A reality series following the romantic and professional lives of a group of twentysomethings in Dublin, Fade Street (2010-2011) was the show we loved to hate.<\/p>\n
This was a series that prompted the Irish Times to call on the national broadcaster to “pull the plug” on RT\u00c92, describing it as “wearyingly pointless” and, quoting one reader, “a bed of sewage”. Harsh, but not entirely surprising. By the time Fade Street arrived on our screens, most people had already turned up their noses at the idea.<\/p>\n
Inspired by MTV’s equally derided hits The Hills and Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, this was reality television in which the term “reality” was to be taken with a fistful of salt. Most situations and storylines were orchestrated, even if the reactions of those involved were largely unscripted.<\/p>\n
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Watch: The Top 5 Moments from Fade Street<\/p>\n
For our Fade Street gang of Louise, Dani, Cici and Vogue, these predicaments ranged from the simple to the slightly less simple. An early point of tension sees budding fashion journalist Louise torn between a getaway to Marbella and the start of her internship. What choice does she make in the end, you ask? The right one. Sangrias all round!<\/p>\n
It serves as a comforting reminder that there was a time before Vogue Williams was an omnipresent force in Irish life.<\/p>\n
Before Instagram became our window into the boring lives of privileged people, this was as good as it got. For some, it was a lifestyle to aspire to: a magazine launch here, a DJ set there, popped collars, J\u00e4gerbombs and enough “OMG”s to make you a believer. For others, the Dublin of Fade Street was the same one that Bachelors Walk spent three series warning us about a decade earlier.<\/p>\n
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Watch: Fade Street – Dani’s tears in Dublin Ink<\/p>\n
Inevitably, the series became an easy target, inspiring a rash comedy skits and online parodies. It seemed like even uttering the show’s title in public risked rolling the eyes of anyone who happened to be nearby. And while I\u2019m not suggesting we reclaim Fade Street as a forgotten gem of Peak TV, I\u2019m of the belief that hate-watches, like people (as Walt Whitman once told me), contain multitudes.<\/p>\n
Watching the show in 2026 is a drastically different experience. For one, it serves as a comforting reminder that there was a time before Vogue Williams was an omnipresent force in Irish life. The Vogue of old was clawing her way to the top as a model trying to be taken seriously as an actress. She was fierce, she was loyal \u2013 crucially, she may have been the first person on record to call someone a “ridebag”.<\/p>\n
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Watch the opening credits for Fade Street<\/p>\n
Speaking of firsts, Fade Street\u2019s soundtrack boasted a wealth of homegrown talent, many of whom audiences would\u2019ve never heard of before. From emerging acts like Villagers and Two Door Cinema Club to virtual unknowns, this “wearyingly pointless” series sure made a point to promote Irish artists.<\/p>\n
Yet, fun as it is to see how much of our culture has changed since Fade Street first aired, some things remain eerily similar. By the end of the series, the hard truths of Ireland\u2019s gig economy come into focus, with Dani struggling to pay rent, while Louise and Vogue head off to Australia for a better life. Now, for “reality” TV, that\u2019s as real as it gets.<\/p>\n
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*Technically, vice versa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A reality series following the romantic and professional lives of a group of twentysomethings in Dublin, Fade Street…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-386279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}