Nostalgia reels a record audience
MORE than 40,000 additional viewers downloaded last Sunday’s episode of Reeling In The Years on the RTÉ Player, making it the most-watched programme in the hugely popular long-running series.
The broadcaster this week confirmed that 513,000 tuned into the first programme in the latest series, making it a lockdown mustsee to rival the hit drama series Normal People, which aired this time last year.
A further 43,200 viewers downloaded the episode – which chronicled the turbulent year of 2010 – from the RTÉ Player, bringing the total audience to 558,200. It was the first time fans of the show could view it using the on demand video service. Reeling In The Years was also the mostwatched show on RTÉ last week, the broadcaster confirmed. Tommy Tiernan’s penultimate show came second, pulling in 504,000 viewers and ahead of the Late Late Show, which attracted an audience of 461,000. The 2010 episode covered the big freeze in Ireland, the Icelandic ash cloud that brought travel chaos across Europe and, of course, the EU-IMF bailout, with a soundtrack including Rihanna, Rubberbandits and Adele.
Tonight’s episode takes us back to 2011, the year Queen Elizabeth came to Ireland on a four-day State visit, the first such visit by a reigning British monarch to the Republic.
Ireland also played host to former US president Barack Obama, who visited his ancestral home of Moneygall in Co. Offaly and addressed a crowd of tens of thousands at Dublin’s College Green.
2011 was also a year of big changes on
the political front: Enda Kenny became Taoiseach as Fine Gael and Labour formed a new coalition and Fianna Fáil and the Greens suffered huge electoral losses. Michael D Higgins was inaugurated as president in November following his election victory.
The soundtrack from 2011 includes music from CeeLo Green, Imelda May, Rihanna and Calvin Harris, Florence and The Machine and Ed Sheeran.
The rest of the series will look at subjects and personalities ranging from Katie Taylor , Mrs Brown’s Boys , the marriage referendum, ‘Fake News’ and fidget spinner toys. Reeling In The Years first aired in 1999 and has captivated viewers ever since.
Lockdown must-see rivalled last year’s Normal People