Radio presenter Joe Duffy will front his own television series ‘Local Heroes’ which is currently in pre-production.
The Animo Productions series, which will air on RTÉ later this year, will begin filming all around Ireland in January.
The series stems from a segment on Duffy’s RTÉ Radio 1 programme ‘Liveline’, in which he introduced Fiver Fridays, where people around Ireland are urged to spend an extra €5 with a local business, retailer or supplier on a Friday in an effort to boost turnover and save jobs.
‘Local Heroes’ will be a six-part series for RTÉ, and will track down people who are creating jobs in their own communities. This series will celebrate individuals across the country who have come up with new and innovative ways to stimulate job creation in their own villages, towns or cities.
Duffy said: “There are local heroes working hard in their own communities every day to try to make sure that their cities, towns and villages are vibrant, buoyant and prosperous places to live for themselves, their families, their neighbours and their friends. With RTÉ ‘Local Heroes’, we have a chance not only to celebrate those people, but also to join in the fun, laughter and community spirit along the way and, hopefully, inspire people around the country to follow in their footsteps.”
Mairead Whelan is the series producer, with Adrian Lynch the executive producer for Animo. Darragh Byrne is directing.
A one-off Christmas special is currently filming until December 15 and will air over the Christmas period.
Filming will take place all over Ireland, beginning in January and wrapping in May 2013.
The production team and RTÉ are currently seeking individuals who are doing something visionary to create jobs in their local community to participate to in the series. Application forms are available online at RTE.ie/localheroes or in MACE stores, which is supporting the series. The closing date for applications is December 21.
