Cork’s ‘night owls’ to feature in TV series

A new TG4 documentary that depicts the night-time scene in Cork City is coming to television screens next month.

The show, entitled Oíche i gCorcaigh, is an atmospheric documentary series set in Cork over one night.

It features a range of local people who work and play in to the late hours of the evening and early morning.

Viewers will meet Garda Shane McCarthy and Garda Barra O’Shea, as they patrol the streets; shift workers from a variety of bars, clubs, hospitals and restaurants, as they come and go from one hour to the next; and party-goers Hannah McCarthy and her friends, Phoebe and Orlaith, as they get some ‘prinks’ in before hitting the town.

Audiences will also get to see Brian Desmond, as he begins his late-night shift at Heineken Brewery; Imperial Hotel manager Íde Breathnach, as she leads her staff through a busy birthday celebration; and Frank O’Connor, founder of Anois, who will discuss dereliction across the city, before stopping in at Café Spresso on MacCurtain St, where owner Tomasz Wrzesien presides over a nightly crew of regulars.

University College Cork lecturer Paddy Egan, who is also a concertina player, his wife, Nicola, and their baby daughter will also appear in the series, as will Paschal Coffey, from Hope for the Homeless, and paramedics Domhnall Mac Aodha and Kevin Hourihan, as they rush to get to hospital a man who was retrieved from the River Lee.

Comedian Tadhg Hickey will be shown performing to a full house, and Dr Caitríona Ní Chathasaigh will be profiled working her way through the wards of Mallow Hospital.

Viewers will also make a stop in Cobh, where they will see the Benedictine nuns begin a night of prayer and contemplation, and meet with Mother Catherine and Geraldine Heffernan, who is a teacher at Mater Dei Academy, on a personal retreat in St Benedict’s.

The explorative series, produced by Wicklow-based Phoenix Films, will air on TG4 for the first time on Wednesday, February 5 at 9.30pm, and again on Wednesday, February 12 at the same time.