The Den to Return for Winter

RTÉ's children's show, The Den, will make a return as a full series following its special outing on RTÉ Does Comic Relief during the summer. The series replaces Ray D'Arcy's Saturday Night chat show which will not return this season. The series will begin on Sunday the 1st of November 2020. The series will feature The Den regulars, Ray D'Arcy, Dustin and Zig and Zag. The Den was originally broadcast on RTÉ ONE from 1986 to 1988, before moving to RTÉ2 in 1988, the series remained on RTÉ2 until 2010 when it was replace by TRTÉ and RTÉjr. Zig and Zag made their debut on the show 33 years ago today on 22nd of September, 1987. They would later go on to co-present Channel 4's The Big Breakfast.

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In 2016 RTÉ cut children's programming by 25% and the following year cut it by 50%, the lowest level in a 15 year period, RTÉ insisted that they were not making any cuts.

Ray D'Arcy hosted You're A Star from 2003 to 2005, in 2008 he presented the National Eurovision Song Contest, which was won by The Den star Dustin The Turkey.

He made a controversial move back to RTÉ in 2015 moving from Today FM to Radio 1 in February of that year.

In September 2015 his Saturday night chat show began airing until December 2019 when it was dropped due to falling ratings.

It was due to make a return in September but due to COVID-19 and RTÉ's flagship chat show, The Late Late Show, airing without a live studio audience it was decided the show would not return in 2020.