Kildare TV company returns with Moving West presented by Mary Kennedy on TG4

Busy is a word often bandied around these days. The world seems to be going at a hundred miles an hour. And busy is definitely a word that can be applied to the Dundara Television & Media team in Allenwood.

Reassessing life after serious back surgery in 2008, Dundara founder Enda Grace began the slow journey to building a media production company.

“It has certainly been a rollercoaster” Enda laughs. “But we’ve worked extremely hard to get to where we are right now”. So where are they right now?  “Thankfully we’re going well” according to Grace. “Luck and hard work go hand in hand in this business. An obsession with doing it right also helps. There are very talented people around Co. Kildare and I love bringing in people from the area. We have a great team many of whom have been with me for almost ten years now. People like David Christopher Lynch (Caragh) and Dave Kenny (Newbridge) on camera and production coordinator Aimee-Kate Cribbin (Clane). We have accumulated a massive body of work for both television and corporate online clients. A lot of people have been very good to us over the years”.

Enda first took a video camera into his hands when he was fourteen. He convinced his parents to buy him one after a hospital check up.

“I think I got them on a good day. They felt sorry for me” he says lightheartedly. That comes as no surprise as Enda had to wear a back brace for twenty three hours a day from when he was seven until eighteen having been diagnosed with Scoliosis. This eventually let to the back operation some years later. However buying the camera was the catalyst to his future career.

“I loved the process of making television from a young age. Mam and Dad brought me to a recording in RTE when I was very young. I couldn’t tell you much about the show but I could tell you how many cameras were there and where the floor manager stood. I wanted to be a pilot, an actor or a cameraman. I tried all three. I studied acting and drama but as tough as this business is, that one is on a different level. Having spent nine years treading the boards and going from audition after audition I moved on”.

Dundara Television & Media was christened by Enda’s late mother Mary. “My wife is from Donegal and I’m from Kildare. So Mam took the Irish version of each county name and came up with Dundara. She sadly passed away in 2020 but was very proud of the direction we were headed. One of the last things I remember her saying was the night before she died. She started telling the nurse that I made ‘stuff’ for TG4”.

Right now, it’s actually TG4 that Enda and the team are working with. Following a hugely successful first season, Moving West is back for a second series on the channel this January. The show is produced by Dundara Television & Media and is in association with The Western Development Commission. Shot against the back drop of the unique natural beauty and culture of the West, this series puts a spotlight on Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Kerry and a special episode on the Islands.

“Throughout the series we follow the lives of individuals and families who have moved or are in the process of moving to a new home along the Atlantic coast”.

Presented by Mary Kennedy and over the course of six half hour episodes, the series sets out to help viewers discover a genuine message, that life, and in particular your career won’t take a step back if you are considering a move West. In a relaxed, entertaining and informal fashion, each episode explores the many opportunities that the region has to offer.

Enda is the producer and director of “Moving West”. “The fact that TG4 has commissioned a second season of Moving West is a testament to the success of series one and the interest the public have in seeing all the west of Ireland has to offer. We received over a hundred applications from people who relocated from around the world as well as various parts of Ireland who wanted to tell us their story. The people we met were only too keen to take our presenter Mary Kennedy on a fascinating journey of discovery. Mary is one of Irelands most renowned and much loved television presenters. Her ability to put people at ease is key to creating this warm and informative series. This is my fourth television series working with Mary and I love working with her. I’d happily work with he all day every day. We get on so well. She is such a pro”.

Mary’s love of the West of Ireland is also compelling and she spends quite a bit of time with her sister Deirdre who lives on The Aran Islands. In fact, in episode six we get the unique opportunity to see Mary on screen with her family as she visits Deirdre on Inis Mór. Her little grandson Paddy also makes an appearance.

Speaking about season 2 of Moving West Mary said “Personally, working again with Enda and the team at Dundara has been a joy. This is a project very close to my heart and I appreciate the special country that we live in. It has been a very satisfying and uplifting experience to once again work on Moving West. It’s a series showcasing the stunning West of Ireland, but showcasing us in a way that, as well as the beauty of the landscape, that it is a wonderfully viable place to work and raise a family. We’ve come to realise over the last couple of years that having an invigorating and relaxed lifestyle in addition to a sense of community is so important.

"I think people will be enchanted by the stories and celebrate the sense of community and business acumen of the movers, whether that be in a small business or a multinational. TG4 has always been so positive about showing the progressive aspects of life outside the pale which is wonderful. We are a rounded people who punch above our weight. We are also a welcoming people, sometimes we don’t give ourselves enough credit and series like Moving West highlight all that is positive. The wonderful movers we met on our travels had the courage and the spirit to move west, to try it and to give it a go”.

Over the course of a fascinating career so far, there is one project that is particularly memorable for producer Enda. “We’ve got to work on amazing projects with amazing people” he says. “One of my favourites has to have been producing the red carpet premiere of Game Of Thrones season eight in Belfast with Warner Bros for American television in association with Big Handsome Media. I knew very little about Game of Thrones because I hadn’t watched it but I learned fast. The entire thing was wrapped in secrecy. Lisa Cannon was with us presenting. The premiere was one of the most star studded A-list bashes ever hosted in the country and we interviewed Kit Harrington (Jon Snow), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Jerome Flynn (Bron) and Carice Van Houten (Mellisandre Red Witch). I spent half the night editing it in situ in Belfast and it aired to millions of viewers the next morning. It was an adrenaline rush”

It has been an incredible 24 months for Enda on a personal level. It’s a remarkable tale.

“Yes it has been quite a year or two” acknowledges Grace. “But that’s a sort for another day”. So in this busy world of television and media, what’s next for Dundara?

“You know what, we’re ambitious but I never tend to look too far ahead” Enda says. “Six years ago we were heavily involved in a fledgling TV station. We had too many eggs in that basket. It went bust so we almost did too. Serious lessons were learned there. I love what I do. I love the business. I’m lucky. I hate the old line in this business ‘we can’t say too much’ but unfortunately we can’t. We do currently have an exciting new series in development with TG4. It’s over the line with a very talented well known presenter attached. We hope to begin filming that in the Spring. If this series of Moving West goes well we’ll go into discussions about a possible season three. We’re also developing some shows for the new TG4 children channel Cúla4 which launches next September. And we have a series in development for RTE at the minute also”.

As if that wasn’t enough Dundara have just signed two distribution deals in America for a cookery and a travel series they produced. “We also do media training. And then there’s our corporate clients. We’ve had strong interest from an American studio for a script were developing and I’ve also been asked to write a book. It’s half way through and I’m enjoying writing it. But we’ll rest for Christmas and the new year”.

And that will be a well earned rest.

The first episode of Moving West begins on TG4 on Wednesday 11 January at 8.30pm and will be in Sligo, followed by Mayo on 18 January, Kerry on 25 January, Donegal on 1 February, Galway on 8 February and the last episode The Islands on 15 February. Each episode will be repeated the following Thursday on TG4 at 17:30