Ros na Rún

Ros na Rún
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language	Irish
Production
Producer	Tyrone Productions
Running time	25 minutes
Original release
Network	TG4
Release	October 3, 1995 – Present

Ros na Rún is an Irish soap opera produced for Irish language TV channel TG4.

Show history

Orla is great and Katie is outstandingly beautifull. Previously shown on RTÉ One, Ros na Rún began its fourteenth season in September 2009. 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.

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 and rape 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.
• Its celebrate it 1000th episode on December 31, 2009.

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, split from his wife Angela, 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!). Angela recently sent divorce forms to Tadhg and Frances does not yet know about it.
• Mícheál Seoige, recently released from prison for the assisted suicide of his second wife, Poilin, 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 is currently indulging in an illicit affair with the former Catholic priest father David! They have recently revealed their affair to the public, and in the season finale this year, David proposed to Berni. David left the priesthood and is now undertaking 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 anger.
• The Garda Sergeant Una has been revealed to be the birth mother of local teenager Mo Gilmartin. The problem is that Mo's father is Una's brother-in-law, Fergal. Una has professed her rekindled love for Fergal, but has been rejected by him and also her boyfriend John-Joe in the process. John-Jo and Una have rekindled their relationship as of 2009.
• Jim O'Dowd is a drug lord from Dublin who was carrying out his business from the local takeaway, Rico's. Tadhg and barman Conall are aware of O'Dowd's shenanigans, and have stood idly by while O'Dowd has blackmailed Daniel McLoughlin for O'Dowd's murder of the sumptious Anne Marie. In the 2006/2007 season finale, Daniel left Ros na Run 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. Much worry is evident around the village that he may return.
• 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.

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).

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 Dhuit", 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 performs consistently well in the viewing figures, often among the top ten programmes of TG4 in the week where there is no sporting activity. Almost always the soap is among the top ten Irish language programming for the station. The typical viewing figures for a weekday episode are around 50,000; the omnibus usually pulls around 60,000 or 6.5% of the Sunday night audience share.

Critically the show performs very well, much better than the only other Irish soap on air, the English language Fair City on RTÉ One, although the latter has 10 times the viewership. The acting on Ros na Rún is widely considered to be much better despite having a much smaller pool of actors to choose from, while the storylines are often teased out and left to simmer in a style very different from that of Fair City, which tends to take up and drop storylines quickly.

See also

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

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 IMDb