All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Cúchulainn

    • RTÉ One

    In episode one Neil will retrace the steps of this legendary warrior - learning the ancient battle feats he was famed for and improving his hurling prowess under the guidance of famed Kilkenny hurler, DJ Carey. Just like the curse inflicted on the Ulstermen in the story of the Táin Bó Culaigne, Neil will experience first-hand what it's like to swing a rather sharp sword while feeling the pangs of a woman in labour. As well as travelling the country meeting historians and experts who explain the various battles, adventures and general divilment that earned Cú Chulainn his heroic status, Neil will take to the stage to regale audiences with his own very funny stand up about the hero in question, while some of Ireland's finest comedy talent recreate some of the more unusual scenes from the sagas in some very funny comedy sketches.

  • S01E02 Red Hugh O'Donnell

    • RTÉ One

    If you think the only notable things to come out of Donegal are Daniel O'Donnell, Donegal Catch and a small town called Muff, Neil Delamere will make you think again. Tracing the story of Red Hugh O'Donnell, one of the most colourful characters in Irish history, Neil reveals how he was kidnapped by the English while on a booze-cruise at age 15, staged a daring escape from Dublin Castle, sacrificing his big toes in the process, all in an attempt to fulfil his prophesied destiny of freeing Ireland from the grasp of English power. Neil will recreate Red Hugh's daring escape by abseiling down the side of Dublin Castle in pantaloons and tights, find out first-hand what it was like to have his toes amputated before anaesthetic was invented, relive the battles of the Nine Years War that shook the English Crown to its core - and nearly made it go broke in the process - before following Red Hugh to Spain, where he met his untimely death, not on any savage battlefield but at the hands of a rather lengthy tapeworm. What a way to go. Needless to say Red Hugh's escapades inspire some brilliant stand up and comedy sketches that appear throughout this comedic retelling of one of the great stories in Irish history.

  • S01E03 Fionn MacCumhaill

    • RTÉ One

    In episode 3 Neil takes us beyond the Salmon of Knowledge and the Giant's Causeway to get under the skin of Fionn MacCumhaill and his band of juvenile delinquent pals - the Fianna. For starters, Neil is put through the gruelling warrior tests as described in the thousand year old stories about Fionn and the Fianna - he'll have to jump over and under branches, be chased through the forest by some very hairy men before he's buried in the ground and a load of spears get chucked at him in a prime example of some good old fashioned 3rd Century fun. From the Vicar St stage Neil will explain that according to the texts Fionn never actually died but is buried in a field somewhere waiting to rise and defend Ireland in her hour of greatest need.

  • S01E04 Gráinne Mhaol

    • RTÉ One

    In the final episode of the series, Neil takes to the sea in a replica 16th Century galley, to find out first-hand just how Gráinne Mhaol, the pirate queen of Connaught, nicknamed the 'most notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland', got her name. He also taste a few 16th Century "delicacies" that Gráinne might have enjoyed while dining in her many castles and hears how Gráinne divorced her husband by shouting "I dismiss you" from the rooftop. It's not long before Neil decides that Brehon law isn't quite his thing after he's cast out to sea in just a cow hide in a re-enactment of one of the more bizarre punishments of the time. Through Neil's unique brand of stand-up and sketches starring the immense comedy talent of Foil Arms and Hog and Tara Flynn, audiences get an insight into Gráinne's life including the supposed meeting that took place between a fiery-tempered Irish chieftain and Queen Elizabeth I, two grand old Dames in their 60's, both of whom broke the mould.