Over half a million people tuned into the Late Late Show’s St Patrick’s Day special.
Last week’s programme was aired on Thursday rather than its usual Friday night slot to mark the highly awaited occasion.
The nation turned out in their droves on streets around the country to celebrate the occasion for the first time in three years.
And RTE confirmed that viewers also rushed to be home to watch the show later that evening to watch Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington and Hollywood actor John C Reilly both wowed audiences with an impromptu sing song.
A spokesperson told the Irish Mirror: “The Late Late Show’s rousing and heart-warming celebration of what we love about our Irishness, featuring some much-loved personalities and cultural talents, hit the right note with audiences on Friday night with 502,000 and 51% share, with another 18,000 on RTÉ One +1, and 31,000 on RTÉ Player.
There was a drop later on in the weekend for The Tommy Tiernan Show on Saturday night, as 375,000 tuned in to his chats with Irish treasure Imelda May, Fr David Vard, and Áine, Siún agus Sinéad from the Beo Ar Éigean podcast.
It had over 16,000 on RTÉ One +1 and over 19,000 so far on RTÉ Player.
On Sunday a high-energy Dancing with the Stars semi-final, which saw Matthew MacNabb’s journey coming to an end, was watched by 434,000, with another 16,500 on RTÉ One +1, and over 9,500 so far on RTÉ Player.
Later on, a Room to Improve best bits episode, which saw modern day Irish icon Dermot and some of his show’s famous fans recall its best moments in a wrap up for the series, had an audience of 337,000.
