Pulling With My Parents Set for Second Season on RTÉ

Alleycats Films, an award-winning Northern Irish indie, has started 2020 with a string of commissions, including a second-season renewal from RTÉ for the dating format Pulling With My Parents, as well as three new documentary orders from BBC Northern Ireland.

RTÉ has ordered a second season of Pulling With My Parents in the wake of its successful debut last October on RTÉ2. The new series will roll out on the Irish public broadcaster in the summer with Ed Stobart and Des Henderson, who devised and developed the format, executive producing for Alleycats with series producer Stu Smith.

Pulling With My Parents follows young singletons who are stuck on a merry-go-round of bad dates and dating apps. Disheartened by swiping left and right, ghosting and disastrous assignations, the lovelorn millennials enlist their parents to overhaul their online profiles and help them crack the dating game.

On the documentary front, BBC Northern Ireland has commissioned three new titles from the Derry-based producer. These include The Borrowers, Belfast Harbour (working title) and My Big Gay Wedding Video (w/t) for BBC Northern Ireland’s True North strand. Alleycats Executive Producers Henderson and Stobart will oversee all three projects.

An original Alleycats format, The Borrowers was initially produced for RTÉ One, where it aired to critical acclaim in a prime-time slot last year. The series explores the human stories behind loan applications, ranging from the sad to the joyful to the downright quirky.

Belfast Harbour, meanwhile, is an in-depth look at one of the U.K.’s busiest seaports, home to the legendary Harland and Wolff shipyard and the birthplace of the doomed Titanic. Covering 20 percent of the Northern Ireland capital, the harbor is at the heart of Belfast’s community life and an essential part of the U.K.’s economic backbone.

Marking the legalization this year of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, My Big Gay Wedding Video (w/t) will invite viewers to a joyous series of very different weddings. Due to be filmed this summer, the one-off will capture a seminal moment in Northern Ireland’s social history as seen through the eyes of couples in love.

Stobart, Alleycats’ managing director, said: “Rich stories have always emanated from the island of Ireland and to be able to bring some of them to Irish screens is always a pleasure. From documentary, obs docs, a glorious celebration of love and a now successful returning international format, we’re proud to be stretching our muscles across the factual entertainment genre.”