Documentary on One Podcast

Spike Island - Spontaneous Madness

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In September 1985, a riot erupted on Spike Island Prison in Cork Harbour. The island fort had been turned into a prison for 'joyriders', but within mo...

Counterpunch

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Reg Byrne grew up in Monkstown Farm, Dublin in the 1970s and was born with spina bifida, affecting his legs. Which makes what Reg Byrne is doing now a...

Old Man Belfield

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the 11th of January 2021 the body of a homeless man was found on the grounds of University College Dublin’s Belfield campus. His passing was wide...

#JusticeForNoor

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2021, a 27-year old woman, Noor Mukadam, was violently murdered. Noor grew up in South County Dublin as her father established the Pakistani E...

The Very Thought Of You

10 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Susan and Ray were sweethearts in the early 1950’s. They broke up and Susan made a life for herself in Dublin; having five children, a divorce in 19...

Murder at La Mancha

02 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The discovery of six bodies in a house at Malahide in County Dublin in 1926 led to a sensational trial and the execution of one man for the crime of m...

The Taliban and Me

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Three women describe the effects of the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on their work, and on their lives. An Afghan judge who fled to Ireland, a...

Dancing Nancy

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nancy Murphy owned a dancehall in Claremorris, Co. Mayo. But its business started to fail, so Nancy pursued a “unique marketing strategy”...

The Custom of the Sea

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The story of a shocking and harrowing incident of cannibalism in 1835 aboard Limerick ship, the Francis Spaight, which floundered in the freezing Nort...

Zodiac's Alibi

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The so-called Zodiac Killer terrorised the San Francisco community in the 1960s. Fifty years later, a man from county Louth is joining hundreds of onl...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Bonus - A Final Word with Tiger's Owner, Michael O'Leary

09 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Bonus: Michael O'Leary officially announced on February 27th 2022 that Tiger Roll will be retired after his final race at the Cheltenham Festival on M...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Ep7 - Horse of a Lifetime

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After his first Grand National win, Tiger attempts a feat not achieved in over 40 years - to win a second Grand National in a row. He's getting older ...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Ep6 - The National

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As Tiger Roll matures, he’s ready for the next step up in jumps racing. But will patience and persistence from his owners and trainer give Tiger Rol...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Ep5 - Staying The Course

02 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As Tiger Roll matures, he’s ready for the next step up in jumps racing. But will patience and persistence from his owners and trainer give Tiger Rol...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Ep4 - Triumph

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tiger Roll gets another new owner, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, a new training yard and a whole new set of challenges. He begins to make new friend...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Ep3 - Up and Over

27 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sold on by Godolphin Racing, Tiger Roll is bought by Nigel and Catherine Hawke. With the help of jockey Mark Quinlan, they discover Tiger’s previous...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Ep2 - Good Mover

26 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Bought by one of the richest men in horseracing, the young Tiger Roll becomes part of a global operation. But as he begins to grow up, and enters trai...

Tiger Roll, The People's Horse: Ep1 - A Star Is Born

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A new 7-part series from RTÉ Documentary On One. To listen to all episodes, please subscribe to Tiger Roll, The People's Horse from wherever you get ...

L'Agression

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Maureen Kearney is an Irish woman living in France. Whilst working in the French Nuclear industry, in 2012 Maureen discovered something that seems to ...

Felix - Life And Limb

23 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Charlotte Devlin and the Documentary On One team return to the remarkable story of Felix Gretarsson, with exclusive access to the Icelander who waited...

The Curious Case of Typhoid Mary

16 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

"Most harmless and yet the most dangerous woman in America” is how Irish woman Mary Mallon was once described after she was identified as the first ...

Svyeta

09 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In May of this year a Ryanair flight was grounded by two military jets in Belarus. The story behind this event involves a remarkable woman and brings ...

I’ll Send You Butterflies

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Margaret Tynan was a healthy, active woman in her seventies, a loving wife, mother and grandmother. Then she was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. ...

I Am To Be Shot

26 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When a Cork schoolgirl researched a 100-year old story about the local IRA and a British officer, she came across some remarkable information. &n...

Shared Troubles

12 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Journalists Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane have both been awarded OBE’s for their services to journalism. Both also reported extensively from No...

6.08pm Beirut

04 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mayo man, Colin Sheridan lived in Beirut. He and his neighbours had no idea that nearby tonnes of volatile chemicals were stored. Experts ha...

Miracle in Galway Bay

29 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How a balmy summer’s evening quickly turned into a nightmare for cousins Sara Feeney (23) and Ellen Glynn (17) after they were swept out to sea on p...

The Lost Millionaire

22 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The death of American millionaire Arthur Kingsley Porter seems to have been the first inquest in Ireland to be held without a body. Together with his ...

The Life and Living Lady

15 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When documentary-maker Chris Nikkel and his wife bought their little cottage in the Cooley Mountains in county Louth, they discovered that it had once...

Crossing The Line

08 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

(NEW 2021 SEASON) In 1982 the Irish International Rugby Team won the elusive triple crown - beating England, Scotland and Wales for the first time in ...

The Script of Hurt

30 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Back in 2009, when this doc was first broadcast, Mayo footballers had lost 5 All Ireland finals since their last win in 1951. They’ve since lost ano...

GunPlot: Episode 1 - The Spark that Lit the Flame

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

An Irish Army Captain goes on holidays – a strange kind of holiday. To a city where he knows there is likely to be ‘trouble’. He arrives as a th...

Trailer: Introducing 'Tiger Roll: The People's Horse'

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 2021, Tiger Roll aims to create unique sporting history by winning a third Grand National in a row. We follow his unlikely path to glory, from the ...

Perfume From America

06 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Peggy O'Connell's strange isolation was something resembling quarantine. Peggy, a elderly woman from Cavan, combines her half-century-old memories wit...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 8 - End Of The Line

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Answers lead to more questions as we try to close the book on the Kieran Kelly story. And more stories come from the shadows of The Nobody Zone. But i...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 7 - New Evidence

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As new evidence emerges, we return to the first victim that Kieran Kelly claimed – to where it all began. A train. A death. A story.The Nobody Zone ...

The Nobody Zone: Prologue to Episode 7 & 8

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With the release of two new episodes of The Nobody Zone arriving next week (Nov 24th & Dec 1st 2020), we explore the actions and behaviour of Kieran P...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 6 - Bringing It All Back Home

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What stories lie buried in Kieran Kelly’s home town of Rathdowney? Have we reached the end of the line? A new 8-part podcast series from RTÉ's Docu...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 5 - Another Side

06 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Kieran Kelly descended into a life of murder and violence, he displayed a number of sides to his character. But what were they, and what do they te...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 4 - True Confessions

05 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The tape. In a smoke filled interview room in Clapham Police Station, Kieran Patrick Kelly confesses to multiple murders. Dates, times, locations. Sho...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 3 - The Numbers Game

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why do claims of the number of Kieran Patrick Kelly's past victims keep on rising? Fresh information is put to the test. A new 8-part podcast series f...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 2 - A Hidden Truth?

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 2015, amidst claims by a retired police officer of mass murder and cover up, the British Police reopen the case files of Kieran Patrick Kelly. But ...

The Nobody Zone: Episode 1 - "It Plays On Your Mind"

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A homeless Irishman is arrested on Clapham Common in London for stealing a wedding ring, only to murder another man in his police cell. When interview...

Introducing 'The Nobody Zone' - Trailer

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 1983 Kieran Patrick Kelly confessed to multiple murders. We enter a dark world where killer and victims mask their identities and where evidence is...

100 Years, 100 Miles

13 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On November 21st 1920, British security forces stormed a Gaelic football match in Croke Park Dublin, killing 14 and wounding dozens more. 100 yrs late...

The Little Shop of Secrets

06 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Decades ago The Wallace Sisters, Sheila and Nora, ran a small newsagents in Cork city. While many bought their paper and tobacco there, few knew of th...

The Long Run

16 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In January every year in a small Norwegian town, a race starts. It’s one of the longest, toughest dog sled races in the world and it’s dominated b...

The Grief of a Nation

09 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On November 22nd 1963, two shots were taken in Dallas, Texas. One was a gunshot, killing the President of The United States, John F. Kennedy. The othe...

Timor Leste: Coming of Age

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 1999, Sarah Mac Donald travelled to East Timor as a journalist undercover. Whilst violence erupted around her, Sarah became godmother to a little T...

Polonium and the Piano Player (Pt.2)

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2 of 2. As Derek Conlon finds out he’s been poisoned and dragged into a world of Russian espionage, he realises that’s just the start of his ...

Polonium and the Piano Player (Pt.1)

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ep 1 of 2. When ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in a nuclear poisoning in London in 2006, an Irish man got caught up in the crossfire. De...

Age, Sex, Location

11 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The amount of children being targeted by online predators is increasing every year. The strange man on the street used to be the person we warned our ...

The Hospital the Irish Shipped to France

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A pioneering adventure in overseas aid, when the Irish Red Cross assembled a 100-bed hospital and shipped it to bombed-out Normandy post-World War II....

A Very Irish Coup

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On a wet October Saturday over forty years ago a greyhound finished a race at Mullingar race track. The event was to turn Irish gambling upside down. ...

The Seven Million Dollar Man

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Millar’s life reads like pure fiction. After joining the IRA as a teenager, he spent years on the notorious blanket protest in Northern Ireland....

Substantial Helen

14 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Oxenham is getting a medal from the Queen of England – although Helen doesn’t have much time for the Queen. It’s for her work with victims...

The Deadly Saris

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Two 15-year old Dublin girls were mitching, drinking and shoplifting. Then they hear a group of handsome men singing - with shaved heads and saffron r...

Shane Healy - Back On Track

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Shane Healy has gone the distance in life. After spending years in an orphanage as a child, he travelled widely before hitch-hiking around the US, whe...

Green and Gold

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 1972, a group of Irish protest riders gate crashed the Olympic Games road cycling race in Munich, Germany. They’d hatched a secret plan to scuppe...

We Say You Have To Go

10 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 1981, heroin took hold of certain parts of Dublin. It changed everything for the communities it was affected by. The impact of addiction on the peo...

Nicolás Cruz Hernandez - Still Fighting

03 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

He was cheered on an open-topped bus through Dublin. Then he was homeless and jobless. He swept floors and slept on a campbed in the National Stadium....

Felix

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Felix Gretarsson lost both his arms in a work accident in Iceland in 1998. In the years that followed, his life spiralled into an abyss as he lost his...

Conor Walsh - Passing Through

19 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Conor Walsh was a minimalist piano composer from Co. Mayo, whose musical career was just beginning when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 2016 age...

The Prospector's Son

01 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The unravelling of a story of an orphaned Irish boy lost in South Africa in the 1880s, who it's told was cared for by a local tribe, until he was foun...

A Fight To The End

04 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In December 2016, Eileen Kenny lost a long battle with cancer. It was not the only battle that Eileen fought in the previous years. Dissatisfied with ...

Return To The Green Line

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In 1996, Gardaí deployed on UN peacekeeping duties in Cyprus saw two men killed. Unarmed, and caught up in the violence within the UN buffer zone, Ga...

The Undetectables

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands of Irish people live with HIV today. You can’t see it in their face. Many of them are living in the shadows, fearful of judgement. The num...

Death: Don’t Leave It To The Last Minute

13 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When an 81 year old woman, in good health, pitched an idea into us about death and dying, we had to find out more. So in early 2019, we began followin...

Brendan Behan in Paris

29 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Brendan Behan is one of Ireland's greatest writers. Some of his most important work was influenced by time he spent in Paris just after World War II w...

Reprisals

29 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Set in South Galway against the backdrop of one of the bloodiest months of the Irish War of Independence, th dramatic story the short life and tragic ...

Benjy The Little Gay Bull

23 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The story of how a little bull from the west of Ireland made national & international headlines which soon became an online viral sensation. In 20...

There's Something About Elephants

16 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Amy Herron’s grandad was one of the most famous people in Ireland. He was Elephant-keeper at Dublin Zoo and entertained crowds with Sarah the elepha...

Thomas and Tess

15 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tess Murray never forgot her first love. She was a young teacher, engaged to Thomas McEver, a chemist who had moved to Dunmore Co. Galway as the Irish...

Back To The Rock

09 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In August 1979, a massive Atlantic storm turned the Fastnet Yacht Race into the greatest yacht-racing disaster ever witnessed. In spite of the biggest...

I Hope You Will Be Home Soon

02 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When Nan Delaney, from Co. Laois, died, her six children came across a small wooden box that she had kept private all her life. When they opened it, t...

The Baron of Broadway

19 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This is the near-unbelievable story of a man who, in the 1950s, tried to purchase the six counties of Northern Ireland and gift them to the Republic o...

Cigarettes and Samba

12 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Irish soccer team’s 1982 tour of South America during the Falklands War was a farcical episode in Irish sport. 4 games, 3 defeats, 2 cancellatio...

The Whistleblower

05 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In 1976 the Cork to Dublin mail train was robbed of £200,000. Cormac Breatnach’s brother Osgur was arrested for it, confessed and was jailed for 12...

The Man From Tallahassee

28 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ed Randolph came to Ireland to play Basketball in the 1980s. While most of his fellow American players went back home, Ed met Ann, settled down and ha...

Inside Stories

21 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Author Carlo Gébler, son of award-winning Irish writer Edna O’Brien, spent three decades teaching creative writing within the Northern Ireland pris...

The Case of Majella Moynihan

15 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In 1985, an unnamed female Garda was threatened with dismissal from An Garda Síochána. Following an internal Garda investigation, she was charged wi...

Sin-é: Jeff Buckley's Irish Odyssey

07 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the mid 1990s, Singer and Songwriter Jeff Buckley was set to become as big as Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen. But he died tragically aged just 30. ...

Return to Shark Island

10 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When a group of people arrived on Achill Island in May, 1951 nobody foresaw that only two of them would leave alive. The film they had arrived to make...

Chasin' Roe

03 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1980's, Kildare man Michael Row was amongst the quickest drivers in the world. Destined to become a global household name, the biggest teams in...

Agatha Christie's Final Mystery

19 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A radio documentary about how Dubliner John Curran's fascination with best selling novelist Agatha Christie has changed his life and brought a new Her...

Dark Snow & Emma

05 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past decade Ireland has endured some extreme weather cycles from heavy snow to summer heat waves. There is an argument that these events are ...

The Cut

29 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Young girls throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East are subject to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) each year. A procedure where the genitals of yo...

Chasin' Roe

22 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1980's, Kildare man Michael Roe was amongst the quickest drivers in the world. Destined to become a global household name, the biggest teams in...

An Extraordinary Affair

08 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we recall the story of two Irish women who were born into upper-class Anglo Ireland in the 17th century. ...

The Pope's Prisoners

01 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Just before the Papal Visit to Ireland in 2018, we look back at the first-ever visit of a Pope to Ireland in 1979. We've come across two intriguing st...

The Last King of Ireland

22 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Patsy Dan Rodgers is the last King of Ireland. He's ruled his fiefdom of Tory Island for more than 20 years and can trace an unbroken lineage back to ...

Riverchapel Ladies On Tour

15 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Riverchapel Ladies Group go on a Golden Years holiday to Westport, County Mayo. They dance, pray, sing, give out about each other and the hotel, p...

Johnny Cash's Lost Tour of Ireland

08 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A Documentary On One listener shares a recording he had for safe keeping. It brings listeners closer than ever to Johnny Cash on his first tour of Ire...

Sisters

01 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Beginning in 1888, hundreds of Irish teenagers were sent to a convent in Texas that was dedicated to educating emancipated salves after the American C...

Prince At The Castle

25 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On a summer morning in 2011, a group of production staff arrived at Malahide Castle, County Dublin to work on a concert for American musician Prince. ...

New York - 1, David - 0

11 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

David Atkinson, a cocky, 22-year old from Wexford goes to New York to find work after college. Which sounds great except that David’s going on a vis...

The Cut

07 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Young girls throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East are subject to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) each year. A procedure where the genitals of yo...

The Garda Who Limped

29 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, John Wilson was the first Garda whistleblower to go public. Uncovering a culture of ‘ticket-fixing’ in An Garda Síochána, he also had i...

Notes From A Belfast Rape Trial

23 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2018, 4 men, including Irish rugby stars Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, were acquitted on all charges relating to the alleged rape of a 19yr-old ...

The Battle Of Baltinglass

16 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In November 1950, a letter was received by the sub postmistress in the tiny town of Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow. She was to be sacked and replaced by a g...