TV GUIDE: Seven incredible Irish documentaries about Ireland 1916
Entertainment

TV GUIDE: Seven incredible Irish documentaries about Ireland 1916

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AUDIENCES in Britain can now tune in to RTÉ Player to enjoy a host of 1916 centenary programmes.

Here are our top picks of what's on over the coming weeks...

Seven Women

Everyone has heard of the seven men who signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, but we never hear about the women who were caught up in the extraordinary events of Easter 1916.Some of them were literally airbrushed out of history. This riveting documentary reveals the astonishing stories of seven women who were at the heart of the Easter Rising.

Inside the GPO

Best known as the headquarters of the 1916 Rising, the GPO has been at the heart of Irish life for 200 years.

This series goes behind the scenes at Ireland's busiest post office; home to 950 staff, a microcosm of Irish society, and caretaker of letters, parcels, hopes and stories.

ChildrenoftheRising-n Broadcaster Joe Duffy takes audiences on a journey with Children of the Revolution

Children of the Revolution

Children of the Revolution tells the story of the Rising from a unique and heart-breaking perspective – uncovering the untold stories of the 38 children killed in the Easter Rebellion.

Broadcaster Joe Duffy uses public records, family archive and witness testimony to piece together the story of the lives and deaths of the young victims.

Get a sneak preview of RTÉ Player's programmes here...

Ireland's Rising

A new four-part series which sees Anne Doyle, Ryan Tubridy, Jim McGuinness and Fiona Shaw return to their ancestral county to explore its connections with 1916 to discover how each county is planning to commemorate the centenary.

irelandsrising Well-known TV personalities, such as Ryan Tubridy, are among those who will tell Ireland's Rising story

Life Before the Rising

Presented by historian Catríona Crowe of the National Archives, this documentary explores what was happening in the lives of Irish people from the growing Catholic middle classes to the tenement dwellers, in the months and years leading up to the Rising.

lifebeforetherising Historian Catríona Crowe

Ar Sin Na Poblachta

This new three-part series looks into those revolutionary days and the people who made history and those whom the history books have maybe neglected or forgotten.

A Terrible Beauty – Culture and Revolution in Ireland (available now)

Professor Declan Kiberd looks at the role that artists and cultural leaders had in reinventing Ireland in the late Nineteenth Century, and asks whether the cultural revival really was the spark that ignited the flame of revolution.

RTÉ 1916 is RTÉ's programme of content and events across television, radio, mobile and online which invites people, at home and throughout the world, to watch, listen and take part as they commemorate and celebrate, debate and analyse the centenary of the 1916 Rising.

RTE1

RTÉ is offering a wide range of programmes – accessible free from Britain - including insightful documentaries, news coverage, debate and analysis as well as an online exhibition and live streaming of the State’s official 1916 centenary events.

The first of those is on March 27 when the main State Commemoration takes place on Easter Sunday.

Others include A Nation’s Voice, an open-air concert at Collins Barracks - also on Easter Sunday - featuring 1,100 singers joining the National Symphony Orchestra and RTÉ presents Centenary, a celebration of 100 years of Irish culture from Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.

Audiences in Britain can use the RTÉ 1916 website to keep up-to-date with news related to the 1916 centenary across RTÉ Player, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ’s radio apps and the RTÉ News Now app.

You’ll also find information on social media including @RTE @RTEPlayerInt and by using #rte1916.

The website also features a new online exhibition They Were There, which currently presents 50 witness accounts of 1916 events on an interactive map.

The previously unseen and unheard audio and visual collection features men and women who were members of the Irish Volunteers, the Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan, the British Army, the Dublin Metropolitan Police and citizens of Dublin.

Together they help build a vivid picture of what was happening across Dublin city and beyond during Easter 1916.

RTÉ Player is available across desktop, iOS and Android app - provide international audiences with a dedicated 1916 Hub, offering a curated collection of 1916-related television content.