RTÉ’s ‘Rebellion’ drew in an average of 619,000 viewers and a 41% share of the available audience when the period drama’s first episode aired last night.
An additional 45,000 watched the first episode of Rebellion on RTÉ One+1 and 9,200 on RTÉ Player where it remains available to viewers to catch-up on demand.
Starring Charlie Murphy, Ruth Bradley, Sarah Greene and Brian Gleeson, the five-part series Rebellion covers the events of Easter 1916 as seen through the eyes of a group of friends from Dublin, Belfast and London as they play vital and conflicting roles in the narrative of Ireland’s independence.
Last night also saw strong ratings for other new series returning to RTÉ One with ‘The Voice of Ireland’ attracting an average audience of 486,900 (share 33%), while an additional 28,500 watched this first episode on RTÉ One+1. Francis Brennan’s new series of ‘At Your Service’ attracted an average audience of 455,500 while ‘Fair City’ continues to attract large audiences with 478,000 people watching last night’s show.
Meanwhile RTÉ News’ coverage continues to be a big draw with RTÉ One’s Nine-O’Clock and Six-One news bulletins attracting 629,000 and 611,00 viewers respectively last
There was also success for RTÉ over the Christmas and New Year period with ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ on New Year’s Eve proving to be the top rating programme on Irish television across the Christmas and New Year holiday period with an audience of 765,000 watching the programme to date.
Speaking about the figures Glen Killane, Managing Director, RTÉ Television, said: “Delivering distinctive Irish drama is a key part of RTÉ’s remit as a public service broadcaster and it’s great to see that so many people enjoyed the opening episode of ‘Rebellion’. The five-part drama is a major part of the RTÉ 1916 output and marks the beginning of a series of programming across television, radio and online that audiences can engage with, understand, commemorate and celebrate 1916. Apart from RTÉ 1916 programming, 2016 is set to be a big year for Irish viewers with other major events such as the General Election, the Olympic Games and Euro 2016 seeing RTÉ, and RTÉ One in particular, play a central role in Irish life.”
Other 1916 television programmes set to air in the coming months include ‘1916’, a three-part documentary series, narrated by Liam Neeson, Joe Duffy’s ‘Children of the Revolution’, Michael Portillo’s ‘The Enemy Files’, and ‘Bob Geldof on Yeats’. A full list of programming and events is available on < a href="http://www.rte.ie/1916" target="_blank">www.rte.ie/1916.
