Glenroe was an "embarrassment"

Defiler Of The Coffin

MARY McEvoy, who played Miley’s love interest in Glenroe RTE’s long running soap, has said that the show was axed by RTE because it was an embarrassment to the station.

The actress who played the part of Biddy in the series which ran for 18 years until it was axed in 2001, said that RTE made the decision to bring the show to a close because it was an inconvenience to the station.

“It’s a show that survived by accident and was popular with people, but I believe it was an inconvenience to RTE,” she told ‘Ireland’s Own’ magazine.

The actress, whose character was killed in a road accident the year before the series ended, told the magazine that senior people in RTE did not know or understand the appeal of the show.

“At the time it was cancelled we were becoming an increasingly urban society, and I think we country people were the unwanted at that stage.

“We were an embarrassment in general, with our country image, and the urban Dublin arts press never had much time for us or even for television in general.”

Link

So is Mary right in what she is saying? Was Glenroe axed because those high-falutin' mojito-drinking cosmopolitan folk in RTE wanted to provide high-quality programming (Fair City) that more closely reflected the people of modern Ireland?

I miss Dinny

petes

Ireland's Own is still on the go :eek:

moy83

Bring it back I say

Where To

Wouldn't surprise me at all.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

was it Irelands own that had that little comic strip inside it?

I dont remember anything at all about it really.. except it reminded me of tintin a bit?

did Irlands own have an irish tintin?

Hande hoche!

She is just bitter since that tractor killed her.

CardBordWindow

Childhood memories everywhere now lie in tatters!

Boombastic

This thread is sacrilegious:(


Of course Glenroe should be brought back, best show ever. Miley riding his wifes cousin in the haybarn - you wouldn't get that on Fair city

MJ23

Well Holy God

Roadend

If it wasn't for Glenroe we wouldn't have have The By-Road to Glenroe, how can that have been a bad thing.......

ejmaztec

Does this mean that RTE hasn't got anything else to be embarrassed about?

Dyr

I never watched it as a kid, couldnt see the point in having wellie wearing spud gobblers on the national airwaves, sure that was what Mart & market was for

DEFTLEFTHAND

Wasn't it set in Wicklow anyway? Too close to Dublin to be proper culchies imo. Apart from Miley, Dinny and couple of other hayseeds most of Glenroe's population were quite sophisticated. Dick and his wife for instance, the young doctor, the artsy cafe owner who had an aversion to travelers.

billybudd

If by embarrassment you mean the greatest rural show on earth, then yes.

Roadend

ejmaztec wrote: »

Does this mean that RTE hasn't got anything else to be embarrassed about?

Hey, you leave play the game out of this

Kerrydude1981

Go on the Miley RIP Mick Lally what a legend of a man he was
RTE should show repeats of Glenroe,id still watch it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOpDtHr4f5c

Murt10

Took them a few years, but isn't Love/Hate much more relevant to todays society than Glenroe

Cienciano

Glenroe was an "embarrassment" but Fair City is "high quality"? :eek:

FatherLen

i can honestly say i never watched one episode.

Hande hoche!

FatherLen wrote: »

i can honestly say i never watched one episode.

You missed out. The end music had a damaging effect on the psyche signifying the weekend was over.

Tombo2001

If Glenroe was an embarassment then where does that leave Fair City?

Ah Jasus....

missingtime

Any time I hear that theme tune I think its bedtime and I have school the next day

Tombo2001

Hande hoche! wrote: »

You missed out. The end music had a damaging effect on the psyche signifying the weekend was over.

Usually meant for me that it was time to start my homework.....

geeky

Sorry biddy, your views suit Ireland's own, but facts don't bear this out.

At its peak, the show was pretty darn popular, with 700,000 viewers. However, the last four years showed consistent decline.

Ratings
Season Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Viewer
Rank (#) Viewers
(in '000)
Season 15 September, 1997 May, 1998 1997–1998 #2[13] 662[13]
Season 16 September, 1998 May, 1999 1998–1999 #3 638[13]
Season 17 September, 1999 May, 2000 1999–2000 #3 635[13]
Season 18 September, 2000 May, 2001 2000–2001 #2 589[13]

Would have been daft of the suits to continue IMO.

I'll hear many criticisms of the powers that be in RTE, but Glenroe just wasn't buttering the parsnips like it used to.

Ash.J.Williams

Bitchy!!

"Mary, who is also well known for washing powder adverts on TV"

Roadend

FatherLen wrote: »

i can honestly say i never watched one episode.

Sent to bed after Where in the World then

ejmaztec

If they decided output based on viewers' embarrassment, they'd be off the air for 23 hours a day.

TeddyTedson

It was axed because it had become full of smut with Miley and Fidelma fiddling around in the hay. Wasn't there going to also be a story line where Dinny abused a child proposed

swimming in a sea

The acting was terrible, i saw a few episodes and always remember the children who played Mileys and Biddys kids, who always address their parents as Miley and Biddy, **** acting or very sophisticated house Miley was keeping.

Funny the show that came before it Braken, was much better, it was rerun on the irish channel a few years ago

Bad Panda

Roadend wrote: »

Sent to bed after Where in the World then

I used to get a funny feeling in my pants when Theresa Lowe came on air.

Edit: Intended.

Defiler Of The Coffin

TeddyTedson wrote: »

It was axed because it had become full of smut with Miley and Fidelma fiddling around in the hay. Wasn't there going to also be a story line where Dinny abused a child proposed

:eek:

That would have scandalised the nation more than the Bishop Casey affair!!

davet82

my favourite was blacky connors, he was constantly telling Father Devereux (with his enormous ears) 'i swear father, it wasnt me',

i was hooked on who was pooping in mileys river story :rolleyes:

what was the story with it being on once a week anyways for a half hour

yes the depression brought on by the theme music knowing the weekend had ended got to me too, Where In the World had a similar effect with Thersea Lowe :pac:

LoYL

The argument that they cut shows that are an embarrassment doesn't stand up.

Solair

While I think it has improved in recent years, RTE has a tendency to see itself as a local TV/Radio station broadcasting to Dublin at times.

I don't know how many times I've heard presenters referring to "the airport" (Dublin airport), referring to Dublin streets as if everyone knows exactly where they area or giving out local 7-digit phone numbers without area codes.

There's nothing wrong with the concept of a rural-based soap opera and I'm sure Glenroe could have been brought into the 21st century with a bit of creativity.

Emmerdale remains one of the most popular shows in the UK.

I also think RTE needs to perhaps look at making some of these shows ready for an export-market. That might mean perhaps avoiding some of the extreme stage-O'Irish regional accents that they put on and sticking with fairly neutral sounding (and I don't mean posh, just clear) characters.

The likes of the ultra twee Ballykisangle worked fanatically for BBC and there is really no reason why RTE couldn't do similar.

swimming in a sea

when i hear long discussions on Glenroe it just reminds me how lucky i was that we had the UK channels in our house so where not forced into watching it.:)

Jesus Shaves

geeky wrote: »

Sorry biddy, your views suit Ireland's own, but facts don't bear this out.

At its peak, the show was pretty darn popular, with 700,000 viewers. However, the last four years showed consistent decline.

Ratings
Season Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Viewer
Rank (#) Viewers
(in '000)
Season 15 September, 1997 May, 1998 1997–1998 #2[13] 662[13]
Season 16 September, 1998 May, 1999 1998–1999 #3 638[13]
Season 17 September, 1999 May, 2000 1999–2000 #3 635[13]
Season 18 September, 2000 May, 2001 2000–2001 #2 589[13]

Would have been daft of the suits to continue IMO.

I'll hear many criticisms of the powers that be in RTE, but Glenroe just wasn't buttering the parsnips like it used to.

So it still had 600,000 viewers in its last season which still would have been one of the highest rating shows for rte which makes your point invalid
Fair city averages 400,000 and is the worst kind of tripe television has ever seen

Boombastic

Glenroe Farm is one of Wicklow’s top tourist attractions.

willowthewisp

I'll never forget the moment Miley jumped out of the back of Biddy's red van and beat the head of the raiders with a couple of cabbages, there and then he took over from He-Man as my boyhood hero.
Then as I grew into my teenage years I furthermore admired his lathario like status after his role in the hay shed with Dimpna!

Joey the lips

Actually i hate to say it. But i loved the music as a child. I use to enjoy it. I hated when it was over cause i knew it was time to go to bed.

Penny Dreadful

Hande hoche! wrote: »

You missed out. The end music had a damaging effect on the psyche signifying the weekend was over.

Ah yes the old Sunday night ritual of Where in the World, Glenroe, news, weather and bed because it was suddenly a school night. :eek:

Ash.J.Williams

two scandals i remember from bracken! (big ones)

Man leaves wife........(to go on the missions in Africa)
Woman goes on the pill (she's married but has enough kids for now)
the last one caused TOTAL MAYHEM!

Eggonyerface

Bad Panda wrote: »

Roadend wrote: »

Sent to bed after Where in the World then

I used to get a funny feeling in my pants when Theresa Lowe came on air.

Edit: Intended.

Me too, but my memories were ruined when they showed her in the audience of the late late at its 50th anniversary show

Dyr

Solair wrote: »

While I think it has improved in recent years, RTE has a tendency to see itself as a local TV/Radio station broadcasting to Dublin at times.

I don't know how many times I've heard presenters referring to "the airport" (Dublin airport), referring to Dublin streets as if everyone knows exactly where they area or giving out local 7-digit phone numbers without area codes.

I bet you sit down with a notebook jotting all these incidents down so ya can write a strongly worded letter into mailbag for arthur to read out.

Everyone know's where Dublin streets are, they're in Dublin. If someone says Parnell street then, in the national context, that's Parnell street in the glorious capital of the nation. If the ballygobackwards bugle refer's to Parnell street, then that's Parnell street in ballygobackwards (or possibly twomilebogger up the road)

mikemac1

There was outrage over Miley being caught in the bed with that hussey Fidelma

Doesn't happen in Catholic Ireland don't you know. Such a grave sin, could never happen

Gay Byrne talking calls from Holy Joes all week on his radio show

Fidelma was a minx though, can't blame any man for that!

Cokeistan

RTE are massively Dublin oriented, don't give a shít about the rest of the country....wánkers

geeky

Jesus Shaves wrote: »

So it still had 600,000 viewers in its last season which still would have been one of the highest rating shows for rte which makes your point invalid
Fair city averages 400,000 and is the worst kind of tripe television has ever seen

It went from 700,000 to under 600,000, with four years of steady decline.

It may well have been a highly-rated show, but it was clearly quite expensive to make, and advertisers don't want to be linked to a show in decline.

And yes, Fair City (which actually only gets 200,000 viewers now) is muck. But its launch attracted over a million viewers, and it could pull in 840,000 back in 2001.

Just because RTE should have cancelled Fair City long ago doesn't mean cancelling Glenroe when they did was the wrong decision.

sh1tstirrer

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

two scandals i remember from bracken! (big ones)

Man leaves wife........(to go on the missions in Africa)
Woman goes on the pill (she's married but has enough kids for now)
the last one caused TOTAL MAYHEM!

You need to re jog your memory that was the Riordans

mikemac1

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

that was the Riordans

Get up da yard, the smell of benji off ya :pac:

Tombo2001

Cokeistan wrote: »

RTE are massively south Dublin oriented, don't give a shít about the rest of the country....wánkers

FYP

geeky

On a nostalgic note, Miley's affair with a young'un was my first exposure to the theme of marital infidelity.

It began with the immortal line 'wouldn't it be great to be a bull?'. Still gutted that I can't find it on youtube.

Jesus Shaves

geeky wrote: »

It went from 700,000 to under 600,000, with four years of steady decline.

It may well have been a highly-rated show, but it was clearly quite expensive to make, and advertisers don't want to be linked to a show in decline.

And yes, Fair City (which actually only gets 200,000 viewers now) is muck. But its launch attracted over a million viewers, and it could pull in 840,000 back in 2001.

Just because RTE should have cancelled Fair City long ago doesn't mean cancelling Glenroe when they did was the wrong decision.

It was still the highest rated show at the time, it lost less than 10% of viewers in 4 years, fair city has lost 80% in ten years, I reckon aul biddy was right about RTE
Anyway why am I even arguing this, both are/were manure