Ros na Rún

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.

Show history

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.

Season 1

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.

Show facts

• It is the only soap in the world which is produced in the Irish language (English subtitles)
• The show is set in Spiddal, western County Galway, near the city of Galway.
• It has dealt with many different storylines, including domestic violence, infidelity, theft, arson, abortion, homosexuality, adoption, murder, rape and drugs.
• The show runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 20:30 on TG4, with an Ollchlár (or omnibus edition) at 22:30 on Sunday nights.
• It celebrated its 1000th episode on December 31, 2009.

Satire

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). 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. 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.

Characters and settings

'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.

• Tadhg Ó Direáin, divorced from first wife Angela and remarried, is the owner of the public house "Tigh Thaidhg" (meaning "the house of Tadhg"), where the locals flock for 'ceol agus craic' (and some sarcastic comments from Tadhg!). Since Angela and Tadhg have divorced, he is now married to his wife Frances. They live in Tigh Thaidhg with their first daughter Áine Máire.
• Mícheál Seoige, recently released from prison for the assisted suicide of his second wife, Póilín, is a fisherman and owner of the local farm shop. His first wife, Berni, still lives in the village however, and runs the cafe "Cúl Chaint" (literal translation: "to talk behind" although it is taken more to mean "gossip"). Berni was in a relationship with Catholic Priest David. They revealed their affair to the public, and in the season finale, David proposed to Berni. They have since split. David left the priesthood and obtained a doctorate in Philosophy. Berni's niece Leonora (Lee) has broken away from her aunt and left college in the process. She now lives in Tigh Thaidhg with Tadhg and Frances, much to Berni's chagrin.
• The Garda Sergeant Úna has been revealed to be the birth mother of local teenager Mo Gilmartin. The problem is that Mo's father is Úna's brother-in-law, Fergal. Úna has professed her rekindled love for Fergal, but has been rejected by him and also her boyfriend John-Joe in the process. Úna has since left Ros na Rún despite John Joe wanting her to give them another chance.
• Jim O'Dowd was drug lord from Dublin who was carrying out his business from the local takeaway, Rico's ( now Gaudi's). Tadhg and barman Conall were aware of O'Dowd's shenanigans, and stood idly by while O'Dowd blackmailed Daniel McLoughlin for O'Dowd's murder of the sumptious Anne Marie. In the 2006/2007 season finale, Daniel left Ros na Rún for good, leaving O'Dowd able to pin the crime on him when the police discover the body. O'Dowd was caught by the police but managed to escape and was seen in the Czech Republic. Having been cleared of the murder of Anne Marie, Daniel has since returned to the show in 2009. It also saw the return of Ríona who was in hiding in Provence with their daughter Sophie to escape her estranged husband. In the 2009 Christmas episode, having learned of Ríona's return, O'Dowd conspired with his first wife Tina (who was a trusted friend of Roise) to kidnap his daughter Sophie and live in London with her. After Sophie is kidnapped from the De Búrca family home, using Tina's house key, Ríona agrees to meet Jim at an unfinished housing development that night. She does not disclose the location to her family and is threatened not to involve police. A heated encounter sees Jim hit Ríona and leave her for dead and proceeding to take Sophie and elope the scene with Tina. Roise learns of where Riona is and when O'Dowd is about to leave, Roise hits O'Dowd with metal rod and he is knocked to the ground. While Ríona and Róise make their getaway and head to the police, Jim, seriously injured threatens to kill both of them before getting his throat cut by Tina. After, their brother, Donnacha proceeds to the scene and thinks the girls have killed him. The De Búrca family are still prime suspects of the murder, but Tina's mask is beginning to slip and Daniel will go to the poice unless she sleeps with him.
• Máire and Peadar Ó Conghaile run the local newsagents and shop. They also run a B+B which features heavily in the programme. Peadar's nephew Caomhán and his brother Éamonn (played by Mick Lally) have recently came to the village, but Peadar does not believe that they are related to him at all and is insulted by their presence. He proceeds to sack Caomhán from working in the shop and Máire's mother Sarah gets involved, threatening that the law may be brought into it. Since then, Sarah has gone to Florida and Caomhán discovered his talent as a chef, working in Gaudi, a Spanish themed restaurant, (formerly Rico's) he is angered by Daniel's lack of standard and proceeds to work for Berni in Cúl Chaint. He is in a relationship with Mo, who continues to work in Gaudi. Meanwhile Máire and Peadar are looking for a new shop manager, due to Peadar being diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.
• Berni ní neachtain owns and runs the local caife. She is strict but also genourous and loves her son Evan deeply. Evan on the other hand has no time for his mother and devotes all his time to fighting with her. As he gets older he begins to develop a relationship with the dectives daughter, Niamh o shea, much to Berni dismay.

The Irish language

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.

The show has come under fire for encouraging the Anglicisation of the Irish language^{[citation needed]} 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.

Viewing figures and critics

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. 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:

• 12 September to 18 September. Omnibus edition 131,000.
• 19 September to 25 September. Omnibus edition 151,000
• 26 Sepember to 2 October: Failed to make top ten programmes on TG4 (138,000 the figure for the programme ranked tenth)
• 3 October to 9 October: Failed to make top ten programmes on TG4 (141,000 the figure for the programme ranked tenth)
• 10 October to 16 October: Failed to make top ten programmes on TG4 (131,000 the figure for the programme ranked tenth)
• 17 October - 23 October: Failed to make top ten programmes on TG4 (144,000 the figure for the programme ranked tenth)
• 24 October - 30 October: Failed to make top ten programmes on TG4 (137,000 the figure for the programme ranked tenth)
• 31 October - 6 November: Omnibus edition: 140,000.
• 7 November - 13 November: Failed to make top ten programmes on TG4 (150,000 the figure for the programme ranked tenth)

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 150,000 viewers, Ros Na Run's minuscule appeal is a sign of the irrelevance of the Irish language in most people's lives".

See also

• Pobol y Cwm
• Machair
• Linda Bhreathnach
• Sorcha Ní Chéide
• Áine Ní Dhroighneáin
• MacDara Ó Faharta
• Lisa Ní Laoire

External links

• TG4
• Current episodes of Ros na Rún available for streaming
• Ros na Rún
• Ros na Rún - production designer's site
• Ros na Rún at the Internet Movie Database