Faking bacon and genuine warm welcomes — life as an extra on Ros na Rún

If you fancy yourself as the extra is fearr then head to An Spidéal and enjoy laethanta saoire iontacha while you're there

Ros na Rún: Tom Breathnach tries his lámh as an extra where he discovers their rashers 'secret' and enjoys the fantastic scenery just down the road from the set

Aicsean! It’s that time of the year, a chairde, when Seachtain na Gaeilge, the annual festival of all matters Irish takes place across the country and beyond. Seachtain na Gaeilge (technically a fortnight or coicís these days) has been running since 1902 with an aim to celebrate Irish culture and language. And what better way to embrace the cúpla focail than taking a break to the Gaeltacht with a twist. Telefís tourism, as it happens. So last month, I paid a visit to Connemara to make the ultimate Gaeltacht immersion and make my soap opera extra debut in national treasure and TG4 stalwart, Ros na Rún.

Ireland’s iconic Irish language soap opera, Ros na Rún (The Headland of Secrets), has been a cult national treasure since it started more than 26 years, or seasons in TV speak, ago. It’s also how I learned much of my own Gaeilge, too. After stumbling through secondary school with a D in gnáthleibhéal, it was when living abroad in my mid-20s that Ros na Rún stoked up the dormant grá I had for the language, and activated my wannabe Gaeilgeoir.