conversation, gossip, politics and an element of pathos.

Miriam O’Callaghan also paid tribute. “Larry was the best of men,” she wrote on social media. “A brilliant TV executive producer, but more importantly a beautiful man”

Masterson was the eldest of three children and grew up on Gardiner Street, in Dublin’s north inner city. His father, Peter, was a carpenter, his mother, Margaret, a homemaker. Life in the inner city at that time was tough, and the poverty he witnessed imbued in him a lifelong sense of obligation towards the less fortunate.

Having attended the local Christian Brothers school, he studied social science at UCD’s Earlsfort Terrace campus. While at university, he attended a talk at Trinity College by Anton Wallach-Clifford, a co-founder of the Simon Community in London (named after Simon of Cyrene, the bystander forced to carry the cross for Jesus). The speech was a life-changing event for Masterson, who, along with friends Brian McCarthy and Denis Cahalane, set up the Simon Community In Ireland. Following graduation, he took a job in Drogheda in social protection. At that time, Noel Smyth, a producer in RTÉ, would ask Masterson to come on panel shows to discuss the social issues of the day. Masterson was authoritative, passionate and displayed a keen grasp of the facts – talents that led to a job as a researcher on Bunny Carr’s Encounter.

In Drogheda, he had met his first wife, the actor and film producer Áine O’Connor. They would separate after four years. Masterson later married his second wife, Hazel, with whom he had two daughters, Kerri and Tara.

In the late 1970s, Masterson worked with Mike Murphy on the acclaimed Live Mike. The duo brought mischief and a sense of adventure to Ireland in the throes of recession and political instability – gaining a cult following for its candid-camera sketches. They clicked so well that when Murphy left RTÉ in the early 1980s to start his own production company, Masterson went with him.

They set up Emdee Productions (together with cinematographer Seamus Deasy). Their first hit was Murphy’s Australia – a pioneering example of the celebrity travelogue, in which a household name travels abroad and reports on their experiences. “For over 40 years, we were friends, business partners and TV colleagues,” Murphy wrote in a tribute. “He was one of a kind. Tough yet sensitive, but happiest in the company of Hazel, Kerri and Tara.”

[ Friends, colleagues and family bid farewell to the late, great Larry Masterson ]

Miriam O’Callaghan also paid tribute. “Larry was the best of men,” she wrote on social media. “A brilliant TV executive producer, but more importantly a beautiful man, kind, empathetic, caring, funny and he always had the back of his team and his presenter.”

Murphy eventually exited Emdee, leaving Masterson in charge. He shepherded to the screen series such as Written in Stone. One of his most significant projects was 2001′s If I Should Fall From Grace with God: The Shane MacGowan Story, which told the story of the Pogues singer and featured interviews with Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Johnny Depp and Sinéad O’Connor. The success of these shows attracted attention from abroad and he received job offers from the BBC and Channel 4. While his love for Ireland and his family and friends dissuaded him from leaving his home in Dún Laoghaire, several of his productions were syndicated on Channel 4 and Discovery.

He returned to RTÉ in the early 2000s as a freelance producer, working on Open House and Saturday Night with Miriam.

Masterson was an enthusiastic reader and art lover. However, his great passion was exploring Ireland’s inland waterways by boat, a love he shared with viewers as producer of Dick Warner’s Waterways, the show of which he was perhaps proudest. Since retirement, he spent much of his time in Spain, taking up lawn bowls and swimming every morning. He is survived by wife Hazel, daughters Kerri and Tara, grandsons Spencer, Ryan and Dylan and sisters Anne and Patricia.