Sideline Score 2nd Series of 'Take Me Out' | The Irish Film & Television Network

The team involved with the Irish version of ‘Take Me Out’ carried out a dry run of the show with host Ray Foley joined by 30 girls and four boys.

Sideline’s Billy McGrath, the show’s series producer, tells IFTN that the series, though not yet broadcast, has already got the go-ahead for a second series. ”Due to the huge response from applicants plus the variety and quality of girls and boys TV3 has commissioned a 2nd series of 10 shows before we even go into studio for the first series,” he explains. This move will means twenty shows in total are to be made rendering ‘Take me Out’ as the biggest independent commission in TV3’s history.

The dry run production was also overseen by Freemantle Media’s Chris O'Dell, director Simon Staffurth (Over the Rainbow, Hole in the Wall) and TV3’s Head of Programming Ben Frow.

Almost 1,000 people applied to take part in the show. The show’s first transmission with be on Friday, October 15th on TV3. It will repeat Saturdays before ‘The X Factor’ and the first series which will run until Christmas, with the possibility of the show’s second series then scheduled in as early as January 2011 for another ten weeks.

Both series will be filmed in a specially designed studio in the O’Mahony Hall of the Dublin’s Helix theatre where set designer Anita Barrett (Class Act, Rose of Tralee) will work alongside lighting designer Andrew Leonard (Fame the Musical) and Hi Res’s Peter Canning (Eurovision Song Contest Moscow).

The producers for Sideline include Tony Brady (The Afternoon Show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire) and Gary Flood (The Restaurant and Operation Transformation). The show’s production manager Dee Keane (You’re a Star). The show's OB and Post Production will be provided by Observe and ScreenScene with Ken Binley and Sarah Carraher supervising.

Next week’s IFTN newsletter will feature an interview with Fremantle Media's Worldwide Entertainment producer, Chris O’Dell who orchestrates the international productions of series such as ‘The X Factor’, ‘Got Talent’ and ‘Take Me Out’.

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