RT Drama Rebellion off to a Storming Start

RT Drama Rebellion off to a Storming Start

5 January 2015: RT One is the channel of choice for Irish viewers over Christmas and New Year

RT 's brand-new 1916 television drama Rebellion got off to a storming start last night as an average of 619,000* viewers and a 41% share* of the available audience watched the hour-long episode. An additional 45,000 watched the first episode of Rebellion on RT One 1 and 9,200 on RT Player where it remains available to viewers to catch-up on demand.

Starring Charlie Murphy, Ruth Bradley, Sarah Greene and Brian Gleeson, the five-part series Rebellion covers the events of Easter 1916 as seen through the eyes of a group of friends from Dublin, Belfast and London as they play vital and conflicting roles in the narrative of Ireland's independence.

Last night also saw strong ratings for other new series returning to RT One with the hugely popular The Voice of Ireland attracting an average audience of 486,900 (share 33%), while an additional 28,500 watched this first episode on RT One 1. Francis Brennan's brand new series of At Your Service attracted an average audience of 455,500 while Fair City's gripping storyline featuring Heather (Una Kavanagh) continues to attract large audiences with 478,000 people watching last night's show.

Meanwhile RT News' coverage continues to be a big draw with RT One's Nine-O'Clock and Six-One news bulletins attracting 629,000 and 611,00 viewers respectively last night on RT One .

Despite the availability of over 800 channels in Ireland, RT One was also the channel of choice for Irish viewers over the Christmas and New Year period scoring 9 of the top 10 most watched programmes.

Mrs Brown's Boys, on New Year's Eve proved to be the top rating programme on Irish television across the Christmas and New Year holiday period with an audience of 765,000 ** watching the programme to date.

Speaking about the figures Glen Killane, Managing Director, RT Television, said: Delivering distinctive Irish drama is a key part of RT 's remit as a public service broadcaster and it's great to see that so many people enjoyed the opening episode of Rebellion'. The five-part drama is a major part of the RT 1916 output and marks the beginning of a series of programming across television, radio and online that audiences can engage with, understand, commemorate and celebrate 1916. Apart from RT 1916 programming, 2016 is set to be a big year for Irish viewers with other major events such as the General Election, the Olympic Games and Euro 2016 seeing RT , and RT One in particular, play a central role in Irish life .

Other 1916 television programmes to look forward to in the coming months include 1916, a landmark three-part documentary series, narrated by Liam Neeson, Joe Duffy'sChildren of the Revolution, Michael Portillo's The Enemy Files, and Bob Geldof on Yeats. A full list of programming and events is available on www.rte.ie/1916

-ENDS-

Date: Monday 4th January 2016

For more information please contact: Tara O'Brien, Communications Manager, RT Television, T: 01 208 2267, M: 0863544481

*Source:TAM Ireland Ltd / Nielsen TAM / All figures based on Live VOSDAL, average viewership for Individuals 4 / National. VOSDAL viewing includes time-shift viewing viewed on the same day as the original broadcast.

** Source:TAM Ireland Ltd / Nielsen TAM / Consolidated figure. Consolidated figures incorporates VCR, DVDR and PVR playback viewing that took place within 7 days of the original broadcast. This time-shifted viewing is added to the live data to produce consolidated viewing data.

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2016/0105/75782...
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