Larry Masterson: A seasoned pro who was intensely curious about what made people tick

My first assignment as a producer in RTÉ was to work on a brandnew entertainment series that was due to be broadcast on Friday nights after the main evening news. It was called The Live Mike. It starred Mike Murphy, and, as its title suggests, it was broadcast live.

Some of the production team were like me: completely new to television and struggling to make sense of our new careers. But there were also some who had worked on other programmes in the station.

One of these was a researcher called Larry Masterson. He had only been in RTÉ for a few years, but, to me, he already seemed like a seasoned veteran.

Previously, Larry had helped to establish the Simon Community and had worked in the social services in Drogheda. On joining RTÉ, he had worked briefly on current affairs programmes. His assignment to The Live Mike took Larry well outside his comfort zone, but it soon became apparent that he had an intuitive and profound grasp of popular entertainment programming.

The experience of working on the new show was a heady cocktail of fear and excitement for all of us. We wanted to create something different and we ate, drank and dreamed the series. In that turbulent atmosphere, Larry became a key and trusted member of our team. He had an understanding of what our viewers wanted to see, and he had a real appetite and enthusiasm for the world of showbusiness razzamatazz.

But Larry’s liking for the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd did not mean that there was no critical intelligence or astute judgment behind the irrepressible sense of fun and joie de vivre that he brought to our work. It also meant he continued to be intrigued and absorbed by many other aspects of Irish life.

I remember on one occasion he showed me a proposal that he had made for a documentary film about the abduction and murder of a young boy by a former member of a religious order. When I read this document, I was astounded by the detail in his research and the shrewdness of his assessment of all the factors that made up what was a complex and compelling narrative.

This tragic story was described by Larry with great skill and sensitivity. But his proposal was rejected by RTÉ. Perhaps, at that time, the station was simply not ready to face some of the disturbing home truths that Larry had identified and described in his proposal. However, the passage of time has only confirmed for me the validity of the understanding – and the compassion – Larry displayed.

He had a gregarious nature, and was intensely curious about what made other people tick. He was affectionate, loyal and utterly lacking in any trace of affected elitism or petty snobbery.

A few years after we had worked together on The Live Mike, Larry became a producer – a role for which he was eminently suited. In that capacity, he was able to recognise the strengths of the individuals in his various teams – and he knew how to encourage each of them to reach beyond what they may have imagined were their limitations.

As a producer, Larry worked in both RTÉ and in the private sector. In the course of his long career, he produced a huge variety of programmes – ranging from travel series to those about the plays of Samuel Beckett – and Larry’s work appeared on many different channels both in Ireland and further afield.

In his final years with RTÉ, he produced several seasons of The Late Late Show. He brought to that flagship series not only his sense of decency and his acute professional judgement, but also his readiness to take creative risks.

Above all, Larry was deeply committed and devoted to his family: his wife Hazel, his children Kerri and Tara, his grandchildren and his other relatives.

I am proud to have known Larry both as a colleague and, more importantly, as a friend.

‘He was affectionate, loyal and utterly lacking in any trace of affected elitism or petty snobbery’