The Best TV Shows on RTÉ One

Every RTÉ One Show Ranked From Best To Worst

RTÉ One’s extensive portfolio includes more than 20 shows, spanning the years from 1956 to 2025. Notable series such as Eurovision Song Contest and The Late Late Show from RTÉ One first graced the screens in 1956 and 1962. Discover the best of RTÉ One with our list of over 20 series, meticulously updated for September 2026.

  • The Fall
    The Fall (2013)7.7

    When the Police Service of Northern Ireland are unable to close a case after 28 days, Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson of the Metropolitan Police Service is called in to review the case. Under her new leadership, the local detectives must track down and stop a serial killer who is terrorising the city of Belfast.

  • Kin
    Kin (2021)7.7

    The lives of a Dublin family embroiled in a gangland war and the consequences of their choices.

  • Love/Hate
    Love/Hate (2010)7.5

    Modern-day underworld characters Nidge and John Boy wrestle for control of Dublin's illicit drug trade in this forceful crime drama.

  • Eurovision Song Contest
    Eurovision Song Contest (1956)7.4

    The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition, organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and featuring participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner.

  • Mrs Brown's Boys
    Mrs Brown's Boys (2011)7.4

    Mrs. Brown's Boys is a British-Irish award winning sitcom created by and starring writer and performer Brendan O'Carroll. The show is based on O'Carroll's stage plays about the character Agnes Browne, which were developed from books and straight-to-DVD films. The sitcom continues the stories of Agnes, now with the shortened surname "Brown", and her family who are played by real life close friends and family of O'Carroll's. After being slated by critics, the show has become a ratings success in both Ireland, where it is set, and the United Kingdom, where it is recorded. On 29 December 2012 the show began its third series. Mrs Brown's Boys is a co-production among BBC Scotland, BocPix and RTÉ.

  • Obituary
    Obituary (2023)7.3

    When Elvira’s editor informs her that she will be paid per article, she begins murdering people to avoid going broke. Her plans are shaken when she falls for the crime reporter.

  • The Meaning of Life
    The Meaning of Life (2009)7.0

    The Meaning of Life is an Irish television programme, the first series of which was broadcast on RTÉ One in 2009. It is presented by the veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne. Each episode involves Byrne interviewing a well-known public figure. The series is broadcast each Sunday night at 22:20. In 2010 The Meaning of Life returned for both a second and, later, a third series. Interviews with former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and actors Gabriel Byrne and Brenda Fricker during the second series attracted media attention when they spoke of their religious habits and child sexual abuse respectively. Gay Byrne appeared on The Late Late Show on 18 December 2009 to discuss the programme. A fourth series soon followed. Then a fifth series from January 2012. And a sixth in October 2012. And a seventh in January 2013.

  • Leonard and Hungry Paul
    Leonard and Hungry Paul (2025)6.9

    Follow two unique board-gaming friends meandering through leafy suburban life, charting a story about Judo, ancient Rome, first loves, and the expansion of the Universe.

  • Single-Handed
    Single-Handed (2007)6.8

    Single-Handed is an Irish television drama series, first broadcast on RTÉ Television in 2007. Set and filmed in the west of Ireland, it focuses on the life of a member of the Garda Síochána, Sergeant Jack Driscoll. Three two-episode, single-story series aired one each on consecutive nights in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Series Four, consisting of three stories told over six episodes, began in RTÉ One November 2010. The series is partially inspired by garda corruption in County Donegal.

  • Hidden Assets
    Hidden Assets (2021)6.8

    A routine raid led by Emer Berry, a detective in the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau, reveals that a small-time drug dealer has been receiving substantial funding from a seemingly untraceable source – not in cash, but in rough diamonds. When these diamonds are linked to a series of bombings in Belgium, Emer is forced to work with Police Commissioner Christian De Jong.

  • Smother
    Smother (2021)6.5

    On the rugged coast of County Clare, Val Ahern's husband is found dead at the foot of a cliff the morning after a family party. The matriarch starts to dig into the family's secrets to find out who might be responsible.

  • SisterS
    SisterS (2023)6.2

    Two women, one born in Canada and the other in Ireland, discover they are half-sisters and embark on a road trip to find their alcoholic father.

  • The Dry
    The Dry (2022)6.1

    Shiv Sheridan returns to Dublin after years of partying in London and tries to navigate a new phase of her life. Trying to stay sober and being back with her family is not going to be easy.

  • The Tommy Tiernan Show
    The Tommy Tiernan Show (2017)6.0

    No stranger to television, Tommy has appeared on some of the biggest and most established chat shows in the world. But, for some time, Tommy has wanted to host his own TV chat show – one with a difference. It has all the ingredients of a normal chat show but there was a catch – neither the host or the audience know the identity of the guests until they walk out on stage! The Tommy Tiernan Show is recorded in front of a live audience and will include stand-up from Tommy, live music and plenty of chat….. with a little help from fellow comedian Fred Cooke thrown in.

  • The Late Late Show
    The Late Late Show (1962)5.5

    Chat show that looks at current affairs in Ireland.

  • The Walsh Sisters
    The Walsh Sisters (2025)5.5

    Set in their Dublin hometown, Anna, Rachel, Maggie, Claire and Helen navigate the peaks and troughs of their late 20s and 30s. This is a sisterhood full of in-jokes, hand-me-down resentments and more than a few old wounds. But their DNA, history and shared love of power ballads keep the Walsh sisters together in the face of heartbreak, grief, addiction and parenthood.

  • Fair City
    Fair City (1989)4.7

    The day-to-day dramas of the community who live and work in the fictional north Dublin suburb of Carrigstown.

  • The Traitors Ireland
    The Traitors Ireland (2025)4.6

    22 strangers are pitted against each other in a remote castle, where they must play a game an imaginative game of strategy. The twist? Some players, known as the Traitors, are secretly tasked with eliminating their competitors each night without being detected.

  • Fáilte Towers
    Fáilte Towers (2008)N/A

    Thirteen celebrities run a hotel for sixteen days and nights in order to win money for their designated charities.

  • The Afternoon Show
    The Afternoon Show (N/A)N/A

    The Afternoon Show is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's former live flagship daytime show. It ran from 2004 until May 2010. The programme was dropped by RTÉ as part of its new season of television in 2010, to be replaced by two afternoon programmes 4 Daily presented by Maura Derrane and The Daily Show hosted by Dáithí Ó Sé and Claire Byrne. The television show, the last season of which was presented by Sheana Keane and Maura Derrane, was a mix of lifestyle, information and fun items. The show included cookery, fashion, health, fitness, parenting, life-coaching and celebrity gossip. Viewers also had the opportunity to text, phone and e-mail in interjections, views, experiences and opinions, and they were given a chance to win prizes in a daily quiz. The Afternoon Show had met with a mixed reaction since it first appeared on screens in 2004, presented by Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh and Anna Nolan. This was partly because it replaced the hugely popular show Open House. There was speculation that the show has not proved as successful as its predecessor and that it would not return for a second season. However, a second series began in 2005, although one of the former presenters, Sheana Keane, did not return.