What Do You Do On A Saturday Night? Ireland 1972

What do locals in Ballina County Mayo get up to on a Saturday night?

Ballina’s streets are busy when the ‘Hall’s Pictorial Weekly’ crew are in town, but residents find time to talk to reporter Frank Hall.

A farmer who is interviewed says that he never has time off on a Saturday evening,

Our days aren’t long enough at all.

Others who are fortunate to have time on their hands like to paint pictures or go to the pub for a pint or two. Reading is also a popular pastime, with one lady telling Hall that

“I do not like television at all, it is a complete waste of time.”

A visitor from the United States is slightly more reticent when asked about his Saturday night activities,

“You wouldn’t want to hear it really.”

This episode of ‘Hall’s Pictorial Weekly’ was broadcast on 30 September 1972. The reporter is Frank Hall.

Frank Hall’s amusing and satirical series began on 29 September 1971 with the full title “Hall’s Pictorial Weekly Incorporating the Provincial Vindicator” which became known as “Hall’s Pictorial Weekly”. The series allowed Frank Hall to follow his own interest in the lives of viewers throughout the country. Regarded as RTE’s flagship comedy show, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, cartoons and spoof television formats. The show ran for 9 series until 1980.

In the RTE Guide on the week of its first transmission, Frank Hall wrote “”the form and content of Hall’s Pictorial Weekly should be impossible to forecast until the last moment. It should be as varied and absorbing as life itself”. He further commented “”I have an inexhaustible interest in the lives and times of the people who live in our country towns and villages; no event is too small to capture my attention, no community too out of the way…This programme is intended to be about you, your town, your friends, your local interests.” (RTE Guide, September 24, 1971, Vol.8, No.9, p.2)

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