Fallon's Town Talk: Worth the risk to show repeats of ‘Glenroe’ on daytime TV

The Better Half and I were flicking channels on Sunday lunchtime in the lull before the GAA extravaganza began. On BBC2 the programme before the Donegal v Tyrone match was a repeat of the vintage comedy ‘Open All Hours’ starring the legendary duo of David Jason and the late Ronnie Barker.

It got me thinking about how the British public wallow in nostalgia for their beloved TV shows of the past. At Christmas this can get a bit weird as the BBC 2 schedule is chock-a-block with repeats of ‘Dad’s Army’ and Morecambe and Wise festive specials from the 1970s. On one level, it’s peculiar that the BBC thinks that Eric and Ernie are still the surest bet to make audiences happy at Christmas.

But there’s another way of looking at this. Some of those Morecambe and Wise sketches are still hilarious 50 years later, as are episodes of venerable comedy shows of long ago. Maybe the BBC executives have gauged the mood perfectly, especially at Christmas, when people of all ages want to savour rose-tinted memories of a mythical, idyllic past.

The sight of ‘Open All Hours’ prompted the two of us to discuss programmes of similar mystique in Irish television history. During the first Covid lockdown I wrote here that it would be a great idea to show classic ‘Laurel and Hardy’ episodes, especially as it would introduce Stan and Ollie to the housebound younger generations who had never heard of them. Sadly, it didn't happen.

The Better Half had, what I thought, was a great idea. Would RTÉ consider showing repeats of episodes of ‘The Riordans’ and ‘Glenroe’? The two dramas, both created by a brilliant screenwriter called Wesley Burrowes, were the iconic cornerstones of RTÉ’s Sunday night schedule from 1965 until the start of the 21st century.

‘Glenroe’ evokes curiously bittersweet memories for schoolchildren of the 1980s and 1990s. Certainly in its first decade, it was a rollicking drama about rural Ireland which brimmed with comedy but had a deceptively dark side and delved into social issues that weren’t often dealt with on Irish television, apart from on ‘The Late Late Show’. However, the instantly-recognisable theme music was a portent of doom for the youngsters in Irish households that the weekend was almost over and that it was lastminute.com to get homework done…not that phrases like ‘lastminute.com’ were ever used back then.

The recent death of Emmet Bergin, who played the debonair, roguish but likeable Dick Moran, prompted an outpouring of wistful affection for ‘Glenroe’, which was set in Wicklow and finished its 18-year-run in 2001. Maybe ‘Glenore’ and its predecessor, ‘The Riordans’, which was based in Kilkenny, would look very dated but would it be any harm to retrieve them from the RTÉ archives?

From a social history perspective alone, they provide a matchless depiction of a vanished Ireland as Burrowes was an astute observer of Irish people’s behaviour and attitudes.

‘Today’, usually hosted by the amiable duo of Dáithí Ó Sé and Maura Derrane, has the ideal ambiance and mix of material for a late afternoon, lifestyle programme. ‘Today’ is an undated, modern version of the equally-successful ‘Live at 3’, hosted by Thelma Mansfield and the late Derek Davis, which ran from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.

However, some of the other daytime TV I’ve come across is drivel. Broadcasting repeats of revered shows of the past couldn’t be any worse than ‘Dr Phil’ or other dire imports. It would be a thrill for the older generation, in particular, many of whom would surely greet the sight of Tom Riordan or Miley and Biddy like the return of a long-lost friend.

During Covid, the RTÉ News Channel started showing daily Mass from churches around the country. I presumed the service would cease once life returned to normal, but my mother tells me Mass is still being shown Monday to Friday at 10.30 a.m. so it must have a reasonable viewership.

It’s hardly a stretch to suggest the majority of the Mass-watching audience at that time of the day are older people.

If RTÉ top brass are wary about showing repeats of the classic shows on RTÉ 1, would it make sense to slot in ‘The Riordans’ or ‘Glenroe’ after Mass on the News Channel. Unless a major breaking story happens, most people could cope with a half-hour less of ‘Today with Claire Byrne’.

As an added bonus, if ‘Glenroe’ is shown in the middle of the day, there won’t be any schoolchildren for the theme music to terrify. What’s not to like?