"I am convinced that public service broadcasting is essential to public life in contemporary Ireland, [but] I am also aware that what we have traditionally understood to be public service broadcasting may no longer be fit for 21st-century purpose.”

These were the forceful opening remarks of Moya Doherty in delivering the RTS Republic of Ireland’s inaugural Gay Byrne Memorial Lecture at the Light House Cinema, Dublin, this month.

Many British entertainers have crossed the pond in search of fame and fortune in the uniquely competitive US TV market, but few have been as successful as James Corden and returned to the UK looking so at ease with themselves.

Corden will again host a star-studded line-up for the show’s second UK adventure, with guests including Cher, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Niall Horan and the Foo Fighters.

The episodes will be broadcast from the historic Central Hall in Westminster, and the show’s signature musical and comedy segments, such as Crosswalk: The Musical and Take a Break, will be given a new British twist.

The show holds the YouTube record for the most-watched late-night clip with Adele’s Carpool Karaoke, which has more than 180 million views.

The first Road Trip, which saw Freddie Flintoff, Jamie Redknapp and Jack Whitehall join Late Late Show host James Corden for an epic trans-American road trip, was the highest rated series of A League of Their Own to date.

The Late Late Show has been a staple of American television for over 20 years, Corden took over as host of the nightly CBS chat show in March 2015.

Since then, it has been the celebrity studded video-segments 'Carpool Karaoke' that have made the show, and Corden, internationally known. 

The life and work of the late Frank Hall – presenter, scriptwriter and editor of Hall’s Pictorial Weekly – was the subject of producer/director Peter McEvoy’s presentation to June’s Republic of Ireland event, “Frank Hall: a timely reminiscence”.

Halls Pictorial Weekly cast actors, in various guises and disguises, to mimic and satirise the politicians of the day. The actors included Frank Kelly, who went on to play the foul-mouthed priest Father Jack in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, which aired on RTÉ Two in Ireland. Kelly died earlier this year.

Catch these gems before they disappear.

Grace and Frankie

The slick, silver-haired comedy from Friends creator Martha Kauffman is back for a second season.

Straight-laced Grace and free spirit Frankie are both happily married women when their husbands, Robert and Sol, announce that they are leaving them – for each other.