2023 is shaping up to be a busy year, for original Irish drama on RTÉ with over 63 hours of original Irish drama airing across RTÉ One, RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and RTÉ Radio 1. Smother and The Dry have just aired on RTÉ One and remain on RTÉ Player, and proved extremely popular with Irish viewers, while KIN and SisterS are currently debuting their new seasons. Clean Sweep, The Gone, Obituary, Hidden Assets 2 and Storyland, all original Irish content are currently in production and will be on our screens later this year. RTÉ Radio: Drama On One on RTÉ Radio 1 will broadcast the winning plays from the PJ O’Connor Awards, and a Samuel Beckett season, while offering new online collections such as Dramaí Gaeilge and the John Boorman collection.

This is part of RTÉ’s ongoing strategy to increase its development in drama output, by investing in the Irish creative industry and showcasing the best of Ireland by filming right across the country. This strategy also supports the employment of hundreds of people across the industry, in order to bring more Irish drama series to television, and importantly to RTÉ Player where scripted series dominate viewing. Partnerships both in Ireland and internationally continue to enable the production of these great original Irish dramas.

RTÉ Director of Content Jim Jennings said: "All our research has shown that Irish viewers want to view Irish home-grown drama, set in Ireland, written by Irish writers. And they want to watch it both live on television, or on-demand on RTÉ Player. The expansion of our drama slate, developed and supported by RTÉ, with the help of our domestic and international partners, is fulfilling this need and also bringing the best of Irish drama to the international stage."

ORIGINAL IRISH DRAMA FROM RTÉ - NOW AVAILABLE, AND COMING SOON

Smother

On Sunday 5th February of this year, the first of many dramas to air on RTÉ was the final series of Smother. Directed by Dathaí Keane and written by Kate O’Riordan, Ursula Rani Sarma, Tom Farrelly and Sonya Kelly, it centred once again around the Ahern family. Filmed in Lahinch in Co Clare and produced by Treasure Entertainment, Smother was as popular as ever with linear audiences with a series three average of 400,000 on RTÉ One (+1) and 29% share and a total of 587,000 streams on RTÉ Player across the three series. The series has already been sold to Peacock in the US and to Alibi in the UK. 

The Dry

The highly anticipated BAFTA-nominated dramedy, The Dry premiered on RTÉ One on March 1st, just as all episodes simultaneously dropped on RTÉ Player. This unprecedented move proved successful as RTÉ Player had 538,000 views in just four weeks. Writer Nancy Harris tells the story of Shiv Sheridan, who returns to Dublin after years of partying in London and tries to navigate a new phase of her life. But trying to stay sober and being back with her family is not at all easy. 

KIN

After the huge success of the season premiere, the second series of Peter McKenna’s KIN was shot in Ireland and Spain during the summer and autumn of last year. Returning to RTÉ on March 19th, KIN stars Clare Dunne, Charlie Cox, Emmett J Scanlan, Aidan Gillen, Mary Doyle Kennedy and Sam Keeley were confronted by compelling new antagonists, both from within the characters’ own family and community and from abroad. Directors new to KIN include Felix Thompson, Kate Dolan, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor. After the first episode of series two, an average of 524,000 watched on RTÉ 1 (+1) with an impressive 305,000 streams across both series on RTÉ Player. 

SisterS

SisterS is an Irish-Canadian co-production produced by Peer Pressure and Shaftesbury in Association with Mermade and Gaze Pictures and directed by BAFTA winner, Declan Lowney (Fr Ted and Ted Lasso). Airing on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player from tonight, March 30th, this dark comedy-drama is about two women born continents apart, in Canada and Ireland, who discover they are half-sisters and so embark on a road trip to find their alcoholic father. Real-life best friends Sarah Goldberg and Susan Stanley make their writing debut and starring roles.

Clean Sweep 

Produced by ShinAwiL, and shot in Wicklow and Dublin, Clean Sweep is a six-part thriller about a stay-at-home mum who juggles the complex schedules of three kids, whilst hiding her murky past. This past life is completely unbeknown to her husband, who happens to work as a detective for the Gardái. But for how long can you keep that from him? Starring Charlene McKenna, Rhys Mannion and Barry Ward. Clean Sweep will air this summer on RTÉ.

Hidden Assets 2

After the success of the first series, the international crime thriller Hidden Assets was further developed for a second series. Shot on location in Limerick and Antwerp, Hidden Assets is produced by Siobhán Bourke and Kathryn Lennon from Saffron Moon with investment partners from Acorn, Screen Ireland, Screen Flanders, Streamz and Mediafonds in Belgium and Facet 4 in Canada with DCD Rights as the international distribution partner. Coming to RTÉ this autumn, series 2 is written by Peter McKenna, Sinead Collopy, Susan Connolly, Marty Fox and Mary Thornton and the series is being directed once again by Thaddeus O Sullivan and Kadir Balci. Nora-Jane Noone joins the cast with Simone Kirby, Wouter Hendricks, Cathy Belton, Aaron Monaghan all returning.

The Gone

Currently in post-production for airing this autumn is The Gone, a new six-part thriller set in New Zealand written by Anne McPartlin and Michael Bennett. The series see, two twenty-somethings from Ireland go missing, with a potential Irish crime family involved in their disappearance, leading to a joint New Zealand and Irish crime investigation. The lead Irish detective is played by Richard Flood, most recently starring in Grey’s Anatomy. The Gone is co-produced by Blinder Films and Kingfisher Films, in association with Southern Light Films (New Zealand) for RTÉ and TV New Zealand, with international distribution handled by Red Arrow Studios.

Obituary

Also slated for this autumn is Obituary, a darkly comedic tale of one young local journalist’s decent from obit writer to serial killer on the Wild Atlantic Way. Starring Siobhán Cullen from The Dry in the lead role, it is a six-part series produced by Galway-based production company Magamedia in association with French company About Premium Content for RTÉ and Hulu in the US. It has recently wrapped filming in Ballyshannon in Donegal.

Blackshore

From the creators of Smother comes a new mystery thriller Blackshore. A detective must return to her hometown when a local woman disappears. What begins as a missing persons' enquiry soon becomes a larger mystery that engulfs the entire community and may uncover devastating revelations about her own tragic family history. Created by writer Kate O'Riordan (Smother, The Bay) and directed by Daithí Keane (Smother), the series is produced by Treasure Entertainment and stars Lisa Dwan (Top Boy, Bloodlands).

Storyland 

Last year saw Storyland making its debut on RTÉ2 with three unique, original and exciting single dramas. In collaboration with Screen Ireland, once again RTÉ's Storyland commissions new scripts and brings them to our television screens, with the objective of paving the way for tomorrow’s writers, directors and producers. These diverse and authentic voices demonstrate the craft and originality that will sustain Ireland's rapidly growing television drama sector. In partnership with Screen Ireland, RTÉ continues to discover, foster and invest in diverse new talent and fresh thinking via Storyland, propelling new careers and boosting the entire industry. 

RTÉ Radio: Drama on One

The RTÉ Drama On One podcast (rte.ie/dramaonone) will add 20 new hours of drama to its online archive, welcoming Clare Dunne, Angeline Ball, John Connors and Olivier-award winning Pat Kinevane. In the coming weeks, RTÉ Drama On One will broadcast the winning plays from the PJ O’Connor Awards (8pm Sundays, RTÉ Radio 1), and a Samuel Beckett season, while offering new online collections such as Dramaí Gaeilge and the John Boorman collection, via the RTÉ Drama On One homepage (rte.ie/dramaonone) and all podcast platforms.

International partners included AMC, Sundance, Acorn, ITV Studios, Bron, A&E and Viaplay. These partners, with the support of Screen Ireland and WRAP fund, have helped bring these series to international audiences, with Smother now available in 160 territories and Hidden Assets already sold to key broadcasters including the BBC, France TV and SBS Australia.