Glenroe
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Glenroe was an Irish television drama series broadcast between September 1983 and May 2001 on RTÉ One. The programme was a spin-off from Bracken, a short-lived RTÉ drama itself spun off from The Riordans. The series was broadcast on Sunday nights at 20.30, generally from September to May. The show was created, and written for much its run, by Wesley Burrowes.
The programme centred on the lives of the people of the fictional rural village of Glenroe (actually Kilcoole), in County Wicklow. The main protagonists were the Byrne and McDermott/Moran families, related by the marriage of Miley Byrne to Biddy McDermott. Other characters included the Roman Catholic and Protestant priests of the village (Tim Devereux and George Black respectively), Teasy McDaid, the proprietor of the local pub, Biddy's cousin Fidelma Kelly, and others. One notable character was James Duffy[citation needed], who was one of the first traveller characters on television.
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[edit] Plot
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The programme focused on a cast of characters living in a rural area near the village pub. The main characters were Miley Byrne and Biddy McDermott whose courtship and marriage formed the centerpiece of the action during the early years. Their parents were also heavily featured in the storylines. Mileys father Dinny Byrne was a chancer and Biddy's mother, who was widowed early in the series, conducted a long-running affair with Dick Moran, local solicitor. Dick occasionally had other affairs such as that with Terry Kileen.
[edit] Title sequence
The programme was noted for its original title sequence, which featured the words "Gleann Rua" in Gaelic script morph into "Glenroe" over a series of rural images. The original title sequence was used for the 1983/84 series to the end of the 1992/93 series; and was replaced with a more up-to-date title sequence at the start of the 1993/94 series. Glenroe's theme tune was that of a traditional Irish song called Cuaichín Ghleann Néifinn and was arranged by Jim Lockhart of Horslips. The original version was used from the 1983/84 to the end of the 1992/93 series. A newly recorded version, arranged by Máire Ní Bhraonáin of Clannad, was introduced with the start of the 1993/94 series, and the changes to the title sequence. A song from the series, The By-Road to Glenroe, performed by Mick Lally, was released as a single in Ireland in 1990, featuring the Jim Lockhart version of the theme tune as its B-side, and reached Number 1 in the Irish singles chart.
The last episode of Glenroe was transmitted on 6 May 2001. The final episode attracted an audience of 591,000 viewers.[1]. Its place in the Sunday evening schedule was taken by On Home Ground, a drama series set at a fictional rural Gaelic Athletic Association club, which ran for two seasons from September 2001 and May 2003. RTÉ's present Sunday night drama series is The Clinic, a medical drama series.
[edit] Trivia
Glenroe was the first show to be subtitled by RTÉ, with a broadcast in 1991 starting the station's subtitling policy. [2]
[edit] UK regional transmission
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ITV Region
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Programme Schedule Pattern
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Start Date
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Days Screened
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End Date
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Replaced With | |
| Anglia Television | Tuesday 3 July 1984 13.30 | Tuesdays and Wednesdays 13.30 from Tuesday 3 July 1984. | ??? | ??? |
| Border Television | Monday 4 June 1984 15.30 | Mondays and Tuesdays 15.30 from Monday 4 June 1984. Wednesday 12.30 from September to December 1985. | ??? | ??? |
| Central | Never transmitted | Never transmitted | Never transmitted | Never transmitted |
| Channel Television | as TSW | as TSW | ??? | ??? |
| Grampian Television | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Granada Television | Monday 4 June 1984 15.30 | Mondays and Tuesdays 15.30 from Monday 4 June 1984. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday 12.30 from Tuesday 9 July 1985. | ??? | ??? |
| HTV Wales and HTV West | Monday 4 June 1984 15.30 | Mondays and Tuesdays 15.30 from Monday 4 June 1984. | ??? | ??? |
| Scottish Television (STV) | Monday 4 June 1984 15.30 | Mondays and Tuesdays 15.30 from Monday 4 June 1984. | ??? | ??? |
| Television South (TVS) | Thursday 7 June 1984 | Thursdays 14.00 from Thursday 7 June 1984. Fridays 15.30 from September 1985. | ??? | ??? |
| Television South West (TSW) | Tuesday 3 July 1984 13.30 | Tuesdays and Wednesdays 13.30 from Tuesday 3 July 1984. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday 12.30 from Tuesday 9 July 1985. | ??? | ??? |
| Thames Television | Tuesday 3 July 1984 13.30 | Tuesdays and Wednesdays 13.30 from Tuesday 3 July 1984. | ??? | ??? |
| Tyne Tees Television | Tuesday 3 July 1984 13.30 | Tuesdays and Wednesdays 13.30 from Tuesday 3 July 1984. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday 12.30 from Tuesday 9 July 1985. | ??? | ??? |
| Ulster Television (UTV) | Tuesday 3 July 1984 13.30 | Tuesdays and Wednesdays 13.30 from Tuesday 3 July 1984. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday 12.30 from Tuesday 9 July 1985. UTV then began a re-run of the series from the beginning in a daytime slot in 1989. By the late 1990s, the series was shown on Thursdays 19.30 on a sporadic basis. | 2001 (had reached 1994 episodes) | Other regional programmes |
| Yorkshire Television (YTV) | Monday 4 June 1984 15.30 | Mondays and Tuesdays 15.30 from Monday 4 June 1984. | ??? | ??? |
Although Glenroe was not networked, 13 of the 15 ITV regional franchises had transmitted the series. After this point listings (which have been sourced from The Times Digital Archive) are no longer available.
In December 1995, as part of a soap opera-themed weekend, Channel 4 broadcast an episode of Glenroe.
Glenroe was also shown on the Tara Television network in the United Kingdom via cable and SkyDigital from 1997 to the closure of the station in 2002. Classic episodes were shown in the daytime and repeated in the early evenings on weekdays, and current episodes were simulcast with RTÉ on Sunday evenings during each season. Tara had reached the 1992/93 season of Glenroe at the time of the station's closure.
[edit] Principal cast
- Joe Lynch - Dinny Byrne
- Mick Lally - Miley Byrne
- Mary McEvoy - Biddy Byrne
- Emmet Bergin - Dick Moran
- Geraldine Plunkett - Mary McDermott-Moran
- Robert Carrickford - Stephen Brennan
- Donall Farmer - Father Tim Devereux
- Maureen Toal - Teasy McDaid
- Alan Stanford - George Manning
- Isobel Mahon - Michelle Haughey
- William Heffernan - Blackie Connors
- Eunice MacMenamin - Fidelma Kelly
- John-Paul McGarry - Joseph McDaid
- Laura Howard - Aileen Synnot
- Carmel Callan - Nuala Brennan neé Maher
- Liam Carney - Kevin Haughey
- David Kelly - Sylvie McDaid
- Cyril Cusack - Uncle Peadar
- Mario Rosenstock - Dr. David Hanlon
- Kate Thompson - Terry Kileen
- Enda Oates - Rev. George Black
- Liam Heffernan Blackie Connors
- Joe McKinney - Dan Reilly
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