Discover the science of the raindrops in series Báisteach

Báisteach is a Below The Radar TV, Cwmni Da, Mac TV co-production for TG4 and BBC ALBA, made in association with LIC in China. The series was made with funding from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, Creative Wales & Creative Scotland.

Rain always seems to turn up when you least want it leaving your best-laid plans in tatters but rain is a vital resource. It feeds our rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. It nourishes our soil, enabling our crops to grow and our livestock to flourish. And it provides each of us with our required daily quota of water. Without it, we couldn’t survive.

In this three-part series Seán Mac, an tSíthigh uncovers how the story of rain is a global one and plays a pivotal role in cultures and religions around the world. From water shortages in Ireland to regenerating landscapes in India and Kenya, to sponge cities in China, we discover how rainfall impacts live across the globe.

Episodes of Báisteach

Episode one which broadcasts on the 6th of April unpacks our understanding of rain and the science of the drops of water that fall from our skies. Seán meets scientist Cormac Ó hAdhmaill at Fermanagh’s Marble Arch Caves to see the impact made by rainfall that fell thousands of years ago. Seán also travels to the United Arab Emirates to discover how countries with very little rainfall are using science to enhance their lot.

In the second episode of the series, Seán explores the impact rain has on cultures around the world. He visits a holy well in Ireland which contains water that fell as rain hundreds of years ago. He explores the cultural significance of rain in countries that don’t see a lot of rainfall, and he puts the Child of Prague to the test to keep the rain away for an Irish wedding!

In episode three we travel from Inis Oírr to Arizona to learn about how a lack of rainfall affects people’s everyday lives, and how one Scottish community puts their abundant rainfall to use to regenerate their isolated townland. Seán visits Skellig Michael to discover how the monks who built a home on this isolated rock in the ocean harvested rainwater to survive.

Background

Presenter Seán Mac an tSíthigh said; “Given our relationship with it here in Ireland you might expect a documentary about rain to be a mundane exploration of the familiar. Yet within that familiarity, one can find the extraordinary, from the remarkable engineering feats of early-Christian monks on Sceilg Mhichíl in harvesting rainwater to the cutting-edge technology of cloud seeding in the Middle East where rain is created using planes and rockets.

Parts of this series look to the past, examining the intimate relationship our ancestors had with rain and seeing how their cultural wisdom can inform us as we face today’s climatic challenges. While filming in the United Arab Emirates, for example, I was struck by the ingenuity of society where huge cities have emerged from the desert, but I was also made aware of the fragility of such a potentially unsustainable existence. Our generation carries a burden of responsibility for future generations. We are temporary custodians of the climate of our planet I think this series offers food for thought as we face the challenges climate change brings with it.”