Helen O'Rahilly
Helen O'Rahilly (born in Dublin) is a London-based Irish television producer and executive who has worked for RTÉ, the BBC and in commercial broadcasting. She has also worked on a range of factual programming, both as an independent producer, and at the BBC, and was RTÉ's first female Director of Television. She later became Director of Digital Television for the BBC, the Corporation's first Channels Executive for BBCi and a deputy Controller of BBC One.
Career
She was appointed Editor of BBC One's Watchdog and its accompanying programme Weekend Watchdog in November 1997 and held the position until May 1999.[1] She took over at Watchdog as ten of the UK's largest companies established a pressure group to discuss how to deal with complaints about the series.[2] From 1999 to 2000 she was Director of Television Production at RTÉ,[3] becoming the first woman to hold that position,[4] but she later moved back to the BBC to take up the role of Creative Director for Digital Channels in the BBC’s General Factual department. There she was responsible for bringing several series to television, including Rock Shrines and Clive Anderson’s Conspiracies. In November 2001 she was appointed as the first Channels Executive for BBCi, a job which required her to liaise with the directors of the various BBC channels in order to facilitate links between Television commissioning and the BBC’s Interactive Television team.[1]
She later became deputy controller on BBC One. In 2010 she returned to Dublin to address the first "Women on Air" conference at the city's National Library, offering an insight into the television industry from a female perspective.[4]
In May 2011 she launched a scathing attack on RTÉ's flagship programme, The Late Late Show amid criticism that standards on the programme had slipped since Ryan Tubridy took over as presenter in 2009. In an online blog, O'Rahilly wrote, "If I was back in charge of RTÉ, you wouldn’t see this utter shite on Friday night".[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Helen O'Rahilly Appointed to BBCi | The Irish Film & Television Network". Iftn.ie. 19 November 2001. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ↑ Armstrong, Stephen (6 November 1998). "Media Profile: The consumer’s champion - Helen O’Rahilly, Editor, Watchdog". Brand Republic News (Brandrepublic.com). Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ↑ Cunningham, Grainne (6 March 2000). "Top names go in sweeping changes at RTÉ - National News". Independent.ie. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "I’m Still Here « The Anti Room". Theantiroom.com. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ↑ "Ex-RTÉ chief condemns Late Late as 'utter sh*te'". JOE.ie. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2012.