The Best TV Shows on RTÉ One

Every RTÉ One Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Peruse our comprehensive roster of RTÉ One’s top shows, encompassing over 20 distinct series as of July 2026. Boasting a rich catalog, RTÉ One features more than 20 shows, with broadcasting dates ranging from 1956 to 2024. Icons of RTÉ One, Eurovision Song Contest and The Late Late Show made their debut in 1956 and 1962, setting industry standards.

  • Transatlantic Sessions
    Transatlantic Sessions (1995)10.0

    Folk musicians from both sides of the Atlantic come together in what have been called “the greatest backporch shows ever.” Collaborative live performances by various leading folk and country musicians playing music from Scotland, Ireland, England and North America.

  • 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.

  • Mrs Brown's Boys
    Mrs Brown's Boys (2011)7.5

    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)7.4

    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 Gone
    The Gone (2023)7.3

    It follows Theo Richter, an Irish detective who teams with Kiwi cop Diana Huia to find a young Irish couple vanish from an infamous rural North Island New Zealand town. Amidst the search and a race against time, the pair have to contend with a community’s growing disquiet that the disappearances may be linked to a series of historical murders.

  • Eurovision Song Contest
    Eurovision Song Contest (1956)7.2

    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.

  • Rebellion
    Rebellion (2016)7.0

    A group of young men and women in Dublin in 1916 are embroiled in a fight for independence during the Easter Rising. The story begins with the outbreak of World War I. As expectations of a short and glorious campaign are dashed, social stability is eroded and Irish nationalism comes to the fore. The tumultuous events that follow are seen through the eyes of a group of friends from Dublin, Belfast and London as they play vital and conflicting roles in the narrative of Ireland's independence.

  • 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.

  • Blackshore
    Blackshore (2024)6.7

    A police detective returns to her hometown and becomes involved in a missing person case, which is linked to her traumatic past and the town's dark history.

  • Acceptable Risk
    Acceptable Risk (2017)6.6

    When her husband, Lee, is murdered, Sarah Manning comes to realize that she knows nothing about his past. Sarah begins to question who Lee actually was and what he did in his work for a powerful global organization. And why did Lee, a salesman, need to carry a gun?

  • Hidden Assets
    Hidden Assets (2021)6.6

    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 Boy That Never Was
    The Boy That Never Was (2024)6.1

    When Dillon’s father Harry races back to their tiny apartment to rescue his child, the apartment is in rubble and there is no sign of his son. Three years later, thousands of miles away in Dublin, Harry spots a six-year-old boy in a crowd and is convinced he is Dillon. Desperate to find his son, Harry’s obsession tears apart his marriage to Robin, exposing shameful secrets that lead to the truth of what happened to their son on the night he went missing.

  • The Dry
    The Dry (2022)6.0

    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 Clinic
    The Clinic (2003)5.8

    The Clinic is a multi award-winning Irish primetime television medical drama series produced by Parallel Film Productions for RTÉ. It debuted on RTÉ One in 2003 to positive reviews and proved to be one of the network's most popular shows. The drama ran for seven seasons between September 2003 to November 2007. The last ever episode aired on RTÉ One on Sunday 15 November 2009 and on YLE1 in Finland on Wednesday 25 November 2009. The complete series of The Clinic was released on DVD in November 2010 by RTÉ.

  • The Late Late Show
    The Late Late Show (1962)5.6

    Chat show that looks at current affairs in Ireland.

  • Fair City
    Fair City (1989)4.2

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