It’s hosted weddings, afternoon teas and gigs by superstars from Thin Lizzy to Harry Styles, but now Slane Castle is preparing to welcome a new category of visitor: faithful fans of the reality series The Traitors.
RTÉ‘s upcoming version of the television hit has been filming at the Co Meath castle over the past fortnight, and its heir Alex Conyngham, the Earl of Mount Charles, expects that the show – likely to be exported overseas – will bring in a fresh influx of tourists.
“I think it’s going to help put Slane on the map, put Ireland on the map,” Conyngham said.
“It’s going to present us in a new light. It’s a castle full of stories, and I think this is going to add another exciting chapter to those stories. There’s a huge global, not just international, buzz around this show, and it’s going to be very exciting for our collective future.”
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The 1,500-acre Slane estate, set against the backdrop of the river Boyne, provides “stunning” scenery for The Traitors Ireland, according to RTÉ, while the late 18th century castle itself is a suitably “imposing” venue for this “psychological reality competition” in which 22 contestants – dubbed either “traitors” or “faithful” – plot to “banish” or “murder” each other in a bid to win or share a cash prize pot.
Kite Entertainment, the makers of the series, selected Slane from a shortlist of Irish castles, with the production company’s managing director Darren Smith calling it the “perfect home” for the show.
After two weeks of “high drama”, both the cast and the production team have now headed home for a “murder-free” sleep before editing begins on the 12-episode series in advance of its expected broadcast this autumn.
Although RTÉ sought to keep the location under wraps while filming was taking place, the show’s presenter, Siobhán McSweeney, was snapped in Slane village days into the shoot, proving that keeping secrets is – like show itself regularly suggests – harder than it might seem at first.
Both the UK and US iterations of The Traitors – based on Dutch television format De Verraders – are filmed at the 19th century Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, with the success of this “game of deception, betrayal and trust” credited with triggering a spike in tourist interest in the region. The local economy in Slane and the surrounding area will now be hoping for a repeat.
Conyngham and his family continued to live on an upper floor of the Gothic Revival-style castle during filming. Living in the middle of a television set was “an unusual one”, but “will certainly make for a few stories for the kids in the future”, he said, recalling his own childhood memories of the shooting of the film The Great Train Robbery (1978) at Slane.
“This is a little different, maybe a little more intense, but I have to say Darren and all the crew have been great to work with and they have been very respectful of us, and we’re trying to do vice versa.”
Conyngham said he “had to look at it” before committing, because of concerns about the potential impact of the production on the heritage asset, but the producers gave him the assurances he needed to say yes.
His father, Henry Mount Charles, who first brought music concerts to Slane in 1981, was “amused” by the filming, he added.
“Following Dad’s legacy, we have always continued to evolve, and you have to in an estate like this,” he said.
“Everything that we do here is about protecting this place for the future.”
