The recent spell of good weather is a sure sign that exams are on the way, and with this in mind TV3 is today beginning a four-part series for students in the run-up to the Leaving Certificate. Enlisting the help of teachers, career guidance counsellors, health experts and psychologists, Exam Countdown focuses on how students can best prepare for their exams.
About 30 students from throughout the country gathered at Dublin's HQ to put questions to a panel of educational experts including UCD psychologist Dr Aidan Moran and career guidance counsellor Grainne Dunleavy. Today FM's Ray D'Arcy chaired the questions-and-answers session and edited highlights will form about half of each programme. The remainder will be studio-based, with D'Arcy presenting a course clinic on two subjects a week. Exam Countdown will be shown at 10.30 a.m. on Saturdays from today until June 2nd.
HE may not have as high a profile as some of his Irish counterparts at Old Trafford, but Denis Irwin has always had a special place in the hearts of Republic of Ireland soccer fans. Filming for a documentary on the Cork man's remarkable football career has just been completed and the profile is due to air on RTE in early September. It comes at a crucial time for Irwin. After 10 years with Manchester United, it remains to be seen whether he will stay with the club for another season or move elsewhere.
The programme-makers, RTE producer Colm O'Callaghan and Sunday Tribune sports writer Dave Hannigan, interviewed more than 30 people for the documentary. Beginning in Cork, they spoke to Irwin's mother and some of his former teachers before moving on to Old Trafford to talk to, among others, Manchester United's manager Alex Ferguson and team captain Roy Keane. This is the third documentary made by O'Callaghan and Hannigan on Irish soccer players; the previous two subjects were Roy Keane and Paul McGrath.
IN the unlikely event that you missed the Big Brother phenomenon last summer, a second series of the reality-TV hit is to be broadcast on Channel 4 at the end of this month. The house has been revamped for the new series to include a private room for intimate moments and an indoor jacuzzi. A host of extra technological elements have been added in an attempt to make the programme interactive. Viewers with interactive televisions will be able to select which camera they want to watch, and use their remote controls to vote contestants off the show. Constant updates on the latest house gossip will be offered to subscribers via text message or live audio feeds.
Like last year, a highlights programme will be screened nightly on Channel 4, but events from the house will also be broadcast live for 21 hours a day on the channel's new digital pay-TV station, €4. A 350-strong crew will monitor the house for 64 days using 37 cameras and 40 microphones. More than 50,000 people applied to compete in the series.
ITV bosses are said to be still reeling from the news that This Morning presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan are to move to Channel 4 in the autumn to present a new chat show. The husband-and-wife team has been presenting ITV's ratings-winning show for 13 years. Their unexpected defection to Channel 4 has left Granada, which makes This Morning, struggling to find a replacement duo with the same pulling power.
The new Channel 4 programme is to be a live, topical entertainment show running five days a week, and is called, originally enough, Richard and Judy. The presenters have been quick to declare that they won't do anything different from what has made them successful in the past.
"Nobody should think that because we are making this programme with Channel 4, we're going to go wacky," said Madeley, who has already ruled out dressing up like Ali G.
mkearney@irish-times.com