TG4 – Ar Bhóithrín Na Smaointe (On Memory Road) to feature Thurles Town

Question: What leading Irish Television Production Company produced the following programmes?

1. The Award winning programme Ear To The Ground now on its 16th Year, for RTE One,
2. Northern Star for BBC Northern Ireland, latter shortlisted in 2008 for the prestigious Grierson British Documentary Award, in the Best Science Documentary category.
3. Heist, a crime series for RTE ONE.
4. The Ultimate Guide To Everything on RTE Two.
5. What Am I Worth?, a factual entertainment series for RTE One.
6. The Pressure Cooker aired on RTE One.
7. Behind Closed Doors aired on BBC.

Answer: Independent Pictures, part of the Agtel Group with offices at 22 Fitzwilliam Street Upper, Dublin 2.

Their other credits include Show Me The Money, and I’M an Adult Get Me Out of Here plus the very popular and controversial Rip Off Republic presented by Eddie Hobbs, achieving a massive 54% share and an audience of over 838.000 viewers on its very last episode.

Independent Pictures continue to provide the TG4 schedule with a diverse range of programming. The travel series Thar Sáile, the consumer series Luach Ár Linne, the food & travel series Cósta uí Chatháin and the much loved history series Ar Bóthar Na Smaointe have all aired in the early 2009 TG4 schedule.

Ar Bóthar Na Smaointe, however will draw most attention from TV viewers in Thurles Co.Tipperary when a programme featuring Thurles Famine Museum takes to our screens possibly in September of this year.

This picture shows Irish poet and writer Teo Dorgan (Programme Presenter), Brid Bhreathnac (Film Producer / Director), Seamus O’hAoda (Lighting Camera Man), Stewart Willoughby (Assistant Museum Curator), Michael Edge, (Sound ), Marilyn de Burca (Crew Assistant) and Monsignor Maurice Dooley DD, parish priest of Loughmore, Co.Tipperary, at work  filming this week, in the Thurles Famine museum.

Monsignor Dooley is no stranger to Thurles, having been born and reared in the town, indeed, he is no stranger to RTE Radio and Television either, as listeners /viewers will confirm. Educated at Thurles CBS, he was later ordained to the priesthood in Maynooth in 1959. Following post-graduate studies, he went on to teach in St Patrick’s College, Kiltegan, for two years, and then back to his home town and to St Patrick’s College, Thurles, where he taught continuously for 28 years, holding the post of professor of Canon Law. For over 20 years he has also acted as a representative for the Holy See at Council of Europe committee meetings in Strasbourg dealing with health and bioethics. He became PP of Loughmore in 1992. Monsignor Dooley is also a noted historian and it is therefore no surprise that Independent Pictures sought him out as a spokesperson on Thurles history, in the making of this their new programme series. Monsignor Dooley was also an advisor to the committee responsible for the setting up of St. Mary’s Famine Museum, in 1995, where this filming was undertaken.

The Presenter of this programme, Cork born Theo Dorgan is a poet, prose writer, editor, scriptwriter, translator and sailor. His  books include the long poem Sappho’s Daughter, a prose account of a transatlantic voyage under sail,  Sailing for Home, praised by Doris Lessing as “a book for everyone”, and  A Book of Uncommon Prayer, which he compiled and edited. He is the editor of Irish Poetry Since Kavanagh, and co-editor of Leabhar Mór na hÉireann / The Great Book of Ireland,  An Leabhar Mór / The Great Book of Gaelic, the anthology Watching the River Flow and the acclaimed collection of historical essays Revising the Rising. His translations of the Slovenian poet Barbara Korun (in collaboration with the poet and Ana Jelnikar), were published as Songs of Earth and Light. Theo translates from the Irish and from the French and his own work has appeared in Italian and Spanish editions. He is a member of Aosdána.

Watch this site for further details of when this new series of Ar Bóthar Na Smaointe will be televised.