''The School Around the Corner'' was a

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netwo ...

me aired in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

beginning at Easter, 1954, when Michael O h-Aodha gave the "idea" his blessing, Seamus Kavanagh took over as producer of the first short series. The producers who succeeded Seamus were Joan Dalton and Padraig O'Neill.

Paddy Crosbie Paddy Crosbie (1 October 1913 – 2 September 1982) was the Irish creator of the radio and television programmes '' The School Around The Corner'' and ''Back To School''.Sunday Independent, 5 September 1982 Youth Crosbie was born in Dublin, Ir ...

who presented the show at this time was the originator and writer of 'School Around the Corner' and composer of the show's popular theme song of the same name.

Format

The host would ask a question to a child of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

age who would usually respond in a "cute" or humorous way.

Radio

The show was first broadcast by Radio Éireann in 1954 until 1973. The series moved back to radio from television after the setting up of

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

in 1966, it ran for one more year. It was again revived on radio in 1973. An RTÉ Guide article outlining the programme's history was published on 1 June 1973.

Television

The series moved to television with the launch of Teilfís Éirean in 1961. The programme was first broadcast by Telefís Éireann/

in 1962 and ran until 1966. The show on television was also hosted by Paddy Crosbie. The programme continued until 1966 on RTÉ Television and made a short return to radio in 1966 and 1973. Jim (James) Plunkett guided the School on to television, it was the 1st show to be pre-recorded for the new television station in 1961 and top of the TAM ratings up to when it was discontinued over five years later. The first episode was broadcast on 2 January 1962. On television the programme had many FIRSTS - first home feature in the top ten, first in first place and first to travel around the country.

Revivals

In the 1990s the series began to be produced by Tyrone Productions for RTÉ and was commissioned by RTÉ until 1994. The series was hosted by Gerry Ryan. Tyrone Productions offered the series to UTV in Northern Ireland where it ran for a decade from 1995 to 2005. On UTV the series was hosted by Frank Mitchell. In 2013 RTÉ revived the series again with a Christmas special and then a full series the following year hosted by

Ray D'Arcy Raymond Michael D'Arcy (born 1 September 1964) is an Irish television and radio presenter currently on his second stint at state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He once presented a self-titled weekday morning radio programme on ...

. From Christmas 2021 all RTÉ series of it will be on

RTÉ Player RTÉ Player is an on demand video service provided by Irish public media broadcaster RTÉ. The service provides live and recorded RTÉ television programmes, and content exclusive to the player as well as content from other international broad ...

to mark 60 Years Of Television.

References

{{reflist 1962 Irish television series debuts 1960s Irish television series 1970s Irish television series 1980s Irish television series 1990s Irish television series RTÉ original programming 1950s in Irish television 1986 Irish television series endings