Fíor Scéal returns!

Don't miss a beat. Fíor Scéal returns this summer with all your favourite episodes from our last season.

Topical documentaries air every Tuesday at 00.25 and Thursday at 22.30 on TG4. Set the recorder and watch at your leisure. 

We are starting strong this month with a focus on environmental issues and how they affect us. Here's what you have to look forward to.

 

Tuesday 12 June @ 00.25

The Black Tears of the Sea: Scattered around the coasts of the world are ticking time bombs, so far virtually unknown to the public; 6,300 wrecks, sunk in the Second World War have been rusting away in the sea for over 70 years. In 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground off Alaska, polluting the coast with 37,000 tonnes of leaked crude oil. That's just a fraction of what's assumed to lie in the wartime wrecks. The film takes us to the Baltic coast of Poland, to Norway, to the USA and the Pacific Ocean. We accompany scientists examining how badly the seabed is already contaminated in some places by seeping oil.

Thursday 14 June @ 22.30

Venice; Holding Back the Tide: Venice is one of the most visited places in Italy, as tourists flock to see its famous canals. These are short-stay visits, often only a matter of hours, just time to take a few photos. The Venetians themselves are paying a high price for mass tourism. With this continuous flow of visitors, the residents feel they have been dispossessed of their city. In the past half-century, the city has lost some 50,000 inhabitants. This documentary takes us to the heart of the problem, which some experts think is set to continue. At this rate, the whole city could soon be emptied of its population.

Tuesday 19 June @ 00.25

24 Hours on the International Space Station: The International Space Station (ISS) - which celebrates its 20th anniversary in November 2018 - is without doubt the most ambitious orbital project ever built. This giant assemblage covering some 9,700m2 has allowed men and women to prepare for long periods of weightlessness, as a precursor to possible trips to Mars. It has also allowed people from around the world to live and work together, with no fewer than 16 nations having participated in the construction of this steel behemoth weighing 400 tonnes. This film takes us inside the International Space Station.

Thursday 21 June @ 22.30

Path of the Typhoon: The season of tropical cyclones lasts from May to October. They pass northwards over Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea to Japan, leaving in their path swaths of devastation, death, and billions of dollars worth of damage. In December 1945, while attacking the Japanese main islands, modern American aircraft-carriers steamed right into heavy typhoons. A disaster that led the US Marine to set up the first forecasting system.