Documentary
John Creedon is a man on a mission, teasing and exploring the true meaning behind some of Ireland's most unusual, iconic and famous place names.

In Episode One, directed and produced by Mary Martin, John visits Co. Derry, Co. Cavan, Co. Leitrim and Co. Donegal. In Derry’s Bogside he meets the Undertones bass player Mickey Bradley and lead singer Paul Mcloone, where he chats about growing up in Derry and the place name of Derry and Londonderry. In Co. Cavan he explores the poetry and culture behind place names with Michael Harding
John meets singer/songwriter John Spillane to talk about our love of place in song and even manages to knock a few tunes out of him! John heads down into the bowels of the Cave of the Cats in Roscommon in search of the origin of Halloween! And he takes an early morning hot air balloon ride with travel writer Manchán Magan to get perspective on where our place names originated from. He also cracks the code behind place names in Co. Dublin, Co. Meath, Co. Wicklow, Co. Westmeath and Co. Galway.
John heads to Spancilhill in Co Clare to meet his friend - comedian Jon Kenny - and finds out the story behind the name while attending the famous Horse Fair. Last in the series.

Cast

The 3-part documentary series The Irish Civil War tells the epic and often challenging story of the origins, conflict and legacy of the civil war that took place in Ireland in 1922 and 1923. Narrated by Brendan Gleeson, produced in partnership with University College Cork by RTÉ Cork as part of the Decade of Centenary commemorations and based on UCC’s “mammoth and magnificent” Atlas of the Irish Revolution, this documentary series features extensive archive film footage, photographs and materials, interviews with leading academics, archive interviews with contemporary participants and witnesses, firsthand witness accounts read by actors, detailed and dynamic graphic maps based on those featured in the Atlas of the Irish Revolution, and stunning cinematography of the very locations where events took place.
Sex & Sensibility is an RTÉ television series which reflects on changing attitudes to sex in Ireland. The four-part series was presented by Simon Delaney. Directed by Imogen Murphy, it was filmed in April and May 2008 on location in Dublin. It was broadcast in June and July 2008. Features included some commentary from Bill O'Herlihy, Mary O'Rourke, Michael McNiff, Claire Tully, John Kelleher and night club owners Valeria Roe and Maurice Boland. The series reflected on the changes that had taken place in Ireland since the 1960s, an era when the sexual revolution had not yet reached the shores of the island. It showed how television had played a major part in "loosening everyone up" and altered Irish society "from a gloomy 'Irish Taliban'-style theocracy to the nation of fun-loving sex maniacs we are today". Terry Prone demonstrated her view that soaps, rather than "dusty old current affairs programmes", had been central to social change. The Riordans caused scandal when one of the characters, named Maggie, went on the pill. The "contraceptive train" to Belfast was also focused on, evoking memories of an era when the devices were illegal in the Republic of Ireland, prompting people to travel to Northern Ireland to stock up on their contraceptive needs. Also featured was The Late Late Show and the uproar it caused when it gave airtime to a group of lesbian nuns, Bill Hughes, who spoke about the underground gay scene in Ireland, Senator David Norris having his sexuality called into question when he was asked if he was "sick" by a TV presenter, the Leeson Street clubbing scene in its early years and Toni the Exotic Dancer, a housewife from Tallaght, Dublin who flashed her ample bosom for the crowds who thronged the urban pubs after mass. Video of protesters with portable Virgin Mary statues at work outside the RTÉ studios were also shown.