RTE’s very own Loose Women

Montrose hoping to cash in on success of Today show

RTÉ is looking to develop its own Loose Women-style show in a bid to cash in on the daytime success of Today with Daithí Ó Sé and Maura Derrane.

The Irish Mail on Sunday has learned that discussions around a new series are planned for a show to be filmed and broadcast from Cork.

Executives are delighted that the Today audience has risen 13% in the past year. The show attracts an average of 106,000 viewers per episode, a figure that is steadily rising.

The increasing viewership comes after Cassandra O’Donnell joined the show as producer last autumn. She comes with a stellar background in magazine programmes, having worked on ITV shows Lorraine, Loose Women and This Morning.

She also worked on the Graham Norton Show and various Channel 4 comedy series with talent such as Sean Lock, Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, and Jack Dee.

The latest plan is for RTÉ to have a new Loose Women-style show that will go out before Today. It will undoubtedly ruffle feathers in TV3 where the Elaine Crowley hosted Midday all-female panel show rules the airwaves at noon.

RTÉ’s new series is not designed to go toe-to-toe with Midday but it will be trying to get some of TV3’s audience to switch over and then stay watching for Today.

A panel of well-known female faces is being organised and will work from the Cork studio, which will tick a number of boxes in Montrose. A senior source said: ‘Nothing is set in stone but it is definitely an option. The Today show is doing the numbers and now we would like to expand on that.

‘A Loose Women-style show before it goes on air would help build an audience and build an afternoon brand for RTÉ.

‘The fact that this is happen- ing in the studio in Cork is an added bonus for the production team. It is not going up against Midday but the audiences will be similar and comparisons will be made. But because it is being filmed in Cork it will attract very different panellists.’

An RTÉ spokeswoman insisted the broadcaster does not speak about developing shows. However, another source said: ‘It would not be inaccurate to say that the production team in Cork is working on new ideas and formulas for a new show. That would make a lot of sense.’

The new programme will ruffle TV3 feathers