RTÉ One’s series ‘Secrets of the Irish Landscape’ won a Rockie Award in the Best Science and Technology category at the Banff World Media Festival in Canada yesterday. The three-part series also won the Gold Medal award at the New York Film and Television Festival and the special Jury Prize at the Houston Film Festival.
The TV series saw RTÉ radio and television presenter Derek Mooney follow in the footsteps of one of Ireland’s greatest unsung scientists, Robert Lloyd Praeger, who took a long scientific journey to discover the make-up of Ireland’s distinct and unique plant life. The series saw Mooney use the help of Praeger’s 1937 book ‘The Way I Went’ to go on a great journey across Ireland and Europe, looking over 20,000 years of history to discover what created Ireland’s unique and beautiful eco-system, thus resuming the process that Praeger started.
Derek Mooney said, “It’s fantastic that a very Irish story, about how we got our landscape has had such universal appeal and connected with others around the world. It’s great that we also got the chance to celebrate the work of one of Ireland’s greatest scientists and put him on the world’s stage.” The series also saw international recognition after landing a distribution deal in Australia through RTÉ Global.
‘Secrets of the Irish Landscape’ was produced by Head of RTÉ Cork, Colm Crowley, in association with the National Botanic Gardens and UCC. Crowley also directed the series, with IFTA nominee Barry Donnellan as DOP. Sean Mooney was editor for the series.
The show aired on RTÉ One last May. It was part funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and is an RTÉ Production for RTÉ Television.
See a promo for the series here:
