Six Irish celebrities will take part in RTÉ’s ‘The Gathering – Homeward Bound’ series as they try to entice tourism to Ireland as part of the nationwide tourism venture The Gathering Ireland.
RTÉ has teamed up with Animo Television and The Gathering Ireland 2013 again to air a series of shows which will see Brendan Grace; Niall Breslin (Bressie); Tadhg Kennelly; Trevor Brennan; Jean Butler and Fionnula Flanagan - who are all living abroad, return to their home towns to reflect on their time spent there and liaise with the locals.
The series is part of RTÉ’s on-going partnership with The Gathering Ireland 2013, and will be the second The Gathering-inspired show to air, after the Notre Dame v Navy American football game aired live on August 31.
Animo Television has shot four of the six episodes, with Jean Butler and Fionnula Flanagan returning to Irish shores next week to film their episodes.
The first episode, airing on October 2, sees comedian Brendan Grace return to the Liberties in Dublin as he makes the trip from his current residence in Florida. Grace initially moved to the US in the early 90s, but has always considered Ireland his home, constantly coming home to do a number of stand-up shows and making appearances in shows such as ‘Father Ted’.
Each celebrity will attempt to entice Irish people who are living abroad to come back to visit their hometown, as well as reuniting those who have lost touch with their Irish friends. The six participants each create a two-minute proposal, which will be available online, so the Irish diaspora can be enticed back home as part of The Gathering Ireland 2013.
Musician and ‘The Voice of Ireland’ coach Niall Breslin will return to Mullingar from his current residence in London; Kerry GAA and Aussie Rules footballer Tadgh Kennelly will return to Listowel in Kerry from Australia; former rugby international Trevor Brennan who now lives in France will return to Leixlip in Kildare; Irish-American Riverdance star Jean Butler will visit Westport, and veteran Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan, who is based in the US, will make her way home to Dublin.
Two teams will direct and produce for Animo. One team is made up of Darragh Byrne and producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoí, the other team is director Ronan O’Donoghue and producer Doireann O’Hara. Sarah Colgan is the series producer, with Adrian Lynch the executive producer for Animo.
On camera duties are John Dunne, Philip Graham and Russell Gleeson. Phil O’Reilly and Dan Gaughran are working on sound. Juangus Dinsmore is editing for Screen Scene in Dublin.
‘The Gathering – Homeward Bound’ will start on RTÉ One Tuesday October 2 at 7pm. The series will also be available to audiences worldwide on the RTÉ Player at www.rte.ie/player.
