TL
toby lerone 2016
Works of art, culture etc are not easily defined. IMHO anyone who argues that Mrs Brown's Boys is British rather than Irish are barking up the wrong asparagus. It's set in Ireland, it has Irish writers, Irish actors and Irish humour. It is Irish.
It clearly is Irish in the sense cast, setting etc. like Father Ted before was an Irish sitcom but the 2 biggest Irish Sitcoms of the last 20 years were brought to us by the BBC and Channel 4/Hat Trick respectively.
Also the ratings are in for the Live Episode on Saturday which was watched by 562,300 on RTE One more staggeringly that is a massive share of 46% of people watching TV in Ireland at the time. Only Ireland Football/Rugby matches and The Late Late Toy Show would rate higher than that during the year.
JO
Mr Brown as a brand is Irish. The production is British but culturally Irish it just depends how your classifying it. If America brought the rights they'd be buying a British show paying a British broadcaster.
Would a Ruby Wax show commissioned by the BBC interviewing an American star make it an American show? No.
Works of art, culture etc are not easily defined. IMHO anyone who argues that Mrs Brown's Boys is British rather than Irish are barking up the wrong asparagus. It's set in Ireland, it has Irish writers, Irish actors and Irish humour. It is Irish.
Would a Ruby Wax show commissioned by the BBC interviewing an American star make it an American show? No.
JA
Just proves the point I made earlier that saying whether Mrs Brown and Father Ted are Irish or British creates arguments 
JA
I remember hearing that the RTE of the 90s was quite conservative and likely wouldn't have made it even if it had been pitched to them because they'd have been worried it would have offended people, and they were even reluctant to repeat it at first. They only picked it up when they saw how popular it was with Irish viewers who were able to see it on Channel 4.
There was always a story peddled in Ireland, which Linehan/Matthews and RTE always both insisted was a myth, that RTE had been offered Father Ted and turned it down. The station has a very bad reputation in the scripted comedy department, not entirely undeserved (but neither completely deserved either), and it's a big indictment on it that the two biggest Irish (in terms of acting, writing, and setting/plot) sitcom successes have both been produced in Britain.
I remember hearing that the RTE of the 90s was quite conservative and likely wouldn't have made it even if it had been pitched to them because they'd have been worried it would have offended people, and they were even reluctant to repeat it at first. They only picked it up when they saw how popular it was with Irish viewers who were able to see it on Channel 4.
BR
It's increasingly rare nowadays for programmes to be made by a single production company and indeed more and more common for production partners to be international, so far less straightforward to define the origins of a show. Downton Abbey is arguably American, whilst HBOs biggest show is largely made in Britain with a largely British cast and crew..
WH
This is true. Episodes is another example of a British/American co-production (although largely made in Britain).
Whataday
Founding member
It's increasingly rare nowadays for programmes to be made by a single production company and indeed more and more common for production partners to be international, so far less straightforward to define the origins of a show. Downton Abbey is arguably American, whilst HBOs biggest show is largely made in Britain with a largely British cast and crew..
This is true. Episodes is another example of a British/American co-production (although largely made in Britain).
JA
Although not set here!
This is true. Episodes is another example of a British/American co-production (although largely made in Britain).
Although not set here!
WH
I remember hearing that the RTE of the 90s was quite conservative and likely wouldn't have made it even if it had been pitched to them because they'd have been worried it would have offended people, and they were even reluctant to repeat it at first. They only picked it up when they saw how popular it was with Irish viewers who were able to see it on Channel 4.
It's also no doubt more prestigious to get a commission from the BBC or Channel 4 than one from RTE. I'd imagine the money's better too!
Edit: from a Graham Linehan interview:
Whataday
Founding member
There was always a story peddled in Ireland, which Linehan/Matthews and RTE always both insisted was a myth, that RTE had been offered Father Ted and turned it down. The station has a very bad reputation in the scripted comedy department, not entirely undeserved (but neither completely deserved either), and it's a big indictment on it that the two biggest Irish (in terms of acting, writing, and setting/plot) sitcom successes have both been produced in Britain.
I remember hearing that the RTE of the 90s was quite conservative and likely wouldn't have made it even if it had been pitched to them because they'd have been worried it would have offended people, and they were even reluctant to repeat it at first. They only picked it up when they saw how popular it was with Irish viewers who were able to see it on Channel 4.
It's also no doubt more prestigious to get a commission from the BBC or Channel 4 than one from RTE. I'd imagine the money's better too!
Edit: from a Graham Linehan interview:
Quote:
Linehan was in Ireland for the making of a definitive Father Ted documentary to be directed by Adrian McCarthy of Wildfire Films, one he hopes will dispel a lot of myths that have grown up about Ted.
The biggest, he says, is that Father Ted was first offered to and refused by RTÉ. Linehan and Mathews had already been working in London and developing relationships with broadcasters for a while when they came up with the idea of Ted, so pitching it in the UK seemed like the sensible thing to do.
‘We didn’t do it with RTÉ because we were in England and we had a career there, so it would have been strange to go back to Ireland and start from the bottom in RTÉ, a company that never really made a successful studio sitcom. Because there was no infrastructure in Ireland for those kind of studio sitcoms, it would have been crazy to give it to them. RTÉ did many great things but studio sitcoms was not one of them.’
The biggest, he says, is that Father Ted was first offered to and refused by RTÉ. Linehan and Mathews had already been working in London and developing relationships with broadcasters for a while when they came up with the idea of Ted, so pitching it in the UK seemed like the sensible thing to do.
‘We didn’t do it with RTÉ because we were in England and we had a career there, so it would have been strange to go back to Ireland and start from the bottom in RTÉ, a company that never really made a successful studio sitcom. Because there was no infrastructure in Ireland for those kind of studio sitcoms, it would have been crazy to give it to them. RTÉ did many great things but studio sitcoms was not one of them.’
JA
Bigger audience too- how many truly Irish (which aren't co-productions) TV shows have been shown on British TV? Or any other country for that matter. If the how had been pitched to and made by RTE then it would likely have never been seen outside of Ireland. Whereas Father Ted and Mrs Brown have both been shown not only in the UK in Ireland, but all over the world.
It's also no doubt more prestigious to get a commission from the BBC or Channel 4 than one from RTE. I'd imagine the money's better too!]
Bigger audience too- how many truly Irish (which aren't co-productions) TV shows have been shown on British TV? Or any other country for that matter. If the how had been pitched to and made by RTE then it would likely have never been seen outside of Ireland. Whereas Father Ted and Mrs Brown have both been shown not only in the UK in Ireland, but all over the world.
RD
rdd
Founding member
Fair City and Glenroe got regional airings on various ITV companies.
However if you were to view the question narrowly, to mean scripted shows produced for RTE, TV3, and TG4, that have been aired nationally on a UK terrestrial network, then the list narrows quite a bit. Red Rock isn't the first - Love/Hate got an airing on Channel 5 - but the list is very small. Edit- and going back even further, and not scripted, the truncated version of the Late Late Show aired in an early evening slot on a Monday on Channel 4 during the 1980s and 1990s.
However if you were to view the question narrowly, to mean scripted shows produced for RTE, TV3, and TG4, that have been aired nationally on a UK terrestrial network, then the list narrows quite a bit. Red Rock isn't the first - Love/Hate got an airing on Channel 5 - but the list is very small. Edit- and going back even further, and not scripted, the truncated version of the Late Late Show aired in an early evening slot on a Monday on Channel 4 during the 1980s and 1990s.
Last edited by rdd on 28 July 2016 8:20am - 2 times in total