If The Plug Was Pulled: The Five Things We’d Miss On Irish Television

It plays such a large part in our lives it’s difficult to imagine how people ever lived without it.

Whether it’s settling down on the couch for a Saturday night series session or having it on in the background “for company”, the television is at the centre of most people’s living rooms.

We all remember the shock on Joey’s face when a woman he thought to be “a fan of Joey Trivioni” admitted she had never seen Days Of Our Lives because she didn’t have a television:  “What?! Well, what’s all the furniture pointing at?!”

We’re a bit like that here too…

It’s the first day of the Digital Switchover. We’re a couple of hours into the new era of Irish television already but there are still thousands of houses across the country that have yet to make the switch. We decided to pay homage to the box and compile the top five aspects of Irish TV we’d really miss if ours were switched off in the morning…

1. "…with some scattered showers across the West coast"…What did she say?

There’s one aspect of the RTE weather that really brightens up our day whatever the forecast and that’s the wardrobe of weather forecaster, Jean Byrne. You name it, Jean’s worn it. Hundreds of thousands settle down by the television every evening, some to genuinely check the weather, others to catch a glimpse of what RTE’s fashionista in residence could be decked out in. “Sssh, I want to see what Jean’s wearing…” Ms Byrne has informed the country about the heavy showers, mild temperatures and low pressure we should expect in red leather, slinky silver and, just the once, “that” black, slashed-cut dress. We have to agree we’d miss our daily fix of Jean Byrne’s closet contents…

Sporting some red leather....

Jean whips out the silver gown...

We all remember 'that' dress...

2. "Holidays are coming, holidays are coming…"

Nothing quite spells out ‘excitement’, ‘anticipation’, ‘Christmas’ and ‘Santa’s coming’ like this iconic ad. We know the minute the red Coca-Cola truck comes around the corner that the countdown has begun. Without this advert, we would surely be lost…

Here it comes!!

3. The Daily Reminder That We Are, In Fact, A Catholic Country

On the dot, 5:59pm, every evening. It’s the reminder to get the dinner on the table, to get the kids out to soccer, to tape the X Factor for Saturday night… oh, and the fact that we’re a Catholic country. The Angelus has a different meaning for everyone but we’d be lost without the familiar minute of old women staring at the sky, young people chattering and colouring in a classroom and a group of men waiting for their line to catch a fish… it’s great to know what the rest of the country were up to for the day.

4. An Irish Television Icon

Synonymous with Winning Streak, the lovely girls at the Rose of Tralee, morning radio… it’s not Marty Whelan no, but you are close. It’s Marty’s moustache. The lip toupee has become an Irish TV icon itself. We gaze at Marty’s mouth brow with so much interest we forget to listen to what he’s saying. Yup, we can definitely agree Marty’s face furniture is something we’d definitely miss on our Irish televisions…

Oh Marty, you divil....

5. "And there’s one for EVERYBODY in the audience…"

We’re not sure if Gay wanted this catchphrase to become a household saying or not but he certainly succeeded. It’s not just The Late Late Toy Show we’d miss either… We’d hate to admit to it, but we know we’d miss our weekly dose of cringe with Tubs every Friday night. The world’s longest running chat show is definitely an Irish television staple…

The Digital Switchover has arrived, for all you need to know check out DigitalSwitch.ie