TnaG has launched its autumn schedule and is recruiting new staff after the departure of five of its members for the recently launched TV3, including Grainne Seoige, Gillian Ni Cheallaigh and Marie Derale.
The stations ratings are still lower than expected at around 1.1 % and with digital TV on the way the station is repositioning itself to appeal to a younger more main-stream audience. Accessibility to Irish and non-Irish speakers alike is the key feature of the new schedule. One third of the stations programming will be broadcast in English and a new Irish language learning series will be launched this autumn. The News will also be subtitled in English.
Highlights of the new season, which began on Monday, include four drama features by playwright Eugene McCabe, featuring Mick Lally and Brendan Gleeson. Actor Patrick Bergin has returned to the channel to present a second series of 'The Weird and the Wonderful' and Galway actress Bernie Ni Flatharta will host a new Saturday night chat show. The actress Maria Doyle Kennedy, who starred in 'The Commitments' and 'The General' will play the voice of Gobnait in a new adult animation series and there will be a new Comedy series following the misadventures of a German who resettles in a castle in the west of Ireland.
TnaG may have lost several of its staff but it is being noted that were it not for TnaG's operation, TV3 may have looked abroad for the necessary expertise. TnaG reportedly has new set of journalists getting their break and introducing themselves this season among the new recruits is Sile Seoige, sister of Grainne, who is presenting a cinema programme Hollywood Anocht.
Micheal McMahon 24/9/98
