Topic summary

Glenroe

Glenroe

Glenroe is an Irish television soap opera broadcast on RTÉ One for 18 years between September 1983 and May 2001. Glenroe was centred on the lives of the people living in the fictional rural village of the same name in County Wicklow. The real-life village of Kilcoole was used to film the series. The series was also filmed in studio at RTÉ and in various other locations when directors saw fit.

The show was a spin-off from Bracken — an RTÉ drama that was broadcast from 1980 to 1982, which was itself spun off from The Riordans — another RTÉ drama that was broadcast from 1965 to 1979. Glenroe was broadcast, generally from September to May, each Sunday at 8:30 pm. It was created, and written for much of its run, by Wesley Burrowes, and later by various other directors and producers including Paul Cusack, Alan Robinson and Tommy McArdle. Glenroe was the first show to be subtitled by RTÉ, with a broadcast in 1991 starting the station's subtitling policy.

The main protagonists were the Byrne and McDermott/Moran families, related by the marriage of Miley Byrne to Biddy McDermott. Other important characters included Teasy McDaid, the proprietor of the local pub; Tim Devereux and George Black (the Roman Catholicpriest and the Church of IrelandRector of the village respectively); Fidelma Kelly, a cousin of Biddy; Blackie Connors; George Manning; and Stephen Brennan.