RTÉ to kick off New Year with new schedule

RTÉ launched its New Year schedule yesterday promising to showcase Irish acting, writing and directing talent in what the station bills as a host of great new dramas in 2006.

These kick off on New Year's Day with Kerry Katona's return in Showbands, a two-part drama about aspiring showband stars and their managers.

Other new drama includes Stardust, a dramatic treatment of the tragic 1981 disco fire, and Running To Stand Still, a drama based in the commuter belt around Dublin which examines the lives and loves of a family in crisis.