FROM THE ARCHIVE OF: The TV Room
Some excerpts from an edition of Nighthawks.
Video content
[00:00:00] IDENT: it was customary for the ident preceding Nighthawks to be announcerless – presumably to avoid any clash with the spoof announcements at the start of each show.
There’s actually a genuine picture sync issue when exiting the ident. This happened a lot (and not just into Nighthawks). Presumably they thought it would be less noticeable as Nighthawks usually started each edition with analogue snow.
[00:00:08] PROGRAMME: we see the programme opening, with the usual spoof continuity announcement.
The programme aired three nights a week and was presented by Shay Healy. It was a mix of soap opera, comedy, music and guest interviews. It launched in October 1988 as one of the new shows on the rebranded channel (when it changed from RTÉ 2 to Network 2). The final edition aired in April 1992.
The show’s presenter transitioned between being a character in the ongoing Nighthawks soap opera and the role of interviewer.
The show had a varied selection of guests: Shay could be chatting with a musician one minute and later in the programme engaging in hard-hitting discussion with a prominent politician.
A typical edition of Nighthawks also featured music acts and quirky comedy sketches.
In our clip, we see the soap opera elements in the opening scenes. This is followed by a snippet of a music act and a brief excerpt of an interview. We then jump to the end of the programme and the end of a dream sequence before rejoining Shay for the soap cliffhanger and closing credits.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: Nighthawks opening titles. COPYRIGHT: RTÉ.
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