Today Tonight (Irish TV programme)

This article is about the Irish current affairs programme Today Tonight. For the Australian current affairs programme of that name, see Today Tonight.

Not to be confused with Today is Tonight.

Today Tonight was an Irish news and current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis, robust cross-examination of senior politicians and investigative reporting. The programme was broadcast on RTÉ One for the first time on Monday 6 October 1980.^[1]

Today Tonight
Genre	News and current affairs
Presented by	Brian Farrell Barry Cowan Olivia O'Leary Pat Kenny John Bowman
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language	English
Production
Production locations	RTÉ Television Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland
Editor	Joe Mulholland
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	RTÉ One
Release	6 October 1980 (1980-10-06) – 27 August 1992 (1992-08-27)
Related
Frontline (Ireland) Prime Time, Farrell

Brian Farrell, Barry Cowan and Olivia O'Leary were the three original presenters. They were subsequently joined by others such as Pat Cox, John Bowman and Pat Kenny. All of these presenters later went on to hold other positions in RTÉ Television. Today Tonight was broadcast from Monday to Thursday on RTÉ One after the main evening news and restored the station's reputation for current affairs broadcasting following the demise of 7 Days in 1976.^[2] The last edition of the programme was broadcast on 27 August 1992 and was replaced by Prime Time.^[3]

It won a number of Jacob's Awards.

An in-depth report into the 14 February 1981 Stardust fire broadcast by Today Tonight on 16 February 1981 led to a senior adviser of Taoiseach Charles Haughey accusing RTÉ of undermining the Stardust Tribunal.^[4]

The series will be available on RTE Player Christmas 2021 to celebrate 60 Years Of Television.