'Cheers as Gaeilge' may be on way

An Irish-language edition of the popular US sitcom Cheers could be on its way to television screens.

Dublin-based company Sideline Productions has been given permission by CBS to rework a series of the critically acclaimed US show which ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993.

The central character in the original series was the barman and owner, Sam Malone, a former baseball player and recovering alcoholic. In the Irish edition, which has the working title Teach Seán, this barman character would be a former hurling star who is also a recovering alcoholic.

The project has been approved for section 481 backing. It will be set in a bar in a “picturesque town” in the west of Ireland. The film company has applied for funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which has €10.5 million to spend in licence money on radio and television.

Teach Seán would be filmed before a live audience and aim to capture the atmosphere of a “thriving GAA haunt”.

“Because it is going to be recorded in Irish, it means we can get into the whole culture and atmosphere and tone of an Irish bar,” said Billy McGrathof Sideline Productions.

The project could create 50 jobs. If the BAI application is successful, rehearsals would take place next summer and the show be aired in 2014.