Every week we take a look in the RTÉ Guide archives to check out the stories from years gone by. On this week 30 years ago, Teilifís na Gaeilge, aka TnaG, was launched. Now, of course, it’s known as TG4. The RTÉ Guide celebrated the new station with a double spread and an interview with one of the biggest names to appear on the night.
“TnaG’s auspicious opening programme goes out on Thursday at 8pm, with live celebrations from the station’s new headquarters at Baile na hAbhann in Connemara and from Gweedore,” wrote journalist Paddy Keough, “with inserts from around the country. Musicians including Hothouse Flowers, Na Casaidigh and Brian Kennedy, as well as theatre group Macnas, will be performing, with greetings from President Mary Robinson, An Taoiseach John Bruton, and Gaeltacht Minister Michael D.Higgins. Traditional supergroup Altan round off proceedings with a concert from Gweedore.”
The launch got a two page spread in the RTÉ Guide
The highlight of the opening night was Draíocht, an hour long drama written by and starring none other than Gabriel Byrne. “Draíocht is a gentle rites-of-passage movie, shot through with luminous images and anchored by a beguiling performance from newcomer James Murphy,” wrote journalist Donal O’Donoghue in an interview with Byrne elsewhere in the magazine. “In its sense of childhood wonder the film is similar in many ways to the world Byrne conjured up in his autobiography Pictures In My Head. It tells the magical tale of a boy (Murphy) living in ’60s rural Ireland, whose father is about to go on a tour of duty to the Congo.
Gabriel Byrne talked to tge RTÉ Guide
Consequently it comes as no surprise to learn that its author is a major fan of Amarcord and harbours a long-term ambition to produce an Irish version of Fellini’s masterly evocation of small-town Italian life. Draíocht – it will be screened immediately after the opening programme on Teilifís na Gaeilge – is arguably the first step down that roadByrne’s decision to write the screenplay ‘as Gaeilge’ was motivated by his love of the language and a desire to make it fashionable again.
‘Our language is part of what we are and our language comes through our history and in our struggle to be who we are,’ Byrne explains.’When you lose a language you lose something that’s far more valuable than just words. So when I heard that Teilifís na Gaeilge were starting up / thought, well I’ll do this with them. Plus I think the language itself is a beautiful, complex, intricate language and it’s extremely expressive. And if a movie can be released in America in Italian or Latin or Norwegian and get a huge audience, why can’t a movie be released in Irish and get the same audience as long as the story is universal?'”
Gabriel Byrne (and Boyzone) graced the cover of the magazine
So where did the story for Draiocht come from? “Phew.” Byrne sighs deeply, as if weighing up some overwhelming consideration. ‘Originally I mate it because I wanted to do something about complex adult relationships from the point of view of a child, in the way that a child might observe a relationship between his parents. Doors are closed on children, they are sent out of rooms, they hear raised voices from behind walls and then they are told things that don’t really satisfy them. So I wanted to handle that from the point of vuew of a child. In this particular case it’s called Draíocht because the boy can only resort to magic in trying to control the world.'”
The new channel also proposed a mix of documentaries, including Eire Neodrach, a series about Ireland in WW2 narrated by Mick Lally. “Also in the offing is Cuimhni Gaeltachta featuring TK Whitaker, Alan Dukes, Nell McCafferty and others returning to the Gaeltacht to revisit the Irish Colleges of their youth, scheduled for the Christmas/NewYear period.”
There was programming for young people too, including “Ard Rí, a 31-part quiz for young adults. The High King has gone crazy and Rónán Mac Aodha Bhul adopts the role of Druid in search of a replacement. Teams from each cour ty in Ireland compete for the tite of High King. Tuesdays, from November.”
TnaG was renamed TG4 in 1999 and is still going strong today.