TV3 Autumn Season Launch

Dierdre O’Kane kicks us off with some light comedy at the event before speaking to some of TV3’s stars, new and old. First up is Denise McCormack of Red Rock. Denise confirms that the show is switching to an hour-long slot on Monday evenings this season. The success of the show, both here and abroad, has led to an increased push for new drama and TV3 is offering six original shows this autumn. Alongside Denise is Pat Shortt who will star in “Smalltown”, a hard-hitting depiction of the effects of emigration in Ireland.

One of Ireland’s most authoritative current affairs voices and the host of Newstalk, Pat Kenny, will hit our screens with a new show alongside Collette Fitzpatrick. The show, which has yet to be given a title, aims to get to the heart of the present-day issues in Ireland whilst featuring live interviews with the big newsmakers of the day.

David McWilliams will make a return to TV3 on Sunday afternoons with business show “Agenda”. The show, David says, “will deal not so much with the why, but the how, in terms of news” and will seek to make economics understandable and provide analysis of the main issues of the day.

The Tonight Show returns this autumn with the inimitable Vincent Browne out to extract the important answers from his guests.

Investigative crime documentaries take up slots in the autumn schedule as leading journalist Paul Williams presents “Paul Williams: The War on Crime”, a show which looks into the death of Veronica Guerin twenty years on, and Donal McIntyre brings together a team of specialists to investigate unsolved murders in “Donal McIntyre: Unsolved”.

Finally, Louis Walsh confirms that the X Factor is very much alive as he speaks about his return to the long-running reality show. You can read our full interview with Louis here. TV3 have also confirmed that popular UK shows Gogglebox and Celebrity Masterchef are getting an Irish makeover and will start broadcasting this autumn.