RTÉ announces further slate of history documentaries and series in Decade of Anniversaries coverage
A new two-part documentary series authored by Michael Portillo will air tomorrow night on RTÉ One as part of RTÉ’s continued coverage of the Decade of Anniversaries, which commenced in advance of the 1916 centenary.
Hawks and Doves: The Crown and Ireland’s War of Independence follows up Portillo’s 2016 series The Enemy Files, and examines this period in Irish history from a British perspective. Produced in association with the BAI, BBC Northern Ireland, and Oireachtas TV, the series uses official British state papers as a primary research source.
Hawks and Doves leads a wide slate of commemoration content across all RTÉ platforms.
It follows on from RTÉ Cork’s acclaimed The Irish Revolution, a three-part series produced in association with University College Cork, and which is still available on RTÉ Player. Other forthcoming history projects between now and the end of 2020 include:
- Landmark television documentaries about violence against women during the War of Independence and Civil war; Bloody Sunday;
- The burning of Cork city in 1920;
- Terence McSwiney’s hunger strike;
- The Kilmichael ambush;
- The execution of Kevin Barry.
In addition, national commemoration events in Collins’ Barracks, Dublin in July and in Cork next November will also be carried on RTÉ One, while a new series of The History Show returns to RTÉ Radio next Autumn and history analysis and discussion will feature prominently across all radio platforms during this period.
All of RTÉ’s history output is curated via the recently launched on-line portal, www.rte.ie/history.
Watch promo for history content here: https://youtu.be/cnhKCiXo-OY
Jim Jennings, Director of Content RTÉ, said: ‘RTÉ is committed to delivering a full season of content to commemorate this key part of our history. We are working with a number of partners to deliver a comprehensive slate and in order to present history from a variety of different perspectives.’