Lifelines (TV series)

Lifelines
Genre	Light entertainment
Presented by	Liam Ó Murchú
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	36
Production
Location(s)	RTÉ Television Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Running time	65-75 minutes
Distributor	RTÉ
Release
Original network	RTÉ One
Original release	18 June 1993 – 31 March 1996

Lifelines is an Irish television chat show presented by broadcaster Liam Ó Murchú. Filmed in front of a studio audience, each programme is devoted to a special celebrity guest. The programme ran for four series from 1993 until 1996.

History

Lifelines was initially devised as an appropriate summer replacement for RTÉ's flagship Friday night chat show The Late Late Show. The show was presented by Liam Ó Murchú, the former host of Trom agus Éadrom, a bi-lingual chat show that was broadcast in the 1970s and 1980s. The first series began on 18 June 1993 and featured seven episodes. Lifelines proved popular and returned for a second series of seven episodes on 17 April 1994. By now the show was given its own timeslot on Sunday evenings straight after the Nine O'Clock News. It complimented RTÉ's two other chat shows, The Late Late Show and Kenny Live, which were broadcast on Friday and Saturday nights respectively. A third series of Lifelines returned on 16 April 1995 and lasted for an extended run of ten episodes. The fourth and final series began on 7 January 1996 and ran for twelve episodes.

Production

The first three series of Lifelines were broadcast from Studio 1 in the RTÉ Television Centre at Donnybrook, Dublin 4. As RTÉ's biggest at the time, the studio held 120 audience members. The final series of the show was broadcast from Studio 4, a new studio specifically adapted to cater for large productions. The size of the audience also increased to 200.

Format

Lifelines featured a special guest in profile every week. The show featured interviews with the special guest and their friends, as well as live music from guest music groups. The show was described as This Is Your Life without the surprise.^[1]

Episodes

Series 1

#	Special guest(s)	Date
1	The O'Regan family	18 June 1993
2	The Marcus family	25 June 1993
3	Clannad	2 July 1993
4	Sam McAughtry	9 July 1993
5	Sandy Kelly	16 July 1993
6	Michael Carruth	23 July 1993
7	Frank Patterson	30 July 1993

Series 2

#	Special guest(s)	Date
8	John McNally	17 April 1994
9	Eleanor McEvoy	24 April 1994
10	Maureen Potter	1 May 1994
11	The All Priests Show	8 May 1994
12	Paddy Cole's Jazz Scene	15 May 1994
13	The Clancy Brothers	22 May 1994
14	Phil Coulter	29 May 1994

Series 3

#	Special guest(s)	Date
15	Maureen Toal	16 April 1995
16	Pete St. John	23 April 1995
17	Eileen Reid	30 April 1995
18	Eurovision winners special	7 May 1995
19	David Ervine	14 May 1995
20	Brídín Twist	21 May 1995
21	Michael Collins special	28 May 1995
22	Eamon Kelly	11 June 1995
23	Philomena Begley	18 June 1995
24	Jack Boothman	25 June 1995

Series 4

#	Special guest(s)	Date
25	Mick Lally	7 January 1996
26	Tony Ward	14 January 1996
27	Susan McCann	21 January 1996
28	Brendan Kennelly	28 January 1996
29	Catherine McGuinness	4 February 1996
30	Twink	11 February 1996
31	Fred O'Donovan	18 February 1996
32	Mary O'Rourke	25 February 1996
33	Mick Clerkin	10 March 1996
34	St. Patrick's Day special	17 March 1996
35	Frank Feely	24 March 1996
36	Stockton's Wing	31 March 1996

References

1. "Across the Channels", The Irish Times, 12 June 1993