Fade Street is a Reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 show produced by and shown on RTÉ 2 in Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. The format is loosely based on the style of American reality TV shows such as The Hills

The Hills

The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...

 and The City

The City (MTV series)

The City is an MTV reality television series. The first spin-off of MTV's, The Hills, it follows one of the show's former cast members, Whitney Port, as she moves to New York City to work for fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. The program premiered on December 29, 2008 and concluded its first...

. It follows the personal lives of several Dubliners aged 20 to 29. The show's participants work in a variety of jobs, several of which are associated with the Dublin based Stellar

Stellar (magazine)

Stellar Magazine is a glossy Irish lifestyle and fashion magazine targeted at female readers in the age group of eighteen to thirty-four. It is part of the VIP publishing franchise of Michael O'Doherty...

 magazine.

According to RTÉ, the show is unscripted and responses are spontaneous. Like The Hills

The Hills

The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...

, many of the scenes in the show are manipulated by the shows creators. The characters are not given lines or a script, but, instead, react genuinely to the situations they are put in. Members of the public present during filming have called the reliability of this assertion into question, claiming the show's participants regularly do several re-takes of scenes if the creators are not happy. In an RTÉ interview, the cast denied allegations that the show is scripted, claiming that learning lines would be too hard. Cici, one of the show's main characters, said, "it's completely unscripted."

The soundtrack, featuring songs used in the show coming from upcoming or established Irish music artists, is central to the series.

In August 2011, the show was renewed for a second season on RTE 2 Television with the Webisodes portion exclusion on RTE Player. It is scheduled to premiere Thursday, December 1st.

Cast

Main Cast Member Secondary Cast Member

Cast Member	Notes
Louise Johnston	Louise, 22, is from Clonskeagh Clonskeagh Clonskeagh or Clonskea , is a southern suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district straddles the River Dodder.-Location and access:Whilst located fully within the traditional County Dublin, Clonskeagh lies partially within the administrative area of Dublin City Council but mostly in that of Dun... , Dublin 14. She is studying economics in UCD University College Dublin University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...  but her ultimate dream is to get into event management. Louise is very interested in fashion, likes to socialise, and works part-time as a night-club hostess.
Danielle Robinson	Danielle, 21, is from Wexford. Dani was studying sociology in Waterford but has taken a year out to explore other career opportunities in Dublin. Dani is a Body piercer, a vegetarian Vegetarianism Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat... , and is very interested in politics.
Vogue Wilson	Vogue, 24, is from Howth Howth Howth is an area in Fingal County near Dublin city in Ireland. Originally just a small fishing village, Howth with its surrounding rural district is now a busy suburb of Dublin, with a mix of dense residential development and wild hillside, all on the peninsula of Howth Head. The only... , Dublin. She studied quantity surveying but, due to the current job climate in Ireland in the construction sector, she has decided to look at different careers and jobs. Vogue works as a model, waiter, and has worked for Stellar Stellar (magazine) Stellar Magazine is a glossy Irish lifestyle and fashion magazine targeted at female readers in the age group of eighteen to thirty-four. It is part of the VIP publishing franchise of Michael O'Doherty...  magazine. She is also a DJ, performing at the 2009 Oxegen Oxegen 2009 Oxegen 2009 was the sixth Oxegen festival to take place since 2004. It took place on the weekend of Friday 10 July, Saturday, 11 July and Sunday, 12 July at Punchestown Racecourse near Naas in County Kildare, Ireland...  music festival.
Claire 'Cici' Cavanagh	Cici, 20, is from Palmerstown, Dublin 20. She studied fine art in DIT Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology was established officially in 1992 under the but had been previously set up in 1978 on an ad-hoc basis. The institution can trace its origins back to 1887 with the establishment of various technical institutions in Dublin, Ireland...  for her BA Fine Art degree Bachelor of Fine Arts In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA... . She also models with Assets agency and works as a DJ performing at the Oxegen 2011 festival and Electric Picnic. She loves art, music, and fashion.
Paul Furlong	Paul is Danielle's ex-boyfriend from Wexford. He has a job in Wexford and dislikes the fact that Dani has gone to Dublin to gain more job opportunities, feeling she won't be able to spend enough time with him in Wexford. The Fade street audience took a particular liking to this character, and a tribute Facebook Facebook Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...  page, entitled "Paul from Fade street", has over 3500 fans.
Julia Doherty	Julia, 23, studied fashion design in NCAD, hoping one day to set up her own menswear label in London.
Kevin 'Kev' Breen	Kev, 23, is from Dublin. He works as a photographer and is a member of the band Kid Karate.
Steven Gannon	Steven, 22, is from Dublin. He works as a photographer and plays drums in a band called Kid Karate.
Ger Murphy	Ger, 27, is from Cork. Ger is the lead singer of the Cork band J90.
Shane Lennon	Shane, 27, is from Limerick. Shane is a carpenter, a model, and an aspiring actor.
Diarmaid Maher	Diarmaid, 27, is from Waterford. He graduated from UCC with a first class degree in Business Information Systems. He plays club football and hurling for An Rinn and is currently modelling.
Suzie McAdam	Suzie, 22, is from Limerick. Suzie studied Interior design Interior design Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...  in DIT and is a model.
Shireen McDonagh	Shireen, 24, is from Ballinteer. She works as an account manager and is a model.
Tom Gillespie	Tom, 24, studies economics in Trinity College and is a wakeboard / surf instructor.

Critical Reception

The show received poor reviews from critics, but the shows producers say Fade Street is aimed at the people in the twenty-something age group.

Rosemary Mac Cabe of The Irish Times described the show as "awful and brilliant in equal measure" and quotes William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...

noting "a terrible beauty is born".