Published: Wednesday, 25th August, 2010 5:00pm

Athlone man's music show returns to tv screens

A music-based television show produced and co-hosted by Athlone native Elton Mullally has been awarded a second series on RTE Two.

The first series of indie - alternative magazine show 'When Under Ether' consisted of six episodes which were broadcast on the station late last year.

The show - now known as 'Under Ether' - will return to our screens with an expanded ten-episode run beginning in early October.

Elton Mullally is the son of Paddy and Eileen from Auburn Heights. A former Marist College student, his lifelong involvement in music included a lengthy spell fronting the band Brando.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent last week, Elton said he was delighted the show will be returning to RTE Two for another series.

"The first run was an amazing experience for all of us who were involved in it," he said.

"It was a difficult process and there was a lot of pressure involved because our turnaround time (to prepare and film the episodes) was very short, but when we saw it on screen we were very proud of the finished product."

The series earned favourable reviews and won 'Best TV Show' awards which were voted for by the readers of Hot Press magazine and the Entertainment.ie website.

The show is produced by Tusk Productions, a company which Elton founded with some of his colleagues. He stated that the next series will follow a similar format to the last.

"We'll probably shoot it in the same place as last time, an old Georgian house in Dublin city centre. We filmed a lot of it in an old ramshackle room there and it worked well.

"We'll still be including band interviews and live performances each week, along with lots of videos."

He stated that Michelle Doherty, his co-host during the first season, will serve as the main anchor for the series but that he will still be a co-host, filming many of the outside broadcast pieces and band interviews.

Some of the artists expected to perform sessions on 'Under Ether' include Villagers, Adrian Crowley, Natural History Museum and Republic of Loose.

The opening episode of the new season is provisionally expected to air during the first week in October.