Hector hangs with the locals in Far Eastern foray for TG4
TRIBETON is a bustling new superpub in Galway’s hip city centre and it seems the perfect place to launch TG4’s autumn season.
I had driven straight from dropping my son off at his new national school, which brought up all those buried feelings of fear and abandonment I now remember from my first week, way back when.
That trip down amnesia lane was compounded by walking into a launch where the entire room, dressed up to the nines, was speaking Irish.
It was like the final céilí at Irish college where I realised I had learned virtually no Irish but had managed to kiss maybe two girls, which was good for my confidence but useless for my impending Leaving Cert.
But as I listened to the speeches and promotional clips, the strangest thing happened. It all started coming back.
And here is the real genius of TG4: through Pro14 Rugby and GAA, I have been secretly brushing up on my cúpla focal unbeknown to myself.
Totally underfunded and at times sneered at by sectors of society intent on burying the Irish language for good, TG4 punches above its weight. And it is not just sport, either (although they own the rights to almost the same amount of live sport as RTÉ)— its documentaries are known around the globe for their quality.
This autumn launch will feature a documentary series billed as Ireland’s answer to Making A Murderer that will unpack some of the most gripping mysteries to have permeated Irish culture.
TABÚ, hosted by Eoghan McDermott, will also deal with controversies relating to injustice and the burning questions facing Irish society today.
This autumn will also, after 10 years, see the return of GAA programme Underdogs. Renowned footballers Paul Galvin, Valerie Mulcahy and Ray Silke are this year’s selectors who put a group of skilled hopefuls under pressure and create plenty of healthy competition for places on their team.
But the main star of the launch was none other than local hero Hector Ó hEochagáin, who has just returned from the Far East to launch his most daring travel documentary series to date. And looking around the packed room he told me that he has never been as proud to be part of the TG4 talent roster.
‘My second boy has just started secondary school and I am trying to teach a left-hander how to teach a tie. How do you do that?’ he says.
‘My boys are now in secondary school and it was difficult to leave them for seven weeks at a time, but they are very proud of it as well and that’s important to me. From the day I got my first job with TG4, when I was living in this tiny flat in Galway with my girlfriend who is now my wife, and I jumped around the flat, I am very proud of every show I have done with them since.
‘I started in TG4 almost 20 years ago and I am really proud of that. Kids come up to me and tell me that my show helped them through their Leaving Cert and that is just out of this world. Every two years we try and come up with a fresh journey.
‘Two years ago we did Central America, again we pushed the boundaries out in Honduras and places that a lot of people won’t go because they are dangerous. I am not trying to be Ross Kemp but I want to be innovative, adventurous and bring people with us.
‘TG4 is a unique channel in the DNA of us all and I am glad to still be making shows for them.’
The series, Hector Central, is his most ambitious project to date and the network has extended each episode from 30 minutes to an hour.
Hector travelled from Siberia to Saigon, stopping in countries along the way to experience new cultures and meet people who have an entirely different way of life.
‘It was 16 weeks and it was the longest show we have ever done,’ he reveals. ‘And for the first time in 18 years we are making an hourlong show each time.
‘On paper we thought it would be grand, we would be in Siberia in February and it would be grand. We went to Dublin, Frankfurt, then on to Moscow and then seven hours later we landed in Siberia across seven time zones.
‘By the time we got the bags from the airport to the jeep at 6am I had never felt cold like it in my life. It was -35C and if we hit -15C it was like summer.
AT the same time in Ireland the Beast from the East was in full flow and you had people fighting over sliced pans. I was looking on in this extreme cold shaking my head. . These are the last great places in the world to explore that people haven’t seen.’
In Kathmandu, Hector meets an expat who fell in love with a Nepalese man with whom she now has a child.
But it is his trip to Bangladesh that really opens his mind to Muslim culture and gives him a different outlook on that global terrorist stereotype.
‘What do you think of when you think of Bangladesh? Clothes. They are the textile makers of the world and make Calvin Klein. Every major brand is made there. It is 97% Muslim and we are the only three tourists on the streets.
‘Everything we think we know about Muslims and the world we live in, and our strange attitude towards Muslims with Bin Laden and terrorism, is immediately challenged.
‘I had never been to an allMuslim country before. They were warm, welcoming people. They were really proud and welcoming and that sounds like what Irish people are famous for as well.’
Hector stands alongside glamorous weather girls, Connaught rugby players, Paul Galvin and a host of Ros na Rún actors.
There is a sense of community and spirit here that you simply won’t find at Virgin headquarters or RTÉ.
They are all in it together and are invested in success, which is why, inevitably, in my eyes, they will go from strength to strength.