While Desmond was pummelling the west, bringing huge rainfalls across the island, the only name on anyone’s lips was Teresa, as RTÉ broadcast journalist Teresa Mannion became an overnight sensation in one brief news report.
Trending on social media, relayed by news websites all over the world, Mannion’s near-manic plea for people to stay in their homes while Des was in town has become perhaps the most iconic moment of Irish television in 2015, and almost certainly guarantees the journalist the greatest laurel wreath Ireland hands out – a featured spot on a future episode of Reeling in the Years.
When it comes to television, though, there is no shortage of iconic moments that have graced the Irish airwaves over the years. Here’s our take on the most iconic Irish TV moments.
- Nadine Coyle forgets her date of birth
At a time when music-based reality TV shows could grip a nation, Nadine Coyle loses her grip on the reality she’d fabricated in order to get into Six, despite being below the requisite 18 years of age.
- Slán agus beannacht, Che Guevara
In 1964, the Cuban revolutionary landed in Dublin airport, where he was interviewed for the evening news. But when no interpreter could be found to act as an intermediary, Aer Lingus air hostess Felima Archer stepped into the breach.
- Pat Kenny lets rip
While hosting the Late Late Show, Pat Kenny called up a competition winner to offer her the hottest ticket in town, the much coveted Toy Show tickets. Along with a prize worth €10,000. When she opted not to take the tickets, Kenny tore them to pieces on air.
- Crossing the road in the 1970s
Back when the only channel on Irish TV was RTÉ, comedian Brendan Grace taught boys and girls how to safely get from side of the road to the other in 1970s Ireland, when he sang the iconic tune of the Safe Cross Code.
- “I was told you don’t play any instruments at all, any of you?”
At a time when the most elaborate TV set on Irish TV appeared to be a carpet spread across a wall, Gay Byrne introduced the nation to a selection of boyband members, who then gamely made national fools of themselves by dancing along to some club music. And then they became Boyzone.
- The mystery man on the ice
Who is he? How much pain was he in? Why was he bombing along at such a pace? Regardless, the RTÉ news coverage of a man having the mother of all prat falls on an icy footpath has become the stuff of legend.
- “Knock knock, open wide...”
Though perhaps probably not the wisest decision to encourage Irish children to blindly follow outwardly friendly adults through mysterious doors, it pretty much always ended up with a trip to Dublin Zoo.
