''The Ray D'Arcy Show'' is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

chat show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

presented by

Ray D'Arcy Raymond Michael D'Arcy (born 1 September 1964) is an Irish television and radio presenter currently on his second stint at state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He once presented a self-titled weekday morning radio programme on th ...

. It was first broadcast on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

on 26 September 2015 and airs on Saturday evenings.

Production

On 7 December 2014 it was announced that D'Arcy was leaving independent commercial radio station

Today FM Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a lic ...

after fourteen years to join state broadcaster

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

, with whom he had previously worked.

Derek Mooney Derek James Mooney (born 4 March 1967) is an Irish radio and television presenter, as well as a radio producer. Until January 2015 he presented a weekday afternoon programme called ''Mooney'' on RTÉ Radio 1. He is the current executive producer ...

was making way so D'Arcy could present a daily programme on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

. The production of various "television projects" in RTÉ was also mentioned. Speculation immediately turned to what role D'Arcy would have on

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the Republic of Ireland's state controlled national broadcaster. Its first channel was Teilifís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RT ...

, with a quiz show and an

Ant and Dec Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo, consisting of Anthony McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 25 September 1975), from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Formed after their meeting as child actors on CBBC's dr ...

-style evening entertainment being mentioned. D'Arcy himself told the

RTÉ Guide The ''RTÉ Guide'' is a Television in the Republic of Ireland, television and Radio in the Republic of Ireland, radio listings magazine in Republic of Ireland, Ireland published by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd, a subsidiary of RTÉ, Raidió T ...

it wouldn't be something he was interested in: "When I was in my 30s I would have aspired to doing something like that, but, no, absolutely no desire now." The possibility of D'Arcy hosting a weekend chat show seemed more likely following Brendan O'Connor's announcement on 14 March 2015 that his ''

Saturday Night Show ''The Saturday Night Show'' is a talk show hosted by Brendan O'Connor broadcast on RTÉ One between 2010 and 2015. The show features guest interviews, audience participation and live music. ''The Saturday Night Show'' is broadcast every Saturday ...

'' would be coming to an end after five years. D'Arcy later confirmed that he would be taking over O'Connor's prime time Saturday night slot. Pre-production of D'Arcy's new Saturday night chat show began in August 2015. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that RTÉ spent €136,000 on the set. This was €24,000 more than was spent on

Ryan Tubridy Ryan Tubridy (born 28 May 1973), nicknamed 'Tubs ' is an Irish broadcaster. He presents ''The Ryan Tubridy Show'' and '' The Late Late Show''. Tubridy previously presented RTÉ 2fm breakfast radio show ''The Full Irish'', which at its end was ...

's set when he took over as host of '' The Late Late Show''. The new set was the brainchild of award-winning designer Sinead O'Hanlon.

Series

The first series of 32 shows began at 9:45pm on 26 September 2015. The very first show– which featured guests including

Tulisa Tula Paulinea Contostavlos (Greek: Τούλα Παυλίνα 'Τουλίσα' Κοντόσταυλου; born 13 July 1988) professionally known as Tulisa, is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress. As a part of the ...

and

Tommy Tiernan Tommy Tiernan (; born 16 June 1969) is an Irish comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for hosting ''The Tommy Tiernan Show'' (2017–present) and playing Gerry in the sitcom ''Derry Girls'' (2018–2022). Early life Tiernan was born in ...

– attracted 468,500 viewers, a 35% share of the audience. Ratings for the first show were lower than Brendan O’Connor's final ''Saturday Night Show'', when some 501,900 viewers tuned in - a 38% share. It was also lower than the series average for O’Connor's first season in 2010 which was 463,700 – a 34% share. The second D'Arcy show lost 107,000 viewers, as people tuned to rival

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

to watch the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

game between England and Australia. D'Arcy's fifth show on 24 October 2015 had an average of 356,000 viewers and a 29% audience share. This was in contrast to the previous nights ''Late Late Show'' which had almost twice the audience with 707,000 viewers for its

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

special.

Episodes

, ''The Ray D'Arcy Show'' has broadcast twelve episodes since its debut on 26 September 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray D'Arcy Show (TV series), The 2015 Irish television series debuts Irish television talk shows RTÉ original programming