Documentary On One - Rté Documentaries

In 1988 an accountant came across a tiny chimpanzee tied to a tree in a rural village in the West African state of Sierra Leone. Its mother had been killed by hunters, and the accountant and his wife decided to rescue the Chimpanzee they named Bruno. They had no idea how profoundly this would change their lives. First broadcast May 2016.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2013, a beautiful 100 year old tall ship; The Astrid was shipwrecked off the coast of Kinsale, Co. Cork. Disaster was averted, as all 30 crew were rescued. Captain and Dutch man Pieter de Kam was the owner of the boat and he lost his beautiful ship and his dream life on the sea. (First Broadcast 2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the most in-depth and far-reaching investigation RTÉ Radio has ever undertaken, an international recruitment company is taken to court by one of its workers. Referred to the European Court of Justice, the outcome could change EU labour law for millions of people. The only problem? The worker at the heart of the case knows nothing about it(2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amas and Ammar Al-Kadry are two Syrian brothers who put themselves in the hands of ruthless people-smugglers to escape their war-torn country. From the deserts of Algeria to lawless Libyan towns and rickety over-crowded boats, it’s a long way from Damascus to Mayo. (First broadcast 2015) Themes: Adventure, Conflict, Development, ForeignSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A story of emigration and sport. Jack Dowling survived an orphanage in Waterford and an industrial school in Cork. He moved to the UK to work in the mines and went on to become an international race walker. Jack was good enough to represent Ireland, but never got the chance. He did set many records, some of which still stand (Broadcast 2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leeanne O’Donnell was browsing a market when she saw a bedwarmer from a Big House in North Cork, between Mallow and Mitchelstown. The landlady who owned it was successful author, Elizabeth Bowen who, according to the stallholder, was hated because she spied for Churchill during The Emergency. Was that true? Leeanne set off to find out. (2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astonishing and largely unknown, this is the story of how the Irish 1916 Rising provided a blue print for one of the first armed uprisings of its kind in India, Britain's largest colony, bringing closer than ever the inevitable demise of the British Empire. (First Broadcast 2016)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In August 1916, the British executed a very unusual rebel figure: a knight-cum-Irish rebel who honed his nationalism in ‘Belgian’ Congo in Africa - Sir Roger Casement. From Dublin and Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, he was captured in Kerry. Then, imprisoned in the Tower of London, he was, as the saying goes, “hanged on a comma”.(Broadcast 2016)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1916, a GAA match between Kerry and Louth footballers took place on a pitch named Croke Park, at a prisoner of war camp in Frongoch, Wales. 100 years on, three relations of men who played in that 1916 match retrace their forbearer’s footsteps. In the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, Frongoch became home to 1,800 Irish volunteer prisoners. (2016)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With a sung narration performed by Mick Flannery, this documentary delves into the life of an Irishman who lived in England. In 2006, Patrick Folens remains were discovered in Horton Woods in Kent. He disappeared mysteriously in 1995. (2007)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Longford/Westmeath was a controversial constituency in General Election 2016. Why? For two reasons. The count took a full six days – and before the election was even called, gender quota caused uproar. Behind the scenes, what were the politics at play from a woman’s perspective? We follow two female candidates as they battle their way to the Dail.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1985, Kerry club Castleisland Desmonds won their first and only men’s Senior Football All Ireland club title. 30 years on, clubman Dan Kearney examines the David and Goliath journey that his local team embarked on - and tells a story that encapsulates everything about club GAA - and a legacy that his small town is proud to have. (Broadcast 2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12 Miles tells the story of Guillermo Rigondeux and his Irish manager, Gary Hyde. Gary was a boxing manager from Cork, who risked over 20 years in prison to smuggle amateur Olympic and world champion boxers out of Fidel Castro’s Cuba. (First Broadcast 2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since 2011, Joanie Madden (Cherish the Ladies) has organised a Caribbean cruise with a difference – over seven days she brings together dozens of Irish musicians, dancers and storytellers from all over the world - and hundreds of passengers return year after year to hear the best of Irish traditional music and song.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Newry Canal in Northern Ireland was built to link the Tyrone coalfields via Lough Neagh and the River Bann to the Irish Sea at Carlingford Lough near Newry. In this documentary we hear from those who worked on the canal to the people trying to save it from disrepair with restoration and preservation plans in mind. (1978)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1990 the Republic of Ireland soccer team played in their first ever world cup finals. RTE Sports, John Kenny re-lives the games at Italia 90 where a country began to believe in itself and perhaps laid the foundations for the Celtic Tiger that was to follow.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Irish surgeon's medical adventures in Africa involving Coca Cola gas, home-made fuses and a hotline to the Electricity Supply company. Emer Horgan gets to see at first-hand the impact of the teamwork involved in surgical development in Tanzania.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fran O'Toole, lead singer with the Miami Showband was murdered along with band members in a loyalist ambush in Northern Ireland in 1975. Soon after, Fran's young daughters were taken to live in Canada by their mother. Rachel and Kelly have long searched for a connection to their father and his family, imagining what might have been. (2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To the watching world in 1968, Tipperary man, Mick Meaney was an ordinary Irish emigrant to the U.K., with the extraordinary dream of breaking the world record for time spent buried alive underground. His bizarre record attempt was pushed along by Kerry publican turned promoter Butty Sugrue. But for how long and at what cost? (2018)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To the watching world in 1968, Tipperary man, Mick Meaney was an ordinary Irish emigrant to the U.K., with the extraordinary dream of breaking the world record for time spent buried alive underground. His bizarre record attempt was pushed along by Kerry publican turned promoter Butty Sugrue. But for how long and at what cost? (2015)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.