Red Pepper Productions’ new six-part bilingual Irish/English series ‘Tar Abhaile’ (Come Home) – in which community volunteers track down the living descendants of Irish emigrants around the world – begins this Sunday 17th Nov on TG4.
Hosted by broadcaster Evelyn O’Rourke, the series is based on the premise of ‘reverse genealogy’ - whereby community volunteers trace the long-lost relatives of Irish families living in countries including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and then invite their back to their ancestral homeland.
Michelle Connolly, producer with Red Pepper Productions, said of the series: ‘It's a really different take on genealogy and is a very sweet, emotional series that has some amazing stories that we believe will genuinely capture people's imagination.’
Among the 12 different Irish descendants and their families featured is Marsha Thomas from Chicago, who visits her Great-grandfather’s homestead and discovers that her ancestors stood up to their British landlords.
Another, Brenda Cavillin from Ontario, is overcome with emotion when she returns to the home of her ancestors; while Blake Dickie, a Chicago native who was adopted as a baby, gets to shake the hands of dozens of blood relatives he never knew he had.
Further information on Red Peppers Productions can be found on their IFTN listings page here.
‘Tar Abhaile’ airs from 17th November at 9.30pm on TG4 and online at tg4.tv
