RTÉ to kick off new year with host of feelgood programming

As we look toward to 2023, RTÉ aims to help viewers find their feelgood programming this spring with a slate of new and returning shows across entertainment, lifestyle, drama, and sport on TV, radio and online.

Tonight (Dec 29) Callan Kicks the Year returns to give events in Ireland and abroad their annual seeing to in the comedy news review on RTÉ One.

New Year’s Eve kicks off with a bang this Saturday with Jennifer Zamparelli and a star-studded line up on RTÉ’s New Year’s Eve Party on RTÉ One/RTÉ Player. Celebrate New Year’s Eve with a jam-packed line-up featuring rock legends Ash, pop sensation Tom Grennan, Hot House Flowers, Lyra, Donovan the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and more. Following the show, coverage will move live to Dublin for the NYE Countdown Concert with Westlife, hosted by Marty Morrissey, and broadcast from North Wall Quay.

Filling our Sunday evenings with glitz and glamour from January 8, Dancing with the Stars returns with Doireann Garrihy joining Jennifer Zamparelli on presenting duty. Among the stars being put through their paces this series are former State Pathologist Dr. Marie Cassidy, footballer Stephanie Roche, and influencer Suzanne Jackson.

Now in its 7th season, Tommy Tiernan will return with a brand-new series of The Tommy Tiernan Show that’s full of surprises for him and his viewers, running for 12 weeks and commencing on Jan 7.

The Late Late Show will continue to air on Friday nights, bringing the best in entertainment, with a number of one-off specials planned for viewers in 2023.

Drama lovers can sink their teeth into a brand-new slate of offerings on RTÉ this New Year. New series SisterS is a dark comedy-drama about two women who discover they are half-sisters and embark on a road trip across Ireland. Laughs will also be provided via comedy-drama series The Dry, featuring Oscar-nominee Ciarán Hinds.

Smother with Dervla Kirwan is back for a third series this February, plus Ireland’s favourite drama Fair City continues to entertain viewers four nights a week. Crime drama Kin starring Charlie Cox, Claire Dunne, Aidan Gillen, and Maria Doyle Kennedy also makes it eagerly anticipated series 2 return in 2023. A hit with both audiences and critics, series one had a consolidated average of over 621,000 viewers on RTÉ One and to date 2.7 million streams on RTÉ Player, making Kin the most successful drama in Ireland last year. The new season, which begins production this summer, will see the Kinsellas as the top dogs in Dublin, but killing Eamon Cunningham has created as many problems as it solved.

Dating hopefuls can find their feelgood via Love in the Country, presented by Anna Geary. The series will centre around seven rural romantics, all of whom are looking for love but feel their locations make it more difficult to meet someone. There’s more dating action with First Dates Ireland back this January, when dozens of hopefuls will make their way in to meet Mateo in the First Dates restaurant in a bid to find a match made in heaven.

Comedian Pat Shortt is joined by daughter Faye for the first in a new series of High Road, Low Road, seeing them travel to Dubrovnik with very different holiday budgets.