The Local Eye is back tonight on RTÉ One at 7pm for a new six-part series going behind the scenes and following the adventures of staff in three local newspapers: The Nenagh Guardian, The Donegal Post and Dublin’s Northside People.
‘The Local Eye’ follows the roving reporters and photographers as they cover what matters in their communities. And looks at what it takes to survive in this tough media environment.
IFTN spoke with The Donegal Post’s number one social diarist, Gabrielle McMonagle about her experience shooting for the new series and what we can expect to see. From her quest to meet with HRH Prince Charles to seflie’ stick assignments with Daniel O’Donnell and hosting grand charity balls it appears this Donegal doll is surely kept on her stiletto-heeled toes.
“I did watch a few episodes of the last series but this one is definitely going to be better,” said Gabrielle.
Asked how she first came to be involved in the new series Gabrielle said, “I initially got an email in March from the series producer Mary Martin, and then she came to visit me in Donegal to discuss it more. I was very delighted to be involved with the show it’s a great honour to be offered the opportunity. It’s promoting Donegal big time and all the events that happen locally and within the community.”
At that meeting in Donegal with Mary, Gabrielle mentioned she had a Cupcake Charity Fashion show event that weekend at Lough Eske Castle and so a camera crew was sent down and the filming began.
Spread out across six months this year from March until October the film crew followed Gabrielle about capturing her work as she creates the “original and best” socialist diary for the Donegal Post.
“I enjoyed it. They got loads of great coverage, as there was so much happening and it was easier than I thought it would be. The cameramen were good craic. They would mic me up and I just went about doing my own thing, I would forget they were even there,” said Gabrielle when asked how she found the filming experience.
One of the challenges RTÉ set Gabrielle was to film a piece using her phone and a selfie stick they gave her, while judging at the Mary of Dungloe International Festival and bumping shoulders with Daniel O’Donnell she decided to use this to her advantage and use the singer in her challenge piece.
“I was under pressure and I’d never done it before but it was a laugh and I just gave it a go.”
Having worked in media for the past thirty years Gabrielle said, that she has definitely seen a change in the amount of females within the industry “When I started it was all men and now there’s as many women as the men. It’s great to see and for the section that I do for the paper, the demand is getting bigger. What started as 2 pages is now always at least 6 or 7 pages, things are so busy.”
“My highlight from the series was probably the filming for my quest to meet Prince Charles, as my editor got accreditation for the royal visit in Donegal castle. I actually didn’t have official accreditation to attend the press event but I just did anyway and well you can watch happens in episode two.”
When asked how she thinks the response will be from the people of Donegal and where she lives locally in Letterkenny to the new series Gabrielle said “my social media is going mad at the minute, the video RTÉ shared this week has already hit over 55,000 views.”
The new series of ‘The Local Eye’ which is voiced by journalist George Lee gives viewers a real insight into the lifestyle pool of local journalism, this series follows big personalities out on assignments including: Northside People’s Tony McCullagh as he juggles writing racy comedy writing for Mrs Brown Boys with a conservative new management. And The Nenagh Guardian’s ‘Doubting Thomas’ Peter Gleeson as he investigates the healing powers of a Holy Well in Nenagh.
The production team behind the show was RTÉ Cork and the Series Producer/Director for the show was Mary Martin (past documentary’s include the first season of ’The Local Eye’, ‘Ireland's Search and Rescue’, ‘The Turkish Wives Club’ and ‘City Folk’)
Shooting Directors were Pat Comer, Bonnie Dempsy, Pascal Cassidy and Dave Perry.
Location Directors: Jonathan Lambert & Denise Lavelle
Research: Denise Lavelle
Assistant Producer: Jonathan Lambert
Editors: Cliona Nolan & Ronan Carbery
Commissioning Editor & Exec Producer: Colm Crowley
The Local Eye’ Returns to RTÉ One tonight at 7pm.
