Soaps Julie Lordan has all the news from soapland, including Fair City’s brand new set
As Fair City starts 2019, viewers will notice that Carrigstown looks a little shinier, both inside and out, as the cast and crew move into their brand new set
Fair City’s streets have got an update as RTÉ unveils a new set when the soap starts its 2019 season in January. e interiors have been in use since late December. e revamp of Ireland’s most popular soap follows many months of planning and building a er the land the Fair City outdoor lot stood on was sold by RTÉ. With the show broadcasting four episodes a week, the new exterior set allows for more location and shooting variety.
Long-time favourite locations for dramatic scenes, such as McCoys, have had a face li . Other spots to bene t from a refurbishment are the Library apartments, the Community Centre and the Hungry Pig diner. Veteran viewers will also spot two new locations – Ballantine Road and Hessian Lane.
e grand reopening of Molloy’s Motors, run by Fair City stalwarts the Molloy family, will herald a new Carrigstown chapter, located on Ballantine Road.
As Wayne and Orla Molloy are due to have one of the soap’s biggest storylines in the coming months, the new business centre will soon become familiar to viewers. Hessian Lane is the location of e Station Bar, and the new Hessian Arcade features a number of market stalls.
ere’s also a new area of Carrigstown Park, with plenty of scope for outdoor scenes away from the main street. With benches, ower beds, a play area and a café called Peggy’s Tea Room, the park is now an ideal location for plenty of dramatic incidents.
Less scenic, but part of the upgrade, look out for a bike shelter, artistically painted electricity boxes, and a ‘Welcome To Carrigstown’ sign. As many as possible of the xtures and ttings from the old set have been recycled for use in this new Carrigstown, including the re alarms, house numbers, the telephone box and post box, the bins and even some of the railings from outside the houses.
Just in case the shiny new set looks a bit too clean on camera, specialty scenic painters have been at work, to ‘dirty down’ the fake northside Dublin suburb.
Speaking to us at the unveiling of the new set, Fair City’s executive producer, Brigie deCourcy said: “ e new sets represent an exciting chapter in Fair City’s history, and comes as we are in the ow of our 30th season. e set is full of dramatic potential and it still manages to have the feeling of always having been there, just with a little something extra.” Fair City’s head of design, Marianne Dunlevy, explains how the set was brought to life: “To plan the new Carrigstown streets, we visited various other famous soap sets, such as Coronation Street and Hollyoaks to ensure what we created took the best from these but still re ects Carrigstown and the community.” Marianne continued: “Many hours were spent surveying, photographing and researching streets around Dublin. It was essential that we recognised the changing style and architecture trends, for example the painted electricity boxes, taking the lead from the ‘Dublin Canvas’ community project.
“ e rst drawings were hand-dra ed, and the process began by sketching all of the buildings, as the new area that Fair City was moving to had a di erent shape and size. is was also an opportunity to improve the exterior sets and make them more realistic
and weather proof. It took six months of meticulous planning to complete the drawings. “The materials we chose appear as similar as possible to the old set, so the changes are not too dramatic. The materials we used are usually for building construction rather than set design, and this helps it to look authentic, believable and most importantly, be weather proof for the exterior parts. Our scenic painters completed the look, by adding an ageing affect to all the buildings to make them look lived in.”
This project needed the skills of more than 30 people from production, design and planning to bring it to life.
A fresher look Fair City, together with the dramatic storylines, mean that viewers are in for another year of excitement, shocks, twists, turns and entertainment from the residents of Carrigstown. See right for what’s coming in the early January episodes.
Many hours were spent surveying, photographing and researching streets around Dublin. It was essential that we recognised the changing style and architecture trends