Mayo-based TV firm wins major national award
Eoin Warner on Clare Island during the filming of the series.
A Mayo-based TV production company has won a prestigious Royal Television Society Ireland Award for its three-part documentary series .
'Crossing the Line’ is a leading Irish and international small natural history and wildlife film production company, run by John Murray and his wife Cepa, a Sligo native. It won ‘Best Specialist Factual’ for at the RTSI Awards, which are now Ireland’s top TV awards replacing the IFTAs.
"We are absolutely delighted to have won," John said.
Emmy-nominated producer John and presenter Eoin Warner visited the beautiful Inishkea Islands, Achill Island and Clare Island for the series. John said filming on the Inishkea Islands was wonderful and two of the notable highlights of the series were captured there and on Clare Island.
John said they try to film to the highest international standards, adding that they were incredibly weather-dependent when filming the programme. It was a four-year project that was hampered by the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Thousands of hours of footage were captured, and the series was broadcast on RTÉ in three 90-minute programmes to great acclaim. The series can now be viewed on the RTE player.
“It's incredibly trying, but we love it,” John said. “We moved to Westport five years ago specifically because this big project was coming up and we thought we wanted to live where it is set and we love Mayo.”
He said they thoroughly enjoy showcasing the best of Ireland to an international audience and the series has had massive distribution around the world. Apart from RTE, there were seven international partners with Canadian partner Blue Ant the largest backer and PBS in the USA, SBS in Australia, Sky in the UK and Arte, ORF and SVT in Europe also involved.
In one of the most powerful moments in the series, presenter Eoin Warner sails up to Whiddy Island off the Cork coast where his father David tragically lost his life tragically when a French oil tanker exploded in Bantry Bay in January 1979 and claimed 50 lives. Warner was only two at the time.
The series was also nominated for the world's leading wildlife film competition in the USA.
Last year, Crossing the Line's production, , also won at the RTSI Awards and it featured the beautiful Céide Fields, where Alannah Thornburgh played a remarkable rendition of a piece of music by the late Mayo composer Conor Walsh.
