| Ros na Rún | |
|---|---|
Ros na Rún intertitle |
|
| Format | Soap Opera |
| Country of origin | Ireland |
| No. of seasons | 15 |
| No. of episodes | 1,000 (as of December 31, 2009) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multiple |
| Running time | 30 minutes (including commercials) approx. 25 minutes (without commercials) |
| Production company(s) | Tyrone Productions EO Teilifís |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | TG4 |
| Original airing | November 3, 1996 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Ros na Rún is an Irish soap opera produced for Irish language TV channel TG4. It broadcasts for 35 weeks of the year, airing 2 episodes each week.
It airs in Ireland, Scotland and the United States.[1]
Contents |
Previously shown on RTÉ One, Ros na Rún began its fifteenth season in September 2010. The title plays on the double meaning of the Irish word rún, which has a basic meaning of 'secret' but also has a long history as a term of endearment, similar to "honey", "sweetheart", or "darling". Ros can mean either "a wood or wooded headland" or "a headland or promontory", so the title can mean either "Wood/Headland of the Secrets" or "Wood/Headland of the Sweethearts".
Ros na Rún is also shown on WYBE public television in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and on UK terrestrial Freeview Scottish Gaelic channel TeleG with Scottish Gaelic subtitling.
Jack Padraic dies without leaving a will. His relatives become locked in a battle to take control of his house, his nephew Jack Hayes from London arrives first followed by his niece Rita O'Connor and her family (her husband Paddy and their children Eimear and Jason). Rita returns to Ros na Rún from Dublin. Londoner Jack is first generation Irish from an Irish speaking background. On the death of their close uncle they both decide to move into the house once promised to them each. Rita and her family are forced to move into the local B&B, she is ready for a fight to push Jack back to London. In an effort to embrace Jack Rita sets up camp across the road. Jack left his partner Tom in London, while the O'Connor's returned their keys to the corporation. Tom joins Jack later in the series. The O'Connor's find it difficult settling with Jason running home to Dublin. A search soon begins around Ros Na Rún.
The Chocolate Factory (Mil Ri) is under pressure and unable to sell their products. Mr. (Chris) Barrett has all but disappeared leaving the factory manager (Sean) under the impression that the company is about to close. Chris's plan does not work out stop the closer of the factory. Micheál leaves his job in the factory to return to fishing with Mil Rí receptionist Síle wants to join him on the sea, however he gives the job to Seamus. Mil Rí is soon to close.
Liam Ó Conghaile sets his sights on becoming an Actor as film production increase in Ireland. Only to be left cleaning the set. Liam's Grandmother Sarah looks for a job in Tigh Thaidhg (the local pub), robbing her daughter's (Máire) fresh brown bread to impress her new employer. Freddy Victor is a new English film producer in the area, who local radio report Caitriona is looking to interview. Liam's father (Peadar) wishes to return home from an illegal state in New York without a job. Sarah intercepts the calls from her son-in-law and does not let him speak with Máire.
Colin O'Cathain returns from Leeds to his brother Seamus. Colin plays the role of an old Irish ex-pat who realizes that he isn't "very happy" in England, while his brother Seamus plays the part of an older retired bachelor in rural Ireland.
In 2005, John Finn, Kathryn Morris, and Jeremy Ratchford from Cold Case appeared in a satirical promo for both Cold Case and Ros na Rún for TG4. The commercial won a Gold Medal in the "Best Drama Promos" category of the 2007 Sharks International Advertising Awards Festival of Ireland (Sharks Awards).[3] The promotion features both John Finn and Kathryn Morris in character interrogating a murder suspect from TG4 soap Ros na Rún played by Peadar Cox who refuses to speak in English, both detectives then begin talking in Irish much to the surprise of Jeremy Ratchford's character, the promo tied in with a murder investigation in Ros na Rún.[4] TG4 also ran a similar promo for Nip/Tuck, where Seamus is seen cycling through the country side supporting a brand new pair of breasts.
'Ros na Rún' retains many of the characters from the show's inception. The inhabitants of the village are usually best known by their first names.
All conversations and scenes in the soap take place in the Irish language. Most of the actors/actresses in the show are native Irish speakers. The dialect used in the show is mostly Connacht Irish, although there are characters from Donegal played by Gavin Ó Fearraigh and Niall Mac Eamharcaigh. Munster Irish is spoken by An tAthair David (Father David). Many of the directors and the production crew are not Irish speakers and do not understand the language. The series producer since 2009 is Hugh Farley, who is not an Irish speaker. [5]
The show has come under fire for encouraging the Anglicisation of the Irish language examples include the regular usage of "Hello" or "haigh" in place of "Dia Duit", the use of English phrases such as "For God's sake" and even "Sorry" instead of the Irish "In Ainm Dé!" or "Tá brón orm"; on the other hand, the show has re-introduced the Irish language in modern and popular form to areas of the country where it is not widely spoken and it can help non-native speakers in learning the language.
Ros na Rún is TG4's flagship Irish Language drama. However, lesser Irish language programmes on the station such as Glór Tíre, an Jig Rig and Cogar contstantly outperform Ros na Rún. [6] The AGB Nielson tam rating for TG4's top 10 programmes from September to November 2011 show that the drama regularly fails to make the top ten programmes on the station:
It is difficult to assess the critical response to Ros na Rún as the drama is rarely reviewed in the national media in Ireland, and it proves difficult to find reviews of the drama. In a short piece on British actors, Stephen Fry's cameo appearance in Ros na Rún, The Evening Hearld, a leading Irish national paper, give a glimpse of the press's antipathy towards the drama. Commenting on Fry's appearance, the article states. "His part was a brief one, but garnered more column inches for the soap than any other episode. So we had that most British of actors, and his shabby control of the Irish language, giving our main Irish language programme a badly needed shot in the arm. Averaging about 50,000 viewers, Ros Na Run's minuscule appeal is a sign of the irrelevance of the Irish language in most people's lives". [8]