''Aifric'' () is an

Irish-language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenou ...

TV series aimed at

young adults In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

, co-created and written by

Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin is a writer, musician and publisher, originally from Aghamore, County Mayo, Aghamore, County Mayo in Ireland. Biography Born in 1961 and educated in St Louis Community School, Kiltimagh, he graduated from St Patrick's Coll ...

and co-created and directed by Paul Mercier. The show has won multiple

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

awards for "Best Children's/Youth Program". The first of the weekly thirteen-part series began broadcasting on 31 October 2006, the date of

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

's tenth anniversary.

Premise

The series followed the life of Aifric whose wacky family have just moved to a new town in the

West of Ireland Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, ...

. The 14-year-old wants nothing more than to fit in but feels her family will not make it easy for her. Her mother is a new-age

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

who has banned television, while her father is a wannabe rock star, and her little brother is just annoying.

Cast and characters

* Clíona Ní Chiosáin as Aifric de Spáinn, a shy and quirky teenage girl. *Kevin O'Dwyer as Traolach de Spáinn, Aifric's younger brother. He is an intelligent and quirky child with a keen interest in

Eastern philosophy Eastern philosophy (also called Asian philosophy or Oriental philosophy) includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philoso ...

. *Mairéad Coneely as Janis de Spáinn, Aifric and Traolach's mother. *Barry Barnes as Tom de Spáinn, Aifric and Traolach's father. He is an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

by profession but

rock musician Rock is a genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its ...

by aspiration. * Gráinne Bleasdale as Sophie, Aifric's best friend. *Sláine Hutchinson as Claudia, Aifric's

blonde Blond () or blonde (), also referred to as fair hair, is a human hair color characterized by low levels of eumelanin, the dark pigment. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can be ...

rival. She is wealthy, arrogant, and selfish. *Josef Hrehorow as Maidhc, Aifric's classmate who has a crush on her. *Cárthach Bán Breathnach as Jimín, Maidhc's right-hand man and the chief messer. *Eoin O'Dubhghaill as Bertie, a strange boy with an odd fondness for

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

. *Colin Murray as Beartla, Aifric's classmate. He is the seemingly attainable "Hottie" of the group. *

Dónall Ó Héalai Dónall Ó Héalai () (born 5 March 1987) is an Irish actor and voice actor. He was named a 2020 Screen International#Screen International Stars of Tomorrow, ''Screen International'' Star of Tomorrow and twice nominated for best leading actor i ...

as Jeaic, a boy whom Aifric had a crush on in season 1. *Christy Leech as Leo, the "surfer dude" of the series, whom Aifric had a crush on at the start of season 2. * Gráinne Pollack as Bróna, an eccentric classmate of Aifric's. She has few (if any) friends and plays the cymbals.

Episodes

Season 1 (2006)

Broadcast

As well as on TG4, ''Aifric'' has also been shown on

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...

, where it was dubbed into

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

. It was also shown on

HBO Latin America HBO Latin America was a company that owned and distributed several television channels in the region of Latin America. It was originally founded as a joint venture between Time Warner and Ole Communications in 1991 with the launch of HBO in the r ...

where it was dubbed into Portuguese and Spanish, and on Brezhoweb where it was dubbed into

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

Trivia

* Over 95% of the production budget was spent in the

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

region. * The production employed over 170 crew and a cast of almost 150 actors. * In August 2004, there was a national talent search which auditioned hopeful teenagers for the many young roles in the show, including that of Aifric.

Awards and nominations

''Aifric'' won best Children's/Youth programme at the 2007, 2008 and 2009

Irish Film and Television Awards The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) is an all-Ireland organisation focused on film and television. It has about 1000 members, and is based in Dublin, with branches in London and Los Angeles. The IFTA now holds separate ceremonies for the ...

, and was nominated for Best Irish Language show.Irish Film and Television Awards 2009
/ref> In 2009, it won best Youth programme at the Celtic Film and Media Festival.

References

External links

*https://www.tg4.ie/en/player/online-boxsets/?series=Aifric&genre= *http://www.4rfv.co.uk/industrynews.asp?ID=53778 * {{TG4 Shows Irish-language television shows Irish children's television shows 2006 Irish television series debuts TG4 original programming Irish teen drama television series Television series about teenagers